Explore the Kelowna Heritage Conservation Area

From its early settlement and distinctive architecture to its mature tree canopy and today’s planning challenges, there is much to discover about the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area. Explore the sections below to learn about the people, places and stories that have shaped this remarkable Kelowna neighbourhood.

History of the Kelowna Heritage Conservation Area

The Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area tells a story that reaches back to Kelowna’s earliest development. What began as a lakeside neighbourhood near the young townsite evolved over generations into one of the city’s most distinctive historic residential areas, shaped by its homes, gardens, tree-lined streets and the people who lived here.

Today, the neighbourhood preserves layers of Kelowna’s history in a remarkably tangible way. Its streetscape reflects changing architectural styles, patterns of settlement and everyday life across more than a century — making the area not simply a collection of older houses, but a living record of the city’s growth and identity.

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Since Time Immemorial: syilx Okanagan Territory

Long before Kelowna became a city — and long before the streets, houses and gardens of the Abbott Street neighbourhood took shape — this land was part of the traditional territory of the syilx Okanagan people, who have lived throughout the Okanagan Valley since time immemorial.

The syilx relationship with this landscape extends back thousands of years and is inseparable from the land and waters of the Okanagan. Communities moved with the seasons, maintained extensive trade and social networks, and developed sophisticated systems of stewardship and responsibility for the land, water, plants and animals upon which life depended.

The territory was never ceded, surrendered or sold. The arrival of European settlers during the nineteenth century therefore did not mark the beginning of human history here, but rather the beginning of a new and profoundly consequential chapter in a much older story.

A history deeper than the city itself

Understanding the history of the Heritage Conservation Area therefore requires looking beyond the surviving buildings and streetscapes of the past century. The neighbourhood exists within a cultural landscape whose human history reaches back millennia — a history that continues through the syilx Okanagan people today.

From Lakeside Settlement to a Growing City

European settlement and agricultural development transformed the area during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As Kelowna grew from a small settlement into an incorporated city, residential development gradually extended south from the town centre. The area around Abbott Street became particularly desirable for its proximity to Okanagan Lake, established trees and gardens, and convenient connection to the growing community.

1904–1918: A Neighbourhood Takes Shape

In 1904, land between Okanagan Lake and what is now Pandosy Street was subdivided into large farming properties. Within only a few years, however, Kelowna was changing rapidly. The city incorporated in 1905, and by 1906 portions of the area were being reorganized into urban residential lots as the young community expanded southward.

This first major period of residential development produced some of the neighbourhood’s oldest surviving homes. Houses built before the First World War reflected a remarkable variety of architectural influences, including Victorian, Tudor, Dutch and Colonial Revival traditions as well as early Arts and Crafts design. Rather than developing in a single uniform style, the neighbourhood began acquiring the architectural diversity that remains one of its defining characteristics today.

Some of the earliest surviving homes

Several remarkable clusters of early houses still survive. Around Park Avenue and Pandosy Street are homes dating from approximately 1903 through the early 1910s, while Abbott Street between Lake and Beach avenues contains another important concentration of pre-First World War residences. Together, these properties provide a rare physical connection to the earliest years of residential development in the neighbourhood.

1918–1945: A Neighbourhood Matures

Following the First World War, development continued as Kelowna grew and the neighbourhood became increasingly established. New homes filled many of the remaining lots, while gardens, street trees and landscaped yards matured around the earlier residences. Together, these layers of development created the varied streetscape that remains characteristic of the Heritage Conservation Area today.

The architecture of the interwar years also brought new influences to the neighbourhood. Arts and Crafts traditions remained important, while Revival styles and smaller, more modest houses reflected changing tastes, lifestyles and economic circumstances. The result was not a neighbourhood frozen in a single architectural moment, but one that evolved gradually while maintaining a consistent residential scale.

A neighbourhood built over generations

One of the area’s most important qualities is this layering of different periods of development. Large early residences stand near modest cottages and later homes, yet common features — landscaped setbacks, mature vegetation, porches, pitched roofs and a human-scale streetscape — help give the neighbourhood a remarkably cohesive character.

1945–1970s: Growth and Change

In the decades following the Second World War, Kelowna entered another period of significant growth. The city expanded outward, transportation patterns changed and new forms of housing and development appeared. Within the Abbott Street neighbourhood, however, much of the established residential fabric remained intact, allowing homes from several earlier periods to continue standing side by side.

The neighbourhood was not untouched by change. Houses were altered, additions were made and some properties were redeveloped as the needs of residents and the city evolved. Yet the underlying pattern of tree-lined residential streets, landscaped lots and predominantly low-scale homes continued to give the area a strong and recognizable identity

More than individual historic houses

Over time, the significance of the neighbourhood became increasingly connected not only to particular historic buildings, but to the streetscape as a whole. The relationship between houses, gardens, mature trees, setbacks, sidewalks and the scale of the streets created a distinct sense of place — one that could not be preserved simply by protecting a handful of individual landmarks.

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Protecting a Neighbourhood: The Creation of the Heritage Conservation Area

By the latter decades of the twentieth century, the Abbott Street neighbourhood had become one of Kelowna’s most recognizable historic residential areas. Generations of development had created an unusually cohesive streetscape of character homes, mature trees, gardens and established residential lots — a physical record of the city’s early growth.

But as Kelowna continued to expand, its older residential neighbourhoods also faced increasing redevelopment pressure. Concern grew that, without deliberate conservation measures, the qualities that made areas such as Abbott Street distinctive could gradually be lost.

In 1983, the Abbott Street area was formally recognized for its heritage value. That recognition helped establish the foundation for a much larger conservation effort that would unfold over the following fifteen years.

Residents Help Shape a Conservation Area

Protecting the neighbourhood was not simply a municipal planning exercise. Community support played an important role. Residents and heritage advocates recognized that the value of Abbott Street extended beyond individual historic houses: the streetscape itself — including the scale and placement of homes, mature landscaping, gardens and the relationship between buildings and the street — contributed to the area’s distinctive character.

Working with the community, the City developed a framework intended to allow neighbourhoods such as Abbott Street to continue evolving while ensuring that new development respected their established character.

1998: The Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area Is Established

In 1998, Kelowna City Council formally established the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area, together with the Marshall Street Heritage Conservation Area. The Abbott Street HCA encompassed approximately 350 residential properties, creating one of Kelowna’s most significant concentrations of protected historic neighbourhood character.

The objective was not to freeze the neighbourhood in time. Rather, the Heritage Conservation Area was created to manage change so that renovation, additions and new development could occur while respecting the historic form and character of the neighbourhood.

The original development guidelines encouraged the retention and renovation of existing homes while requiring new development and additions to respond sensitively to their surroundings. Their broader goal was to maintain continuity in the neighbourhood’s sense of place for residents, the wider community and visitors.

Conservation Does Not Mean No Change

From its beginning, the Heritage Conservation Area was intended to accommodate change rather than prevent it. The City’s own explanation of the HCA emphasized that its purpose was to manage the natural evolution of the neighbourhood while retaining its historic context and character.

That distinction remains important today. Heritage conservation does not mean preventing new housing, renovations or increased density. Instead, it provides a framework for ensuring that change responds thoughtfully to the qualities that made the neighbourhood worthy of conservation in the first place.

More than a century after many of its earliest homes were constructed — and decades after residents first advocated for its preservation — the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area remains a living neighbourhood. Its buildings, landscapes and streets tell the story of Kelowna’s growth, while the continuing debate over how the area should evolve forms the newest chapter in that history.

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The HCA Today: A Living Heritage Neighbourhood

More than a century after the neighbourhood first began to take shape, the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area remains one of Kelowna’s most distinctive residential landscapes. Historic houses stand alongside later homes and sensitive additions, while mature trees, gardens, boulevards and the relationship between buildings and the street continue to define its character.

Its significance is not limited to architecture. The neighbourhood is also a lived-in community — a place where people walk, cycle, raise families, visit neighbours and experience a remarkably green and human-scaled part of the city close to downtown, Okanagan Lake and Kelowna General Hospital.

Like all living neighbourhoods, however, the HCA continues to change. Questions about housing, density, transportation, development and heritage conservation have become increasingly important as Kelowna grows. More recently, provincial housing legislation and Transit-Oriented Area planning have created new questions about how significantly increased density can be reconciled with the conservation objectives established for the neighbourhood.

The Next Chapter Is Still Being Written

The history of the Heritage Conservation Area is therefore not finished. The same fundamental question that led residents and the City to establish the HCA decades ago remains relevant today: how can a growing city accommodate change while preserving the qualities that give a historic neighbourhood its identity?

The answer will shape not only the future of individual properties, but the streetscape, tree canopy, architectural character and sense of place experienced by future generations.

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Explore the History Further

This overview is only the beginning. Explore historic properties, architectural styles, archival photographs, maps, planning documents and community stories to discover more about the people and places that have shaped the Heritage Conservation Area.

Have a piece of HCA history to share? Historic photographs, family stories, documents and memories can help preserve the neighbourhood’s story for future generations. We welcome contributions from residents, former residents and anyone with a connection to the area.

