Heritage Value

The Hayden House illustrates the strong economy in Kamloops during the boom years of the early 1900s. Spurred by the natural resource and economic boom in British Columbia, and linked to the Canadian Pacific Railway, this was a fertile location for the establishment of numerous agricultural, mining, lumber and ranching industries. Kamloops experienced unprecedented growth, speculative real estate deals and the arrival of large numbers of homesteaders into the area. Financial institutions moved into the downtown area in droves and numerous commercial businesses opened to service local industries. Downtown residential areas flourished during this time. Set on a large property, the scale and generous proportions of the Hayden House are a reflection of the prosperity of the pre-First World War era. 

The Hayden House is also significant as a fine, intact example of Edwardian-era housing built typically for the burgeoning middle class of the time. It was designed in the Foursquare style, suitable for standard urban lots, and displays its original rectangular plan, hipped roof, wrap-around verandah and substantially intact interior. Such houses were usually built from pattern book plans that were readily available at the time. The original owner was William Frank Hayden (1862-1918), an insurance agent and Canadian Pacific Railway agent who bought several lots from Mayor J.T. Robinson and Alderman John Freemont Smith as speculative property. Hayden built this house in 1911 but did not live here. A later owner of the house was Irish-born Harold William Howard (1881-1968), a Canadian National Railway agent who purchased the house in 1925, and his wife Jessie May Leary, a celebrated pianist and piano teacher. Harold was recognized for his community involvement as a director and later the chairman of the Royal Inland Hospital. Several alterations were made early on, including rear additions, extension of the verandah and the construction of a large brick chimney, that are in sympathy with the original character of the house.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Hayden House include its:

• prominent location in downtown Kamloops on Fourth Avenue, adjacent to St. Paul’s Cathedral - minimal set-back from the street, on a large corner property
• residential form, scale and cubic massing as expressed by its two-storey height with a broad hipped roof, wide eaves with exposed rafters, and hipped dormers
• Foursquare style as reflected in its symmetry, open-front verandah with wood-panelled porch columns, closed balustrade with drainage scuppers, and asymmetrical front entry - wood-frame construction with lapped siding
• external corbelled red-brick chimney
• regular fenestration, including 1-over-1 double-hung wooden sash windows in single and double assembly and rectangular coloured leaded glass window on north side