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The Peel house was built by Robert Peel on the southeast corner of Sicamous and Russell Streets.

Ted Peel, an Enderby resident and son of the late Mr. Bob Peel, states, "Bob Peel was born and educated in Ontario. He worked as an accountant for a year in Spokane when he was 21 years old. In 1898, he came to Enderby to work as an accountant for George Bell, owner of the Enderby Trading Company."

Bob Peel married at Revelstoke in 1900. He purchased three city lots in Enderby, covered with Cottonwood trees, to build the Peel house on in 1906. In later years, one lot was sold to the Matejkas. Thus, the Peel house property occupies lot one and lot four today.

Ted Peel tells us that Mr. Stevens, the manager of A.R. Rogers Lumber Company, began building a house on the corner of Cliff and Sicamous Streets at the same time as Bob. For this reason, the men ordered lumber together from Vancouver to build their houses. The house was  fully equipped with electricity and plumbing.

When his father died in 1924, the house was left to Bob Peel's wife. In 1960, Mrs. E. R. Broe, a widowed daughter of the Peels, moved in to live with her mother. When Mrs. Peel died, Mrs. Broe took care of the house and continued to live there until she died in 1987. Randy and Marcy Peel are the current owners.

The design of this house is most interesting. It is a stick style because of its decorative "stick work" on its exterior wooden walls. It also has a gambrel roof. The combination of these two designs is unique.

The Peel house is a two-story wooden structure with a partial basement. The basement, according to Ted Peel, has the original full cement floor which is in good condition. Each floor has three rooms. The house has only one bathroom. The interior walls are both painted and papered with decorative wainscoting. Wainscoting is a type of interior decorating whereby wooden panels cover the lower parts of the wall and the upper parts are either papered or painted.

There is a modern fireplace of green tile and tinted hardwood in the front room. The fir wood floors were covered with linoleum in the kitchen. The house was first heated by a large coal furnace located in the basement. Later an electric furnace was installed. At present, a natural gas furnace is being installed. The exterior walls of the house were painted white with black trim in 1950 and in 1974 were repainted green, according to the Enderby Museum. City Hall assessment records show that this house had an assessed value of $3180.00 in 1965.

The current owners, Randy and Marcy Peel, are now remodelling the 81-year-old heritage home to restore it to its original beauty.

Shannon Peel
ALF School 1989