Heritage Value

The BC  Sheep Breeders Building is of value to the Kamloops’s community as a testament to the burgeoning and optimistic sheep breeding and wool industry in Kamloops in the 1920s and through its association to the BC  Sheep Breeders Association. Sheep herding became popular in Kamloops during the First World War. In 1917, the Interior Wool Grower’s Association was formed by D.W. Strachan and William Harrison to initiate a grading system for wool sold to the public, and to ensure continued profits to sheep breeders. During the 1920s, the sheep breeding industry in BC was steadily on the rise, with the largest stock of sheep in the Kamloops region, which contained over half of the 200,000 sheep in the province. By 1929 the Interior Wool Grower’s Association’s name was changed to the BC Sheep Breeders Association to reflect their broadening range of activities. At the same time, local wool production continued to rise due to stock failures around the world, and plans were underway to construct a warehouse for the production and storage of wool. This warehouse was built by W.J. Moffatt (1880-1967) a building contractor, for a total cost of $4,080 in the summer of 1929. Moffat also served as mayor of Kamloops from 1928-1931 and 1934-1935. This building served the Association until the 1960s, through a steady decline in the sheep breeding industry starting during the Depression years and subsequent competition with newly introduced synthetic fibres starting in the 1940s. Most of the sheep flocks in Kamloops had disappeared by the late 1960s, by which point the Association had only a small office in the building, renting the rest out to gain additional funds. In 1979, the building was transferred to the City of Kamloops and since 1992 it has been rented as a costume and prop storage facility by the Western Canadian Theatre Company. 

The BC Sheep Breeders Building is also valued for its association to the Canadian National Railway. In 1930 a CNR Rail spur line was built at grade to the rear of the building for loading wool and off-loading of sheep into the building. Known as the ‘Wool Spur,’ the rail line was later used by the BC  Livestock Producer’s Association for loading cattle. 

The BC Sheep Breeders Building is further valued for its vernacular industrial design as a demonstration building for the public, significant through its contextual association to the Fall Fair that was held just east of the building, and to the annual fall sheep show in Kamloops. Simple in its design, the BC  Sheep Breeders Building reflects its functional nature, including the symmetrical floor layout, sliding doors for movement of sheep and material, and clear span design allowing greater flexibility for the interior floor plan. The design also reflects its importance as the showcase building for the BC Sheep Breeders Association. The impressive heavy timber curved bow trusses, posts and laminated ribs enabled a column-free interior, which allowed sheep and wool to be displayed during the popular Kamloops Fall Fairs, usually held in September, and the Annual Sheep and Ram Sales in October.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the B.C. Sheep Breeders Building include its:

• location on a sloping site off Lorne Street east of downtown Kamloops
• location just north of a CNR spur line
• industrial form, scale and massing as expressed by its rectangular plan with bow roof and raised front parapets - concrete foundation and wood-frame clear-span construction, with wooden bow trusses, laminated ribs and heavy timber posts
• original wooden drop siding with cornerboards
• vernacular industrial design, such as symmetrical curved parapets at front and rear of building, and sliding wood doors at front, side and rear
• regular fenestration including double-hung, 1-over-1 and 4-over-2 wooden sash windows in single assembly, with vertically-proportioned panes typical of the 1920s - internal red-brick chimney
• interior features including: heavy timber bow truss system with laminated ribs and curved trusses; wooden plank floors and tongue-and-groove plank fir walls; and functional interior design as expressed through the delineation of space with the storage and display at the rear and offices at the front