New lease on life for old Kelowna bricks

KELOWNA — Some building bricks of historical significance in Kelowna are getting a new lease on life.

An old brick building in downtown Kelowna is being demolished to make way for a new hotel.

When the stucco exterior was recently stripped away, it revealed bricks that were made early last century from clay taken from nearby Knox Mountain.

The bricks are being salvaged mostly for use in other construction projects.

“Some will go to the museum, the largest portion will go to the City of Kelowna which will store them. The Laurel building is made of these bricks, there’s a number of buildings downtown. On some of the work they will do on revitalization projects, I believe they will employ some of these bricks,” says Gail Temple with Westcorp.

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Some of the bricks will also be used on a renovation project at the nearby Kelly O’Bryans restaurant, which was built using the same Knox Mountain bricks. The Kelowna Brick Works company operated from about 1905 to the late 1930’s.