Primary Sources & Further Reading

Much of the history presented here has been drawn from City of Kelowna heritage records, conservation guidelines, archival material and resources documenting the history of the syilx Okanagan people. The following primary sources provide opportunities to explore the neighbourhood’s history in greater depth.

Architecture & Heritage Homes of the Kelowna HCA

One of the most distinctive features of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area is the remarkable variety of architectural styles found within a relatively small neighbourhood. Rather than representing a single period of development, its streets reveal successive chapters in Kelowna’s growth through homes built across many decades.

Craftsman bungalows sit alongside Tudor Revival cottages, modest vernacular homes, Colonial Revival influences and other architectural traditions. Together with mature trees, gardens, setbacks and the rhythm of the streetscape, these buildings create the layered character and human scale that define the Heritage Conservation Area.

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A Neighbourhood Written in Architecture

Walking through the HCA is a little like walking through an architectural timeline. Changes in rooflines, porches, windows, building materials and decorative details reveal how tastes, lifestyles and construction practices changed as Kelowna developed during the twentieth century.

Some homes are architecturally elaborate, while others are deliberately simple. Both are important to understanding the neighbourhood. Heritage value is not limited to grand houses or individually designated properties; modest homes, groups of similar buildings and the relationship between houses, gardens, trees and streets can all contribute to the historic character of a place.

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Architectural Styles of the HCA

The homes of the Heritage Conservation Area reflect many architectural influences and periods of development. While individual houses do not always fit neatly into a single category, learning to recognize a few characteristic features can make a walk through the neighbourhood much more interesting.

Look closely at roof shapes, porches, columns, windows, exterior materials and decorative details. These clues can help reveal when a house was built, the architectural ideas that influenced its design and how the neighbourhood evolved over time.

Arts & Crafts and Craftsman

The Arts & Crafts movement emphasized craftsmanship, natural materials and buildings that felt connected to their surroundings. In the HCA, its influence can be seen in many early twentieth-century homes, particularly the bungalow forms that became popular as the neighbourhood developed.

What to look for

• Low-pitched or moderately pitched gabled roofs
• Broad roof overhangs and exposed structural details
• Generous front porches
• Substantial porch columns or piers
• Wood shingles, siding, stone or other natural materials
• Multi-pane windows and handcrafted decorative details
• A strong horizontal appearance that helps the house feel connected to its site

Examples in the HCA

Arts & Crafts and Craftsman influences can be found throughout the HCA, from modest cottages to more substantial bungalows. Details vary from house to house, but characteristic porches, prominent roof forms, natural materials and handcrafted-looking details make this one of the neighbourhood’s most recognizable architectural traditions.

Arts & Crafts influences often overlap with Craftsman bungalow design, and many neighbourhood homes combine features from several related architectural traditions rather than fitting neatly into a single category.

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Tudor Revival

Tudor Revival architecture draws inspiration from medieval and early English building traditions. Popular during the first half of the twentieth century, the style brought picturesque rooflines and traditional detailing to residential neighbourhoods across Canada. Within the HCA, Tudor-influenced homes contribute to the remarkable architectural variety of the interwar period.

What to look for

• Steeply pitched roofs and prominent front-facing gables
• Asymmetrical façades
• Tall or grouped windows
• Decorative half-timbering on some examples
• Brick, stucco or combinations of exterior materials
• Substantial chimneys, sometimes prominently positioned
• Arched or otherwise emphasized entrances
• A picturesque, English-cottage appearance

Examples in the HCA

Tudor Revival appears in a number of HCA homes from the interwar period. Some display the style quite clearly, while others borrow only selected Tudor elements—an important reminder that historic houses often combine influences rather than conform perfectly to a single architectural category.

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Colonial Revival

Colonial Revival architecture looked to the symmetry and classical details of early North American building traditions for inspiration. Popular during the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, the style often produced homes with balanced façades, orderly proportions and restrained decorative details. In the HCA, Colonial Revival influences appear in both substantial residences and more modest homes, adding another layer to the neighbourhood’s architectural diversity.

What to look for

• Symmetrical or carefully balanced façades
• Simple rectangular building forms
• Classical columns or porch supports
• Prominent front entrances, sometimes with sidelights
• Multi-pane or regularly arranged windows
• Gabled or hipped roofs
• Decorative cornices, trim or classical detailing
• An overall sense of order and proportion

Examples in the HCA

Colonial Revival influences can be found throughout the HCA, sometimes as a clearly identifiable architectural style and sometimes combined with elements of other traditions. This blending of influences is characteristic of the neighbourhood, where homes were built and altered over many decades.

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Vernacular / Early Cottage

Not every historic home was designed in a formal architectural style. Many of the HCA’s early residences were modest, practical houses built using familiar construction methods, locally available materials and simple forms. These vernacular and early cottage homes tell an important part of the neighbourhood’s story, reflecting the everyday lives of the families who helped build a growing Kelowna during the early twentieth century.

Although often less ornate than their larger neighbours, these houses contribute enormously to the scale, rhythm and historic character of the streetscape.

What to look for

• Simple one- or one-and-a-half-storey forms
• Gabled or hipped roofs
• Modest front porches or entrance canopies
• Wood siding or shingles
• Straightforward window arrangements
• Limited ornamentation
• Compact building footprints
• Traditional setbacks with front gardens and mature landscaping
• Individual details borrowed from Craftsman, Colonial Revival or other contemporary styles

Examples in the HCA

Modest historic houses can be found throughout the HCA, often standing alongside larger and more architecturally elaborate residences. Together, this mixture of house sizes, ages and styles helps reveal the neighbourhood’s evolution over time and preserves a more complete picture of everyday residential life in historic Kelowna.

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Eclectic & Mixed Architectural Influences

Not every home in the HCA belongs neatly to a single architectural style. As the neighbourhood developed, builders and homeowners often borrowed elements from several traditions, combining familiar forms and decorative details in new ways. These eclectic houses reflect changing tastes and demonstrate how architectural ideas were adapted to local circumstances rather than simply copied from a single established style.

A house might combine the symmetry and classical detailing of Colonial Revival architecture with an Arts and Crafts porch, Tudor-inspired roof forms or details drawn from other historical traditions. Later renovations and additions can add further layers to a building’s architectural story.

What to look for

• Features associated with more than one architectural tradition
• Contrasting roof forms, gables or dormers
• Classical details combined with Craftsman or Arts and Crafts elements
• Tudor-inspired, Colonial or other Revival details used selectively
• Varied window shapes and arrangements
• Changes in materials or detailing that reveal different periods of construction
• Additions that reflect a later architectural period
• Unusual combinations that make a house difficult to classify as one particular style

Examples in the HCA

Eclectic architecture is an important part of the HCA’s character because the neighbourhood developed gradually rather than according to a single architectural plan. Individual houses often reveal several layers of influence, adaptation and change — creating buildings that are distinctive to their particular place and history.

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Postwar & Early Suburban Homes

The architectural story of the HCA continued after the Second World War. As Kelowna grew and lifestyles changed, new homes introduced simpler forms, different materials and increasingly modern approaches to residential design. These postwar buildings represent another layer in the neighbourhood’s evolution and help demonstrate that heritage areas are shaped over time rather than created during a single period.

These later homes can also share characteristics with the established streetscape — including modest building heights, landscaped front yards, established setbacks and a residential scale that maintains a relationship with the street.

What to look for

• Low-pitched gabled or hipped roofs
• Simpler, more horizontal building forms
• Larger windows and less decorative trim
• Brick, wood siding, stucco or combinations of materials
• Attached or integrated garages becoming more common
• Broad picture windows
• Functional rather than ornamental detailing
• One- or modest two-storey residential scale
• Landscaped setbacks that continue the established rhythm of the street

Examples in the HCA

Postwar homes are part of the HCA’s continuing architectural story. Their presence illustrates how the neighbourhood adapted to changing housing needs while largely retaining the scale, landscape and residential patterns established by earlier generations.

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How to Read a Heritage House

Once you know what to look for, a historic house begins to tell its own story. Rooflines, windows, porches, materials and small decorative details can provide clues about when a home was built, the architectural ideas that influenced it and how it may have changed over time.

No single feature determines a home’s architectural style. Instead, look at how several elements work together — and remember that renovations, additions and changing fashions often leave visible layers from different periods.

Start at the Roof

Roof shape is often one of the easiest clues to a home’s architectural influences. A broad, low-pitched gable may suggest Craftsman design, while a steeply pitched roof can point toward Tudor Revival influences.

Look at the Porch

Porches help define the relationship between a house and the street. Deep covered verandahs, substantial columns, exposed structural details and welcoming front steps are particularly characteristic of many early twentieth-century homes. Beyond their architectural importance, porches also create a transition between private homes and public neighbourhood life.

Study the Windows

Window size, shape and arrangement can reveal both architectural style and changes made over time. Multi-pane windows, grouped windows, prominent picture windows and carefully proportioned openings each reflect different periods and design traditions. Original windows can also contribute significantly to the character of a historic building.

