Savona home comes full circle after owner uses salvaged pieces from its original Kamloops neighbourhood
When Susan Anderson first learned that Kelson Group was harvesting salvageable items from character homes slated for deconstruction in their City Gardens development area, she didn’t hesitate to sign up.
Anderson had recently purchased a heritage home in Savona that she’d had her eye on for years, and was excited to beautify it with items from homes from the same time period. But never in her dreams did she think that not only would she find items from that time period, but that she would find these from her new home’s original neighbourhood itself.
When she learned that Kelson Group was moving and deconstructing old houses from the City Gardens development site, she also found out about the company’s work to help the community salvage old pieces from the homes to be reused and repurposed. Since then, she has worked closely with the company’s contractor, Hall Environmental, to salvage some beautiful woodwork, radiators, lead windows, and possibly a claw tub.
“I really appreciate the time and effort Bud and Sandi Hall of Hall Environmental put into recovering items for reuse and passing on pieces of sentimental value to people who had personal memories of the homes. They were extremely helpful and turned my experience into an amazing history lesson,” said Anderson.
For Anderson, the search for the old salvageable pieces of history didn’t just stop there. She was determined to find out the history of her home’s origin, in order to bring in the correct pieces. What she learned as she went on this journey, left her feeling even more in love with her new home.
Eagar to learn the history of her home’s origin, Anderson had hired a clerk in Victoria to do a land registry search. She discovered that her Savona home was first located at 421 Battle Street in Kamloops back in 1920, when Frank Keane bought a lot and built a home. Later, the home was owned by the Nye family and was eventually sold to a developer who moved the home to Savona in the early 60s to make room for The Pines apartment building that stands at this address today.
In 2017, The Pines was purchased by Ron Fawcett which started his dream to develop the area into what is now becoming City Gardens. And what was once 421 Battle Street is now 6729 Savona, with select and special pieces from houses on Battle Street bringing the house’s story a full circle.
“It has been such an interesting story and journey for Susan,” said Sandi Hall of Hall Environmental. “She and I have become friends which is special. With this project, we aren’t just helping people re-live memories and make new ones, but we are making and building relationships with people in our communities.”
This article was written in collaboration with Sandi Hall of Hall Environmental.
