Casorso Block

The Casorso Block has value for its close association with the Casorso family, which has been an active part of the evolving Kelowna community since the 1880s; and for its being a prominent landmark and a quality design that has accommodated a range of commercial and institutional uses since its construction in 1913.

The building's historical significance relates largely to its connections with Kelowna's prominent Casorso family. Giovanni (John) Casorso came to British Columbia from Italy in 1883, and went to Kelowna to work for Father Pandosy at the Okanagan Mission. He took up a pre-emption next to the Mission and developed the extensive Pioneer Ranch, in which seven of his eight sons would become partners.

In 1912 one son, Joe Casorso, encouraged his brothers to open a retail butcher shop, as Kelowna was not well served with meat supply at that time, an indication of the immaturity of the community. The shop was operated by Claude Newby and Leo Casorso. The family's entrepreneurial spirit is seen in their building the three-storey Casorso Block the following year. It accommodated not only the butcher shop(the 'Sanitary Meat Market'), but also developed a market for their products by housing an ice-making plant, which supplied home ice-boxes and provided ice for cooling rail cars carrying fruit out of Kelowna. The building's second floor contained offices. The building has further value because its top storey was rented to the provincial government for a courthouse and temporary jail, an arrangement that lasted thirty years, thanks to the Casorsos' political connections.

Joe Casorso turned management of Casorso's Meat Market over to others in the 1920s and he went into vegetable and fruit growing, then ranching. Daniel K. Gordon, mayor of Kelowna in 1932, worked first as manager of and then partner in the Casorso Brothers' butcher shop, and later managed a chain from Kamloops to Penticton. This shop was renamed D.K. Gordon Meat Market in 1935. About 1960 the Casorsos sold the building to another politically-connected Kelowna entrepreneur, W.A.C. Bennett. He in turn resold it to Fumerton's Department Store, which expanded its adjoining store into it.

The building also has considerable architectural value. It is a landmark for being a rare three-storey building, contrasting with the dominant one- and two-storey commercial structures along Bernard Avenue. It is a good example of the Edwardian Commercial style, displaying a more classical manner than most other retail and office buildings of the time. Its scale reveals the confidence that the Casorsos had in the continuing economic growth of young Kelowna.