Notice the Materials & Details

Building materials can offer important clues about a home’s age and architectural character. Wood siding and shingles, brick, stone, stucco and combinations of these materials appear throughout the HCA. Look closely at smaller details too — brackets, exposed rafters, porch columns, window trim, masonry, doors and decorative woodwork can reveal the craftsmanship and design ideas behind a house.

These details can be easy to overlook individually, but together they give historic buildings much of their texture, depth and character.

Look at the Whole Property

A heritage house does not exist in isolation. Step back and notice how the building sits on its lot: its distance from the sidewalk, the orientation of its entrance, the front garden, mature trees, pathways, fences and the amount of open space surrounding it.

These relationships are an important part of neighbourhood character. Even houses of very different architectural styles can feel connected when they share similar setbacks, building heights, landscaping and relationships with the street.

Look for Layers of Change

Historic houses are rarely unchanged. Porches may have been enclosed or reopened, additions constructed, windows replaced, exterior materials altered and interior uses adapted as generations of residents made the buildings their own.

Rather than viewing every alteration as a loss of history, these changes can sometimes become part of the story themselves. Learning to distinguish original features from later additions can reveal how a house — and the neighbourhood around it — has evolved over time.

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Why the Streetscape Matters

The character of the Heritage Conservation Area comes from much more than its individual buildings. Walk along Abbott Street, Park Avenue or the surrounding residential streets and the experience is created by many elements working together: houses, gardens, mature trees, boulevards, sidewalks, setbacks and the spaces between buildings.

This collective setting is known as the streetscape. It is one of the reasons a neighbourhood can retain a strong sense of identity even when its individual houses represent different architectural styles and periods.

A Consistent Human Scale

Although the HCA contains homes of many different ages and styles, much of the neighbourhood shares a relatively consistent residential scale. Buildings generally maintain a close relationship with their yards, gardens and the street rather than overwhelming them.

This human scale influences how the neighbourhood feels to someone walking through it. Homes, porches, pathways and front gardens remain visually connected to pedestrians, helping create the intimate and welcoming character associated with the area.

Setbacks Create Rhythm

The distance between buildings and the street is another subtle but important part of neighbourhood character. When homes maintain broadly similar setbacks, their façades, gardens and entrances create a visual rhythm along the street.

Front yards also provide space for landscaping and mature vegetation, creating a gradual transition from the public sidewalk to private homes.

Trees and Gardens Are Part of the Historic Character

Mature trees, hedges, gardens and landscaped boulevards are not simply decoration around historic buildings. They help frame houses, provide shade, soften the streetscape and create the green canopy that distinguishes much of the HCA.

Over decades, buildings and landscapes have matured together. Removing either can dramatically change how the other is experienced — which is why understanding neighbourhood character requires looking at both the built environment and the landscape surrounding it.

The Spaces Between Buildings Matter Too

Heritage character also exists in the spaces between buildings. Side yards, gaps between houses, views through gardens and areas of open sky contribute to the spacing and visual rhythm of the streetscape.

These spaces allow sunlight to reach homes and gardens, provide room for vegetation and contribute to the visual rhythm of individual buildings set within a landscaped neighbourhood.

The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

A single historic house can be preserved while the character of the neighbourhood around it changes dramatically. Conversely, a streetscape containing buildings from several different periods can retain a powerful sense of heritage when its scale, landscape and spatial relationships remain intact.

This is why conservation areas consider context as well as individual properties. The heritage value of the HCA lies not only in particular buildings, but in the relationships among buildings, landscapes, streets and the people who experience them.

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Can You Spot the Style?

The next time you walk through the Heritage Conservation Area, slow down and look a little more closely. Once you begin noticing rooflines, porches, windows and materials, the architectural history of the neighbourhood starts to reveal itself.

Try It on Your Next Walk

• Can you spot the broad eaves and generous porch of a Craftsman bungalow?
• Look for steeply pitched roofs, prominent gables and picturesque details associated with Tudor Revival.
• Find a modest historic cottage with very little ornamentation. What gives it character despite its simplicity?
• Can you find a house that seems to combine two or more architectural influences?
• Look beyond the buildings: where do mature trees, gardens and consistent setbacks make several very different houses feel like part of the same streetscape?
• Can you identify a newer or altered home that still fits comfortably into its historic surroundings? What helps it belong?

Explore the HCA on Foot: Heritage Walking Tour

Explore the history and architecture of Kelowna’s Heritage Conservation Area on foot. A heritage brochure produced to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area documented 48 properties then listed on the Kelowna Heritage Register and mapped them throughout the neighbourhood. Today, these historic homes provide a fascinating way to explore the people, architecture and changing streetscapes that have shaped this part of Kelowna.

This walking tour is based on the historic “Kelowna’s Abbott Street Heritage District” brochure produced for the HCA’s 10th anniversary. With appreciation to the Friends and Residents of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area Society (FRAHCAS), brochure designer David Lovell, and the researchers and organizations credited in the original publication.

Community Partners

Proud to Support FRAHCAS

The Friends and Residents of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area Society (FRAHCAS) has represented and supported our heritage neighbourhood for many years.

KHCAP is proud to support FRAHCAS and work alongside the Society by helping share heritage information, community updates and current issues affecting the Heritage Conservation Area.

Every FRAHCAS membership helps strengthen the collective voice supporting and protecting Kelowna’s Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.

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Trees, Gardens & Landscape of the Kelowna HCA

The character of the Kelowna Heritage Conservation Area is shaped as much by its landscape as by its architecture. Mature trees arch over streets and sidewalks, established gardens surround historic homes, and landscaped boulevards create a green transition between private properties and the public realm.

Many of these landscape features have developed over generations. Trees planted decades ago now form a mature canopy, while gardens, hedges and other vegetation help define property boundaries, frame historic buildings and contribute to the intimate, human-scaled character of the neighbourhood.

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A Living Landscape

Unlike buildings, a heritage landscape is never static. Trees grow and age, gardens change with successive residents, plants are replaced and streets evolve. Yet over time, these individual elements can create recognizable patterns that become part of a neighbourhood’s identity.

In the HCA, mature vegetation helps connect homes from very different architectural periods. A century-old house and a much newer residence can still feel like part of the same streetscape when both sit within established gardens, beneath mature trees and behind similarly landscaped setbacks.

The Urban Forest

The HCA’s mature trees form part of Kelowna’s urban forest — the network of trees growing on public and private land throughout the city. Within the neighbourhood, large canopy trees line streets, shade sidewalks and gardens, frame views of historic homes and create an environment that changes dramatically with the seasons.

Their value extends well beyond appearance. Urban trees can provide shade, moderate summer heat, intercept rainfall, provide habitat and food for wildlife and pollinators, and make walking along neighbourhood streets more comfortable.

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Significant & Historic Trees of the HCA

The mature trees of the Heritage Conservation Area are more than attractive features of the streetscape. Some are significant specimens in their own right, while collectively they form part of a landscape that has developed alongside the neighbourhood for generations.

Kelowna has a documented history of recognizing significant trees. In 1992, the City prepared an inventory identifying more than 100 notable mature trees across the community. Decades later, Kelowna Tree Protectors began revisiting trees from that inventory and documenting which remained, which had been lost and how Kelowna’s mature urban forest was changing.

Documenting a Changing Urban Forest

Beginning in 2018, Kelowna Tree Protectors undertook work to revisit significant trees identified in the earlier inventory. Their research found that many had disappeared over the intervening decades, illustrating an important characteristic of heritage landscapes: unlike buildings, mature trees can be lost very quickly but may require generations to replace.

Their work later expanded into a tree identification sign project, developed with arborists and residents to identify notable trees and share information about their species and stories.

One Canopy, Public and Private

The neighbourhood’s tree canopy does not stop at the edge of the sidewalk. Boulevard trees, front-yard trees, backyard specimens, hedges and groups of mature trees on neighbouring properties combine visually and ecologically to create the HCA’s green character.

In 2024, during work connected with the review of the Heritage Conservation Area guidelines, Kelowna Tree Protectors photographed trees and streetscapes throughout the Abbott Street and Marshall Street HCAs. Their documentation deliberately included mature trees on private property as well as public boulevard trees, recognizing that together these trees form what the organization describes as a “mini urban forest.”

A Living Heritage Resource

Mature trees create a different conservation challenge from historic buildings. A house can often be repaired, restored or adapted; a large tree that has taken many decades to develop cannot simply be replaced with an equivalent specimen. A newly planted tree may eventually provide similar benefits, but recreating the scale, canopy and relationship with surrounding buildings can take generations.

For this reason, documenting the HCA’s mature trees today is itself an important form of heritage work. Photographs, species identification, measurements and historical research can create a record of the neighbourhood’s living landscape for future generations.

Then & Now: Documenting the HCA’s Tree Canopy

The mature canopy visible in the HCA today represents decades of growth, but it is also constantly changing. Comparing historical photographs, earlier tree inventories and present-day streetscapes can help reveal which trees and landscape patterns have endured — and where significant changes have occurred.

