Kamloops Heritage Register - City of Kamloops

CITY OF KAMLOOPS HERITAGE REGISTER 2007-2008
B.C. SHEEP BREEDERS BUILDING
961 LORNE STREET
Description of Historic Place
The B.C. Sheep Breeders Building is located on the south side of Lorne Street, at the east end of
downtown Kamloops, and is situated close to a CNR spur line. Displaying a simple industrial
vernacular in its form and massing on the exterior with curved façade parapets at the front and
rear, the interior features spectacular wood-frame clear-span construction with laminated wood
bow trusses.
Heritage Value
The B.C. 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 B.C. 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 B.C. 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 B.C. 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 B.C. 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 B.C. Livestock Producer’s Association for loading cattle.
The B.C. 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 B.C. 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
Donald Luxton & Associates Inc.: 2008
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