Description of Historic Place

The Colquhoun Residence is a two-storey foursquare house featuring a low pitched hip roof, central porch, and multi-paned windows, located on Lakeshore Drive in Penticton, British Columbia.

Heritage Value

Built in 1938, the Colquhoun Residence is valued as an example of the kind of prestigious home built by upper middle class families in the Lakeshore Drive neighbourhood in the 1930s. It is an imposing structure with a symmetrical form, featuring a hipped roof with wide overhanging eaves, central entry porch, and pairs of multi-light windows.

The Colquhoun Residence is also notable for its association with M.M. Colquhoun, a County Court Judge, and the prominent Penticton architect, Robert Lyon. In 1938 Lyon designed many prestigious homes for important Okanagan clients, including not only Judge Colquhoun, but also Charles Tupper, MLA for Similkameen, and Mayor Hughs-Games of Kelowna. While Lyon was experimenting with art moderne and art deco designs that year, the more traditional design of the Colquhoun Residence is testimony to Lyon's versatility as an architect.

SOURCE: City of Penticton Civic File

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Colquhoun Residence include its:

-picturesque setting on a large lot on Lakeshore Drive opposite Okanagan Lake
-massing and form, including its two-storey height, hipped roof and overhanging eaves
-symmetrical arrangement of paired multi-light windows
-decorative bands around the house which emphasize its horizontality
-the glassed breakfast room on the east side of the house
-tall brick chimneys
-hipped entry porch