As this project develops, we hope to document notable trees throughout the HCA and compare today’s landscape with earlier records and photographs. This work can help create a clearer picture of how the neighbourhood’s urban forest has changed over time and provide a baseline for understanding future change.

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Trees to Know in the HCA

Part of the pleasure of walking through the Heritage Conservation Area is discovering the variety of mature trees that line its streets, boulevards and gardens. Some are immediately recognizable, while others reveal themselves through their bark, leaves, flowers, fruit or distinctive shape.

Learning to recognize these trees adds another layer to exploring the neighbourhood. Just as architectural details can help tell the story of a house, trees can provide clues about changing landscape tastes, street planting practices and the way generations of residents have shaped the HCA.

Linden Trees

Among the most memorable trees in the HCA are its mature lindens, including those found along Abbott Street. They are particularly striking when they flower in early summer. Their dense canopies provide generous shade, while their small, fragrant blossoms attract remarkable insect activity — including bees and other pollinators.

Lindens are recognizable by their broadly heart-shaped leaves and spreading crowns. When mature trees occur together along a street, their canopies can create an almost continuous green ceiling above the sidewalk and roadway, dramatically shaping the experience of walking through the neighbourhood.

What to look for

• Heart-shaped leaves with finely toothed edges
• Dense, rounded or spreading crowns
• Small, pale and often fragrant summer flowers
• Clusters of flowers associated with a distinctive leaf-like bract
• Abundant bee and other pollinator activity while flowering
• Deep shade beneath mature specimens

Why they matter to the streetscape

A mature street tree is very different from a newly planted replacement. Its canopy may take decades to develop, eventually extending across yards, sidewalks and roadways and becoming visually intertwined with neighbouring trees and buildings. Groups of mature trees can therefore function as a defining landscape feature rather than simply a collection of individual plants.

Maple Trees

Maples are an important part of the HCA’s mature tree canopy, particularly along Maple Street. This unusually intact block is lined on both sides by very large street trees, many of them maples, which contribute to its distinctive country-lane character.

Mature maples also occur elsewhere throughout the Heritage Conservation Area, including both public and private property. Their broad crowns, seasonal colour and substantial size make them an important part of the layered landscape surrounding the neighbourhood’s historic homes.

What to look for

• Opposite leaves and branching
• Distinctive lobed leaves, although shape varies by species
• Broad, spreading crowns on mature specimens
• Paired winged seeds (“keys” or samaras)
• Strong seasonal change, particularly in autumn
• Large specimens whose canopies extend across yards or streets
  

Why they matter to the streetscape

Maple Street demonstrates particularly well how trees can become part of the identity of an entire block. The combination of mature maples, modest historic houses, consistent setbacks and the absence of sidewalks creates a streetscape quite different from a newly landscaped residential development.

Horse Chestnut Trees

Horse chestnuts are another distinctive mature tree found within the HCA. Historic records for the McWilliams House at 2072 Abbott Street specifically identified mature horse chestnuts as part of the property’s landscaped setting, demonstrating how established trees can become closely associated with the character of a heritage property.

Horse chestnuts are particularly noticeable in spring, when their large upright clusters of flowers appear above broad, spreading crowns.

What to look for

• Large leaves composed of several leaflets radiating from one point
• Upright clusters of white or pale flowers in spring
• Broad, dense crowns on mature trees
• Large, glossy brown seeds enclosed in green husks in autumn
• Heavy, spreading branches on older specimens

Why they matter to the streetscape

A mature horse chestnut can become a major landscape feature, framing a house and contributing shade, scale and seasonal interest. A mature horse chestnut can become a major landscape feature, framing a house and contributing shade, scale and seasonal interest.

London Plane Trees

London Plane trees are among the large-canopied trees found within the Heritage Conservation Area. Their impressive size, spreading branches and distinctive bark make mature specimens particularly noticeable along residential streets.

Well adapted to urban environments, London Plane trees can tolerate heat, compacted soils and air pollution. Their broad canopies provide substantial shade and cooling, qualities that become increasingly valuable as trees mature.

What to look for

• Large, broad and spreading canopy
• Distinctive mottled bark that flakes away in patches
• Broad, maple-like leaves
• Round seed balls that hang from the branches, often in groups
• Strong branching structure and substantial size in mature trees

Why they matter to the streetscape

Mature London Plane trees demonstrate how established trees shape the character and comfort of the HCA. Their large canopies cast shade across sidewalks, yards and roadways, helping cool the surrounding environment while creating the leafy, enclosed streetscape that distinguishes many parts of the neighbourhood.

Their scale also illustrates something that is difficult to replace: a mature urban tree canopy develops over decades. Protecting established trees therefore helps preserve not only individual specimens, but the shade, beauty and landscape character they collectively provide.

Lilacs

Lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) are long-lived flowering shrubs or small trees commonly found in established residential gardens. Hardy and adaptable, they can survive for many decades, with older specimens developing thick, woody stems and distinctive sculptural forms.

Within the HCA, mature lilacs are part of the neighbourhood’s living landscape — plants that can persist through generations of residents and contribute to the character of older gardens.

What to look for

• Multiple woody stems arising from the base
• Heart-shaped, dark green leaves
• Clusters of highly fragrant flowers in spring
• Flowers ranging from white and pale pink to lavender and deep purple
• Gnarled, substantial trunks on very old specimens
• New shoots developing around established plants

Why they matter to the historic landscape

Lilacs illustrate how the heritage character of the HCA extends beyond buildings. Long-lived garden plants can become part of a property’s history, surviving changes in ownership and evolving landscapes while maintaining a connection to earlier generations of neighbourhood gardens.

Their fragrant spring flowers also provide resources for bees, butterflies and other pollinators, adding ecological value to their cultural and visual contribution.

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Gardens & the Historic Landscape

The landscape character of the HCA is created not only by its mature trees, but also by the gardens, hedges, lawns, pathways and planted spaces surrounding its homes. Together, these elements create the transition between buildings and streets that gives much of the neighbourhood its distinctive residential character.

Like the houses themselves, these landscapes have evolved over generations. Some gardens have been redesigned many times, while mature shrubs, hedges, perennial plantings and established trees can persist for decades. The result is a layered landscape that reflects both the history of individual properties and the changing tastes of the people who have cared for them.

The Relationship Between House and Garden

Many homes in the HCA have a close relationship with their surrounding landscape rather than simply occupying a lot. Front gardens, pathways and porches create a gradual transition from the public sidewalk to the private home, while side and rear yards provide space between buildings and room for trees and vegetation.

These landscaped setbacks also allow historic architecture to be seen and appreciated from the street. Mature vegetation can frame a house, soften its edges and help buildings of different ages and styles feel connected within the same neighbourhood.

Hedges, Fences & Garden Boundaries

The way properties meet the sidewalk also influences the character of the streetscape. Hedges, low fences, gates and planted borders can define private space without completely separating homes from the street.

These relatively soft boundaries help maintain visual connections between houses, gardens and pedestrians — contributing to the welcoming, walkable character of the neighbourhood.

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Wildlife & Pollinators

The mature trees, gardens, flowering plants and green spaces of the HCA provide more than neighbourhood character. Together they create habitat within the city for birds, insects and other wildlife, connecting private gardens, street trees and public green spaces into a larger urban ecosystem.

Even relatively small garden spaces can contribute. A flowering tree may provide food for hundreds of visiting insects, a mature tree can offer nesting and shelter opportunities for birds, and layers of vegetation — from ground-level plants to shrubs and tree canopy — create different kinds of habitat within a single property.

A Neighbourhood for Pollinators

Walk through the HCA when the trees and gardens are in bloom and the activity can be remarkable. Bees, butterflies and other insects move between flowering trees, shrubs and garden plants, carrying pollen as they feed.

Mature flowering trees can be particularly valuable because a single large canopy may produce an enormous concentration of blossoms at once. The flowering lindens found in the neighbourhood provide an especially noticeable example, often becoming alive with the sound and movement of visiting insects during their bloom period.

Birds Among the Trees

Mature trees also add vertical complexity to the urban landscape, providing branches, cavities, foliage and sheltered spaces that can be used by birds for resting, feeding and nesting. Trees and shrubs that produce seeds, fruit or support insect life can provide additional food sources throughout the year.

The value of this habitat often comes from the network rather than any single tree. A series of mature yards, gardens and street trees can allow wildlife to move through an otherwise developed urban environment.

Small Landscapes, Larger Connections

One garden, hedge or tree may seem like a small part of the landscape when viewed on its own. Across an entire neighbourhood, however, hundreds of these individual elements combine to form a much larger green network.

This is another reason the distinction between public and private trees matters. Much of the HCA’s habitat exists on residential properties, while boulevard trees, parks and other public spaces help connect those individual pockets of vegetation.

