Heritage Value

The Plaza Hotel, built 1927-1928, is significant for its association with the Kamloops Boards of Trade, who during the 1920s were promoting Kamloops, the ‘Hub City,’ as a tourist destination. The Board’s President headed up an association of businessmen who raised $90,000 in shares to build the Plaza Hotel, intended to be the finest in British Columbia’s interior. Planned as early as 1912, a community hotel was considered an essential amenity that would appeal to the new influx of tourists travelling by motorcar. The Plaza remained popular, and by 1948 a 44-room expansion was underway. 

The Plaza remains in use today as one of the major hotels in the downtown area. The Plaza Hotel is additionally valued as a superior example of Spanish Colonial Revival design by architect Ernest T. Brown (1876-1950). Brown was born in Brighton, England, and immigrated to Canada where he trained in Guelph as an architect. Brown had a prolific career in Western Canada, working in Alberta and Saskatchewan before relocating to British Columbia in 1926. In 1927, Brown was offered the commission for the Kamloops Lodge 44 of the Benevolent Order of the Elks, which he designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The following year, Brown was selected as architect for the Plaza Hotel, again utilizing a Spanish-inspired style, popularly referred to as ‘Californian’ and symbolizing the new found freedom offered by the now readily available automobile. This style became Brown’s trademark and he subsequently received a commission in Lethbridge, Alberta for a similar community hotel. 

Additionally, the Plaza is a valued as a testament to the ability of local craftsman and the high quality materials that were available in Kamloops. Johnston & Company, led by William Henry Johnston (1864-1931). Who were retained for the project, owned the Kamloops Brickyards and were among the leading contractors in the city.

Character-Defining Elements

Key characteristics that define the heritage character of the Plaza Hotel include its:

• location at the southeast corner of Victoria Street and Fourth Avenue in downtown Kamloops
•  continuous use as a hotel
• commercial form, scale and massing as expressed by its five-storey height, rooftop patio, rectangular plan and projecting canopies
• construction materials as expressed by the rock-dash stucco on the exterior walls; metal pantile canopies and wrought-iron work; and wood construction, including wooden brackets
• Spanish Colonial Revival features such as round arches at the ground floor and upper level, top-floor corner balconies with French doors with semi-circular transoms, and outdoor rooftop patio
• early neon ‘Plaza Hotel’ sign - windows such as original storefronts at ground level and 8-over-1 double-hung wooden sash windows
• interior features such as lobby with oak floors, dining room, original room configuration, open staircase with original balustrades and newel posts, plaster mouldings wooden trim
• 1948 addition including: rock-dash stucco exterior walls; windows including 6-over-1 double-hung wooden sash windows in single and double assembly; and interior features including original room configuration