HARVEY/ROBINSON HOUSE
171 BATTLE ST W.jpg This home was originally owned by W.J.C. Hibbert, an official with the People’s Trust Company, who went bankrupt following a fraud scandal while the house was under construction in 1913. Ownership was assumed by R.H. Lee after his daughter Edith annulled her marriage to the now-impoverished Hibbert. Dr. H.A. Harvey bought and completed the house and resided here until selling it to J.T. Robinson, whose contributions to Kamloops civic life were many. A president of the Kamloops Board of Trade, Robinson co-founded the Kamloops Standard in 1897, a conservative newspaper that merged with the Inland Sentinel. Robinson served as mayor from 1908 to 1913, a period of rapid growth driven partly by the construction of the CPR. Robinson was also chair of the hospital board that oversaw the transition from the Kamloops Hospital on Lorne Street to the expanded Royal Inland Hospital, completed in 1912. Subsequently, four physicians owned and maintained this heritage house.

The home was designed by Kaufman and Phillips Architects in the Tudor style and features a double gabled front with dormer windows. The original horse and buggy carriageway, multi-paned windows, cedar shingle and shiplap sidings also add to its character.

Source: Kamloops Heritage Commission