Watching the HCA Through the Seasons

The neighbourhood’s living landscape changes constantly throughout the year. Spring blossoms attract early pollinators, summer brings dense foliage and shade, autumn transforms the canopy and produces seeds and fruit, while winter reveals tree structure, nests and architectural views hidden during the growing season.

Recording these seasonal changes through photographs and observations can help document another dimension of the HCA’s heritage — not simply how the neighbourhood looks, but how it lives and changes throughout the year.

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Caring for the Next Generation of Trees

The mature canopy of the HCA is the result of decades of growth. Many of the trees that now define its streets were planted long before today’s residents arrived, creating a landscape inherited from earlier generations.

But an urban forest is never permanent. Trees age, become damaged or diseased, are affected by development and climate conditions, and eventually reach the end of their lives. Preserving a mature canopy therefore requires both caring for the trees that exist today and planting the trees that will shape the neighbourhood decades from now.

Mature Trees Cannot Be Replaced Overnight

Planting a young tree is important, but it does not immediately replace the functions of a large mature specimen. Canopy, shade, habitat and the visual relationship between a mature tree and surrounding buildings may have developed over many decades.

This makes retention particularly valuable where healthy mature trees can safely remain. When removal is unavoidable, thoughtful replacement planting becomes an investment in the future landscape rather than an immediate substitute for what has been lost.

Planting for the Future

The trees planted today may become some of the defining trees of the HCA in 2050, 2075 or beyond. Choosing appropriate species, providing sufficient soil and growing space, and considering future canopy size can help young trees reach maturity rather than simply survive their first few years.

A resilient urban forest also benefits from diversity. A neighbourhood dependent too heavily on a small number of species can be particularly vulnerable to pests, disease and changing environmental conditions.

Development and the Urban Forest

Construction and redevelopment can affect trees even when they are not directly removed. Roots often extend well beyond the visible trunk and canopy, and excavation, soil compaction, changes in drainage and construction activity can affect tree health.

Considering mature trees early in the planning and design process can create more opportunities to retain them and integrate existing vegetation into new development.

Stewardship Across Property Lines

Because the HCA’s canopy is created by trees on both public and private land, its future depends on many people and organizations: residents, property owners, the City, arborists, developers and community groups.

The work of organizations such as Kelowna Tree Protectors also demonstrates the role that community education, documentation and advocacy can play in drawing attention to mature trees and encouraging long-term stewardship of Kelowna’s urban forest.

Leaving a Living Legacy

Heritage conservation often asks what we have inherited from previous generations and what we intend to pass forward. The same question applies to the landscape.

Retaining significant mature trees where possible, documenting those that exist today and planting thoughtfully for the future can help ensure that the HCA remains a green, shaded and living neighbourhood for generations still to come.

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Take a Tree Walk Through the HCA

The next time you walk through the Heritage Conservation Area, look beyond the houses and notice the landscape around them. Some of the neighbourhood’s most impressive features are growing overhead, along the boulevards and within the gardens that have developed alongside these streets for generations.

Slow down and look at the shape of the canopy, the bark and leaves of individual trees, the gardens surrounding historic homes and the way vegetation changes the experience of the street.

What Can You Discover?

• Find a street where mature tree canopies meet overhead.
• Look for one of the HCA’s flowering linden trees and notice its heart-shaped leaves.
• Compare a mature boulevard tree with a newly planted tree. How different is the space beneath each?
• Look for a mature tree growing in a front or rear garden rather than on City property.
• Notice how trees frame views of heritage homes.
• Find a hedge, low fence or garden that creates a welcoming transition between a home and the sidewalk.
• Listen and watch for birds, bees and other wildlife using the neighbourhood’s trees and gardens.
• Look up. How much of the sky is visible beneath a mature canopy compared with a street containing few large trees?

Coming Soon: The HCA Tree & Landscape Walk

We’re developing a self-guided tree and landscape walk that will help visitors discover notable trees, learn to identify common species and explore the relationship between the HCA’s natural and built heritage.

As our research continues, we’ll add significant trees, historical information, photographs and stories to an interactive map — creating a living record of the neighbourhood’s changing landscape.

Know a tree with a story? We’re interested in memories, photographs and information about significant trees and gardens throughout the HCA — including trees that may no longer survive. Community knowledge can help us document pieces of the neighbourhood’s landscape history that may not exist in official records.

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People & Community Stories of the Kelowna HCA

A neighbourhood is more than its buildings, streets and trees. It is shaped by the people who live there, the families who have called it home, the neighbours who care for it and the countless visitors who experience it while walking, working or spending time in the area.

The stories of the Heritage Conservation Area live not only in official records and archival documents, but also in memories, photographs, family histories and everyday experiences. By collecting these voices, we hope to create a growing community record of what this neighbourhood has meant — and continues to mean — to the people connected to it.

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Voices of the HCA

This section will grow over time as we speak with residents, former residents, visitors and others with connections to the neighbourhood. Some stories may reach back generations; others may simply capture what someone notices or values about the HCA today.

Together, these individual perspectives can preserve details that rarely appear in planning documents or historical records: childhood memories, favourite houses and trees, neighbourhood traditions, changes witnessed over decades and the small everyday experiences that create a sense of place.

Resident Stories

Who better to tell the story of a neighbourhood than the people who experience it every day? Resident interviews will explore why people came to the HCA, what they value about living here, the changes they have witnessed and the stories connected to their homes, streets and neighbours.

Memories Across Generations

Some of the richest neighbourhood history survives through families rather than archives. Former residents and long-time families may remember previous owners, renovations, gardens, neighbourhood characters, childhood adventures and buildings or trees that no longer exist.

Recording these memories — and connecting them with photographs or documents where possible — can preserve pieces of local history that might otherwise disappear.

Visitors, Workers & Everyday Connections

You do not have to live in the Heritage Conservation Area to have a connection to it. Every day, people walk, cycle and drive through the neighbourhood on their way to work, school, the lake, nearby parks and other destinations.

Its proximity to Kelowna General Hospital also connects the neighbourhood to healthcare workers, patients and visitors, some of whom walk its tree-lined streets or spend time beneath its mature trees while away from the hospital environment.

These everyday experiences are part of the neighbourhood’s story too. Asking visitors what they notice, where they like to walk and how the area makes them feel can reveal a different perspective on the value of a historic neighbourhood — one based not on ownership, but on experience.

Every Story Adds Something

There is no single story of the Heritage Conservation Area. One person may remember growing up on Abbott Street decades ago. Another may know the history of a particular house. Someone else may simply have a favourite tree, garden, walking route or view.

By bringing these perspectives together, we can build a richer picture of the neighbourhood — one that combines documented history with lived experience and preserves today’s memories for the people who will explore the HCA in the future.

Some of the stories we’re looking for

• Memories of growing up or raising a family in the neighbourhood
• Stories about individual houses and former residents
• Old photographs, letters, maps or neighbourhood documents
• Memories of trees, gardens or landscapes that have changed or disappeared
• Stories about neighbourhood traditions and community life
• Experiences of walking, cycling, working or spending time in the HCA
• Memories of how particular streets or properties have changed
• Stories from people whose families have been connected to the area for generations
• Small moments and everyday memories that might never appear in an official historical record

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Share Your HCA Story

Do you have a memory, photograph or story connected to the Heritage Conservation Area? We’d love to hear from you.

Whether you’ve lived here for decades, grew up in the neighbourhood, worked nearby, visited regularly or simply have a meaningful connection to the area, your story can help us preserve a fuller record of this special part of Kelowna.

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Community Voices

Through short interviews and conversations, we’re collecting the voices of people who know, use and care about the Heritage Conservation Area. These stories offer glimpses into everyday life in the neighbourhood — what people remember, what they value and what they hope will be carried forward.

This collection will continue to grow as more people share their experiences.

Planning, TOA & Current Issues

Heritage conservation does not mean freezing a neighbourhood in time. The Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area has continued to evolve since its establishment, and questions about housing, transportation, development and neighbourhood change have remained part of its story.

Today, however, the HCA is facing a particularly significant period of change. Provincial housing legislation, Transit-Oriented Area requirements and changes to municipal zoning have introduced new development possibilities within and around the conservation area — including forms of development substantially different in scale from its historic streetscape.

Understanding the current debate requires more than looking at zoning alone. It involves the relationship between provincial housing policy, municipal planning, heritage conservation objectives and the policies originally established to protect the area’s distinctive character.

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What Is a Transit-Oriented Area?

Transit-Oriented Areas, commonly referred to as TOAs, are areas surrounding designated transit hubs where provincial legislation requires municipalities to permit increased residential density. The policy is part of a broader effort to increase housing supply and encourage more homes near frequent transit.

In Kelowna, the introduction of TOA requirements has had particular implications for the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area because portions of the HCA fall within a designated Transit-Oriented Area.

Why Does This Matter in a Heritage Conservation Area?

The HCA was established to conserve more than individual historic buildings. Its heritage value also lies in the relationship between buildings, lot patterns, mature trees and gardens, setbacks, streetscapes and the overall scale and character of the neighbourhood.

When substantially greater building height and density are introduced into this setting, questions arise about how new development can be accommodated while continuing to achieve those conservation objectives.

