Kelowna's oldest home up for sale

If you want to own a piece of Kelowna history, it'll cost you a cool $1.8 million.

For only the fifth time in its 120-year history, the W.T. Small house is for sale.

Believed to be the oldest continually inhabited home in Kelowna, the house was built in 1890, at a time when the population of Kelowna numbered fewer than 500. William Small, a partially-blind miller, built the house on what is now Coronado Crescent in the lower mission with his three sons.

A mulberry tree brought to the Okanagan by the Smalls on a horse-drawn wagon still stands next to the house and is older than the structure.

Subsequent owners, James Baillie and C. Graham made further additions to the property and then Arthur Raymer, son of Kelowna’s first mayor, bought the house in 1930.

Real estate agent Sarah Mallinson says the house is valued for its long-time connection to the Small family. William Small’s daughter, Edith, was married to Arthur Raymer. On Edith’s death the home passed to her daughter, Hilda Sinclair-Thomson and her husband Bill.

After Hilda's death, the house went to her son, Terry Sinclair-Thomson. The house was then sold to Mr. Mallinson in 2002, who added a new west wing and renovated much of the older sections.

Mallison says the house has grown from the original little log cabin to 5,900 square feet. It now boasts a gym, pool and wine room among other amenities.

Family member Tasia Olafson says she would love to see the house officially recognized as heritage home and protected.

"My Granny always wanted the house to stay in the family so it was safe," Olafson says in an email. "She was very proud of it."

The house is entered on the city’s Heritage Register as an example of early pioneer settlement and is currently listed on the MLS© with Mallinson, Royal LePage Kelowna.