How Transit-Oriented Area Policy Came to Affect the HCA

In 2023, the Province of British Columbia introduced major housing legislation intended to increase residential development in communities across the province. Among these changes were requirements for municipalities to establish Transit-Oriented Areas around designated transit exchanges and permit minimum levels of residential density within them.

In Kelowna, the Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) transit exchange was designated as a Transit-Oriented Area. The TOA boundary extends beyond the immediate vicinity of the hospital and overlaps a portion of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.

This created an unusual planning situation: land that had already been identified and managed as part of a Heritage Conservation Area was now also located within an area subject to provincial requirements intended to accommodate substantially greater residential density.

Two Planning Objectives Meet

The overlap brings two important public-policy objectives into the same geographic area. One seeks to increase housing supply and concentrate more homes near transit. The other seeks to conserve a historically significant neighbourhood and manage change in a way that respects its established heritage character.

The question is therefore not simply whether Kelowna should grow. It is how the objectives of increased housing supply and heritage conservation can be reconciled when they apply to the same place.

What Changed on the Ground?

Changes to planning and zoning associated with the new provincial housing requirements created the potential for substantially greater density within the portion of the HCA affected by the Transit-Oriented Area. In parts of the conservation area, this included zoning that permits apartment development of up to six storeys — a scale significantly different from the predominantly low-rise residential form that has historically characterized much of the HCA.

For residents and heritage advocates, this raised questions about building height and massing, mature trees and gardens, historic streetscapes, transitions between new development and existing homes, and the long-term effectiveness of the conservation framework established for the neighbourhood.

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Does the TOA Override Heritage Protection?

One of the central questions in the current debate is how the provincial Transit-Oriented Area framework interacts with the heritage conservation framework and development guidelines that already apply within the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.

Provincial correspondence has clarified that the relationship is more nuanced. In November 2025, B.C.’s Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Christine Boyle, wrote that the TOA designation does not override the existing development guidelines for the Abbott Street HCA and that municipal heritage conservation protections remain in effect.

What the Province Has Said

“The TOA designation does not override the existing development guidelines for the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.”

— Christine Boyle, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, November 20, 2025

Minister Boyle’s letter explains that the TOA framework establishes minimum allowable densities and heights near major transit stops, but operates within a broader system of local land-use and heritage-planning tools.

The letter also states that municipalities can identify certain heritage sites as excluded from the minimum allowable density framework when adopting TOA designation bylaws. It further explains that heritage designations and Heritage Revitalization Agreements may limit the minimum-density framework, and that municipalities may refuse rezonings within TOAs for reasons other than density, including preservation of heritage buildings or features.

The Province Also Declined to Remove the KGH TOA

At the same time, the Province has declined requests to reconsider the Kelowna General Hospital Transit-Oriented Area designation itself.

In correspondence dated December 2, 2025, Transportation and Transit Minister Mike Farnworth reiterated that the TOA does not override the Abbott Street HCA’s existing development guidelines and that municipal heritage conservation protections remain in effect. However, he also stated that the Province would not reconsider the KGH transit-exchange designation.

A Critical Distinction: HCA Guidelines vs. Formal Heritage Designation

There is also an important distinction between being located within a Heritage Conservation Area and having a property formally protected through an individual Heritage Designation Bylaw or Heritage Revitalization Agreement.

When Kelowna’s HCAs were established, the City considered formal heritage designation of all properties within them, but the proposal did not receive sufficient property-owner support. As a result, most properties within the HCA are governed by the conservation-area framework and development guidelines rather than individual heritage designation.

At the time of the City’s 2024 HCA review, only eight of the 369 properties reviewed within Kelowna’s Heritage Conservation Areas were protected through a Heritage Designation Bylaw or Heritage Revitalization Agreement, illustrating the distinction between being located within an HCA and having formal individual-property heritage protection.

This distinction matters because different heritage tools may carry different legal effects within the provincial TOA framework. The current debate therefore involves not only whether heritage protection continues to exist, but also what type of heritage protection applies to a particular property and how those protections interact with TOA requirements.

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Why Is There Still a Dispute?

Provincial correspondence has clarified an important point: the Transit-Oriented Area designation does not erase the Abbott Street HCA or its existing development guidelines. Yet that clarification has not resolved the underlying planning issue.

The reason is that two different questions are involved. One concerns the boundaries of the provincially designated Kelowna General Hospital TOA. The other concerns how municipal heritage protections, development guidelines and land-use powers operate within the portion of that TOA that overlaps the HCA.

The Province establishes the TOA designation and its minimum allowable densities and heights. At the same time, provincial correspondence confirms that municipal heritage conservation protections remain in effect and that local governments retain heritage-related planning authority within TOAs.

The debate in Kelowna has therefore increasingly centred on how those two frameworks should operate together — and whether the existing approach provides sufficient protection for the heritage character the HCA was created to conserve.

The City’s Position

The City of Kelowna has emphasized that the Kelowna General Hospital TOA was designated by the Province and that the City cannot itself remove or alter the provincial designation.

At the same time, the City has continued to maintain and update the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area framework. This has created a difficult planning overlap: properties may be located within a provincially designated TOA while also remaining subject to the City’s heritage conservation policies and development guidelines.

By 2026, City Council itself acknowledged the difficulty of reconciling the two frameworks. In June, Council passed a resolution asking the Province to exclude the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area from the Kelowna General Hospital Transit-Oriented Area.

The Residents’ and Heritage Advocates’ Position

Residents and heritage advocates have argued that the overlap creates a fundamental conflict between the scale of development contemplated by the TOA framework and the conservation objectives established for the Abbott Street HCA.

They have also pointed to provincial correspondence confirming that heritage protections continue to operate within TOAs and have called for those protections to be given meaningful effect within the Abbott Street neighbourhood.

Advocacy has included public education, petitions, media outreach and appearances before City Council, with a particular focus on protecting the portion of the Abbott Street HCA that overlaps the KGH Transit-Oriented Area.

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June 2026: Council Asks the Province to Exclude the HCA

In June 2026, the debate reached an important turning point.

At its June 15 public meeting, Kelowna City Council adopted a resolution concerning the overlap between the Kelowna General Hospital Transit-Oriented Area and the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.

On June 30, Mayor Tom Dyas formally wrote to B.C. Transportation and Transit Minister Mike Farnworth and Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Christine Boyle on behalf of Council. The letter requested that the Abbott Street HCA be excluded from the provincial TOA regulations.

Why Council Requested the Change

Mayor Dyas’s letter described the overlap as creating uncertainty and tension between heritage preservation and future growth.

The letter emphasized the Abbott Street corridor’s historic residential properties, mature streetscape and cultural value, while also noting the City’s support for provincial housing legislation and transit-oriented development more broadly.

Council’s concern was therefore specifically directed at the overlap between the TOA and the established Heritage Conservation Area rather than at transit-oriented development generally.

“We respectfully request that the Province expedites a decision on an amendment to the Kelowna General Hospital TOA designation to exclude the Abbott Street HCA.”

— Mayor Tom Dyas, on behalf of Kelowna City Council, June 30, 2026

The Province Responds

The Province subsequently declined Council’s request to amend the KGH Transit-Oriented Area designation to exclude the Abbott Street HCA.

In his response to Mayor Dyas, Transportation and Transit Minister Mike Farnworth explained that the KGH bus exchange had been designated as a TOA based on factors including frequent all-day transit service, connections to major employment and institutional destinations, and its function as a designated transit exchange.

Minister Farnworth stated that the Province was not considering an amendment to exclude the Abbott Street HCA from the KGH TOA.

But the Response Also Confirmed Heritage Powers

Importantly, the Province’s refusal to exclude the Abbott Street HCA from the KGH TOA was accompanied by another clear statement about heritage protection.

Minister Farnworth reiterated that the TOA designation does not override the Abbott Street HCA’s existing development guidelines. He stated that municipal heritage conservation protections remain in effect and specifically confirmed that local governments retain authority to refuse rezonings within TOAs for heritage-related reasons.

“Local governments retain the authority to refuse rezonings in TOAs for heritage-related reasons, in accordance with the TOA Provincial Policy Manual.”

— Mike Farnworth, Minister of Transportation and Transit, December 2, 2025

Where Things Stand

The Province has therefore declined to remove the Abbott Street HCA from the KGH Transit-Oriented Area. At the same time, it has repeatedly confirmed that the TOA does not override the HCA’s existing development guidelines and that municipal heritage conservation powers continue to operate within the TOA.

This leaves the central local question unresolved: how should Kelowna use the heritage and planning tools that remain available to reconcile increased density with the conservation objectives of the Abbott Street HCA?

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What Could Change in the HCA?

Planning policies can seem abstract until we consider what they could mean for an individual street, property or garden. In a heritage neighbourhood, changes to allowable height and density can affect not only individual buildings, but also the relationships between buildings, landscapes and public spaces that collectively create the character of the area.

The question facing the HCA is therefore about more than the preservation of individual historic houses. It is also about how future development may affect the setting in which those houses exist.

Building Height, Scale & Massing

Much of the Abbott Street HCA is characterized by relatively low-rise buildings, established setbacks and visible space between homes. These patterns allow individual buildings, gardens and mature trees to remain prominent within the streetscape.

Larger buildings can introduce very different relationships of height, massing and scale. Heritage-sensitive development therefore requires careful consideration of how new buildings relate to neighbouring properties and to the established character of the street.

Mature Trees & Landscaped Lots

Larger-scale development can also place pressure on mature trees and established landscapes, particularly where larger building footprints, underground construction, parking, servicing or excavation affect the space available for roots and vegetation.

This is why the HCA’s landscape matters in the planning discussion. The mature canopy exists across both public and private land, and the loss of individual trees or garden spaces can gradually alter the character and ecological function of the neighbourhood.

Historic Buildings & Their Setting

A historic building does not exist in isolation. Its relationship to neighbouring buildings, gardens, setbacks, trees and the street can contribute substantially to how its heritage character is experienced.

Retaining an older house while dramatically changing everything around it may preserve the building itself without necessarily preserving the broader streetscape that gives it context. This is one reason Heritage Conservation Areas consider form and character at the neighbourhood scale, rather than focusing only on individual landmark buildings.

Transitions Between Old & New

New construction is already part of the HCA’s history, and heritage conservation does not require every building to imitate the past. Contemporary architecture can contribute successfully to a historic neighbourhood when its scale, siting, proportions and relationship to the surrounding streetscape are thoughtfully considered.

The challenge is therefore not simply old versus new. It is how new development can accommodate change while respecting the characteristics that made the area worthy of conservation in the first place.

The Cumulative Effect of Change

Changes to a neighbourhood rarely happen all at once. One redevelopment, one removed tree or one altered property may seem relatively small when considered individually. Over time, however, many individual decisions can collectively transform the character of an area.

The purpose of heritage planning is therefore partly about looking beyond a single application and considering the cumulative effect of change across an entire neighbourhood and over generations.

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Explore the Documents & Decide for Yourself

The relationship between provincial housing policy, Transit-Oriented Area requirements and heritage conservation can be complicated. Rather than relying solely on summaries or interpretations, we encourage readers to explore the primary documents themselves.

The following legislation, planning documents, correspondence and Council records help explain how the current situation developed and what governments have said about the relationship between the KGH Transit-Oriented Area and the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.

Provincial Legislation & Policy

Transit-Oriented Areas legislation and regulations
The provincial framework establishing Transit-Oriented Areas and minimum allowable densities and heights near designated transit stations.

Provincial Transit-Oriented Areas Policy Manual
Provincial guidance for municipalities implementing TOA requirements, including the interaction with local planning and heritage tools.

Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area

Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area Development Guidelines
The City’s framework for managing development and conserving the area’s heritage character.

Heritage Conservation Area Guideline Review
City reports and materials documenting the recent review and update of Kelowna’s Heritage Conservation Area guidelines.

Provincial Correspondence

November 20, 2025 — Minister Christine Boyle
Correspondence explaining the Province’s position on how TOA requirements interact with municipal heritage protections.

December 2, 2025 — Minister Mike Farnworth
Further provincial correspondence regarding the KGH TOA designation and Abbott Street HCA.

City Council & Municipal Correspondence

February 23, 2026 — FRAHCAS Request to Remove the TOA from the Abbott Street HCA
Formal request from the Friends and Residents of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Areas (FRAHCAS) asking Kelowna City Council to pursue removal of the Abbott Street HCA from the KGH Transit-Oriented Area.

June 15, 2026 — Kelowna City Council Resolution
Council action requesting that the Abbott Street HCA be excluded from the provincial TOA regulations.

June 30, 2026 — Mayor Tom Dyas to Ministers Farnworth and Boyle
Mayor Dyas’s formal request, made on behalf of Council, asking the Province to amend the KGH TOA designation to exclude the Abbott Street HCA.

2026 — Minister Mike Farnworth’s Response to Mayor Dyas
The Province declined Council’s request to exclude the Abbott Street HCA from the KGH TOA, while confirming that the TOA does not override the HCA’s existing development guidelines and that local governments retain authority to refuse rezonings for heritage-related reasons.

This collection will continue to be updated as new correspondence, Council decisions, provincial guidance and other relevant records become available. Where possible, links will lead directly to original government documents or complete copies of correspondence so readers can review the source material in context.

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Learn More & Get Involved

The future of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area continues to be shaped by decisions at both the municipal and provincial levels. Understanding the issues is an important first step — and there are several ways to learn more, follow developments and participate in the conversation.

Whether you live in the HCA, work nearby, visit the neighbourhood or simply value Kelowna’s heritage places, your interest and participation can help ensure that decisions about the area’s future are informed by the people who know and use it.

Understand the TOA Issue

Learn more about the current debate surrounding the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area and Transit-Oriented Area zoning, including the background to the issue, government correspondence and the latest developments.

Follow the Latest Updates

Planning policy continues to evolve. Follow the latest Council decisions, provincial correspondence, media coverage and community updates affecting the Heritage Conservation Area.

Add Your Voice

Community participation has played an important role in protecting the Abbott Street HCA and continues to shape decisions about its future. Residents and supporters can add their voices by signing the petition and participating in opportunities for public input.

Contact Decision-Makers

Residents and members of the public can also communicate directly with elected representatives about heritage conservation, housing and planning decisions affecting the neighbourhood.

“Heritage conservation is not about preventing change. It is about ensuring that change respects the history, character and sense of place that make a neighbourhood worth caring about.”

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Maps, Resources & Walking Tours

The Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area is best understood not only through documents and photographs, but by exploring the neighbourhood itself. Its historic homes, mature trees, gardens, streetscapes and relationship with Okanagan Lake tell a story that unfolds from block to block.

This collection of maps, research resources and walking tours is designed to help residents and visitors explore that story — whether you’re researching an individual property, looking for historic information or simply taking a walk through one of Kelowna’s most distinctive neighbourhoods.

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Explore the HCA on a Map

Understanding the boundaries of the Heritage Conservation Area is an important starting point. The HCA extends through a portion of Kelowna’s historic Abbott Street neighbourhood, encompassing streets and properties that together form a distinctive historic residential landscape.

An interactive map is being developed to help visitors explore the HCA geographically. Over time, the map will identify historic properties, architectural styles, significant trees and landscapes, historic photographs, community stories and other points of interest throughout the neighbourhood.

Coming Soon: An Interactive Heritage Map

Rather than functioning as a simple boundary map, the goal is to create a growing digital guide to the neighbourhood. Visitors will eventually be able to select locations on the map to discover photographs, architectural information, historic records and stories associated with individual places.

Interactive map of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area — coming soon. Please see our blog post “Rediscovering the walking tour” that includes a walking-tour map by FRAHCAS.

What You’ll Be Able to Explore

• Heritage and character homes
• Architectural styles and notable building features
• Significant and mature trees
• Historic photographs and archival records
• Community stories and oral histories
• Changes to properties and streetscapes over time
• Important planning and heritage sites
• Stops featured in self-guided walking tours

The map will continue to grow as additional research, photographs and community contributions are collected.

Research Your Home & Neighbourhood

Every property has a story. A house that appears ordinary today may have been built more than a century ago, altered over several generations, moved from another location or connected to people and events that helped shape Kelowna’s history.

Researching an individual property can reveal when it was built, who lived there, how the building changed over time and how the surrounding neighbourhood developed. Fortunately, a surprising amount of this history can still be uncovered through maps, directories, photographs, heritage records and archival documents.

Start With the Heritage Register & Inventory

A useful first step is to determine whether a property has already been documented through Kelowna’s heritage inventory or related heritage records. These records may contain information about a building’s approximate construction date, architectural style, historic occupants, alterations and heritage significance.

Even properties that are not individually designated heritage buildings may contribute to the character of the Heritage Conservation Area and may appear in neighbourhood surveys, planning documents or historical research.

Search Historic City Directories

Historic city directories can help trace the people associated with a particular address. By following an address or resident through successive years, researchers can sometimes reconstruct decades of occupancy and learn about the occupations, businesses and families connected to a property.

Remember that street numbers and property boundaries can change over time, so an address found in an older directory may need to be compared with historic maps and other records.

Look for Historic Maps

Historic maps can reveal how the neighbourhood developed over time — when streets appeared, how properties were divided and how the relationship between the neighbourhood, Okanagan Lake and the growing city changed.

Comparing maps from different periods can also help explain why some houses sit unusually on their lots, why certain streets follow their present routes and how earlier patterns of settlement remain visible in today’s neighbourhood.

Search Archival Photographs

Historic photographs can provide some of the most compelling evidence of neighbourhood change. Images may show individual houses, streetscapes, gardens, businesses, waterfront areas, bridges or everyday life in and around the Abbott Street neighbourhood.

Not every property will have been photographed directly. Sometimes the most useful image is a wider streetscape photograph in which a house, tree line, fence or neighbouring building appears in the background.

Research tip: When searching an archive, don’t search only by a modern street address. Try street names, former residents’ names, nearby landmarks, intersections, neighbourhood names and neighbouring properties.

Follow the People

Sometimes the best way to uncover the history of a house is to research the people who lived there. Census records, newspapers, obituaries, directories and archival collections can reveal family connections, occupations, businesses and community involvement that give a property a much richer story.

These personal histories help transform heritage research from a list of construction dates and architectural features into a record of the people who actually lived in the neighbourhood.

Ask the Neighbours

Some neighbourhood history has never been formally archived. Long-time residents may remember previous owners, renovations, gardens, demolished buildings, neighbourhood businesses and stories that cannot easily be found in official records.

Photographs tucked away in family albums can be especially valuable. A casual snapshot taken decades ago may unintentionally preserve a house, streetscape or mature tree that has since changed or disappeared.

Have something to share? If you have historic photographs, documents, memories or information about a property in the HCA, we’d love to hear from you.

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Research Resources

Researching the history of a house, street or neighbourhood often means piecing together information from many different sources. The following collections are useful starting points for exploring the buildings, people and landscapes of the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.

Some resources can be searched online, while others require a visit in person. Together they can reveal everything from architectural details and former residents to historic photographs, maps and newspaper stories.

City of Kelowna Heritage Register

The City of Kelowna Heritage Register is one of the best places to begin researching a historic property. More than 200 properties are currently listed, and each listed building has a Statement of Significance explaining its heritage value and identifying its character-defining elements.

Many Abbott Street HCA properties appear in the register. Individual entries can include construction dates, architectural styles, historical occupants, builders, alterations, landscaping and other details.

Kelowna Public Archives

The Kelowna Public Archives is an essential resource for deeper neighbourhood research. Its collections include government and business records, maps, plans, private papers, biographical and information files, sound recordings and moving images.

The Archives also holds thousands of historic photographs of Kelowna and the Okanagan, with images dating back to the late nineteenth century. Not all material is available online, so an in-person research visit may uncover material that cannot easily be found through a web search.

Okanagan Regional Library

The Kelowna Downtown Library has resources that are particularly useful for researching the people connected with historic properties. Its local and genealogical holdings include historic newspapers and government records on microfilm, as well as historical and genealogical material maintained in partnership with the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society.

The library also provides access to digital research tools including Ancestry, FamilySearch, BC Historical Newspapers and Points to the Past. Points to the Past includes digitized newspapers, maps, photographs, books and the Okanagan Historical Society Annual Reports.

Research tip: Once you discover the name of a former resident through a heritage record or city directory, search that person’s name in historic newspapers and genealogical records. A house history can quickly become a family and community history.

Historic Newspapers

Newspapers can reveal information that formal heritage records often miss: property sales, construction announcements, social events, obituaries, businesses, community activities and everyday stories involving former residents.

Searching by a person’s name can sometimes be more successful than searching by street address, particularly when researching periods before modern addressing became consistent.

Genealogy & Family History

Genealogical records can help identify and follow the people who lived in the neighbourhood. Census records, family histories, directories and other sources can reveal occupations, family relationships and movements over time.

The downtown Kelowna library also offers access to FamilySearch and assistance through the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society, making it a useful starting point when research reaches beyond the history of a building itself.

Build Your Own House History

Not sure where to start? Try this research trail:

1. Start with the address — Search the Kelowna Heritage Register.

2. Record every name and date you find — Owners, occupants, builders, architects and approximate construction dates can all become new search terms.

3. Follow the people — Search directories, newspapers, census records and genealogy resources.

4. Follow the place — Look for historic maps, photographs, plans and neighbouring properties.

5. Compare past and present — Photograph the property today and note surviving architectural features, trees, gardens and streetscape elements.

6. Ask around — Long-time neighbours and former residents may know stories that were never recorded elsewhere.

7. Share what you discover — Your research may help expand our collective knowledge of the HCA and preserve stories, photographs and information that might otherwise be lost.

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Explore the HCA on Foot

One of the best ways to understand the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area is simply to walk through it.

At street level, the qualities described throughout this guide become much easier to see: houses from different periods standing side by side, mature trees forming a canopy above the street, established gardens and setbacks, changing architectural details and glimpses of Okanagan Lake between the neighbourhood’s historic streets.

A self-guided walking tour is being developed to help residents and visitors explore these features while learning about the people, buildings, landscapes and events that shaped the neighbourhood.

More Than a Tour of Historic Houses

The walking tour will not focus only on individually recognized heritage buildings. The story of the HCA is also found in modest homes, groups of buildings, streetscapes, mature trees, gardens, public spaces and the relationships between them.

Some stops will highlight architecture. Others may tell the story of a former resident, show how a streetscape changed over time, identify a significant tree or landscape feature, or pair a historic photograph with the same view today.

What to Look For as You Walk

• Changes in architectural styles from one block to the next
• Original windows, porches, doors and decorative details
• Building setbacks and the spaces between neighbouring houses
• Mature street trees and trees within private gardens
• Historic fences, pathways and landscape features
• Views toward Okanagan Lake and other neighbourhood landmarks
• Groups of houses that illustrate a particular period of development
• Newer buildings and the different ways they respond to the historic streetscape
• Evidence of how properties have changed over time
• Places connected to neighbourhood stories and former residents

You don’t need to know anything about architecture to enjoy the HCA. Simply noticing patterns — roof shapes, porches, windows, trees, setbacks and materials — can reveal how the neighbourhood developed over more than a century.

Coming Soon: The Self-Guided HCA Walking Tour

The complete walking tour will include a mapped route with numbered stops, photographs, short histories and architectural observations. Where archival material is available, historic photographs may be paired with present-day views so visitors can see how particular places have changed.

The tour will also incorporate the natural landscape, including notable trees and gardens, allowing visitors to explore the HCA as both a built and living heritage landscape.

Self-guided Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area walking tour — coming soon.

Help Us Build the Tour

Some of the most interesting neighbourhood stories may never have appeared in an official heritage record. Residents, former residents and visitors may know the history behind a house, garden, tree, pathway or other place that deserves to be included.

If you know of an unusual architectural feature, significant tree, historic photograph, neighbourhood story or simply a place you think people should stop and notice, we’d love to hear about it.

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Further Reading & Useful Links

Want to explore further? These resources provide additional information about Kelowna’s heritage, local history, planning and the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area.

This collection will continue to grow as additional historical records, research materials and community resources are identified.

Heritage & Local History

City of Kelowna — Heritage Conservation
Information about Kelowna’s heritage program, Heritage Register and conservation policies.

Kelowna Public Archives
Historic photographs, maps, plans, documents and other records relating to Kelowna and the Okanagan.

Okanagan Heritage Museum
Exhibitions and collections exploring the history and culture of the Central Okanagan.

Okanagan Regional Library — Local History & Genealogy
Research tools for historic newspapers, genealogy, local history and family research.

Trees & the Urban Landscape

Kelowna Tree Protectors
Local education, documentation and advocacy relating to mature trees and Kelowna’s urban forest, including work within the Heritage Conservation Areas.

City of Kelowna — Urban Forestry
Information about Kelowna’s urban forest, tree management and related City programs.

Planning & Heritage Policy

City of Kelowna — Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area
Current City information, policies and development guidelines applying to the HCA.

City of Kelowna — Heritage Conservation Area Guideline Review
Background, reports and materials relating to the recent review of Kelowna’s HCAs.

May 6, 2024 — HCA Review: Phase 1 & 2 Results and Next Steps
City of Kelowna staff report summarizing the first two phases of the Heritage Conservation Area Review, including findings on development and demolition trends, community consultation, heritage values, provincial housing legislation and recommendations for strengthening the HCA guidelines.

September 2025 — City of Kelowna HCA Bulletin
City of Kelowna guide explaining how the updated Heritage Conservation Area framework applies to contributory and non-contributory properties, Heritage Alteration Permit requirements, conservation incentives and changes to property classifications.

Province of British Columbia — Transit-Oriented Areas
Provincial legislation, regulations and policy guidance relating to Transit-Oriented Areas.

For correspondence, Council records and other primary documents relating specifically to the current TOA issue, see Explore the Documents & Decide for Yourself above.

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Explore. Learn. Share.

The Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area is a neighbourhood shaped by many layers of history — beginning with the enduring presence of the syilx/Okanagan people, followed by settler development and city building, generations of residents, changing architectural styles, mature landscapes and the continuing evolution of Kelowna.

Understanding that history helps us see the neighbourhood differently. A house becomes more than a building. A mature tree becomes part of a living landscape. A familiar street can reveal traces of people and places that came before us.

This guide is intended to grow alongside the community it documents. New research, archival discoveries, photographs, resident memories and contemporary stories will continue to deepen our understanding of the HCA.

If you have a story, photograph, document, correction or piece of neighbourhood history to contribute, we’d love to hear from you.

The story of the HCA isn’t finished. We’re documenting the next chapter together.

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