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Marshall McLuhan House
Edmonton
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Marshall McLuhan house sits mid block on 64 Street NW in the historic Highlands Neighbourhood. The house is set at top of a hill and set back from the street.
Heritage Value
The Marshall McLuhan house with its Craftsman bungalow style is a front gable, low pitch roof structure with a full open verandah which is also a front gable. The verandah has tapered square columns with concrete block piers. The house has wood horizontal cladding on the ground floor and cedar shingles in the gable ends plus double hung wooden sash windows.
The heritage value also lies with Marshall McLuhan who was born in Edmonton in 1911 and lived here with his parents from 1912 to 1915. He received a PhD from Cambridge in 1934 and taught English at various U.S. colleges before settling at the University of Toronto in 1944. His main interests were language and perception, and how the mass media manipulates them. He coined the phrase “the medium is the message”, and was known for his views on television. Marshall McLuhan died in Toronto in 1980, at the age of 69.
Herbert and Elsie McLuhan, Marshall’s parents, purchased this land in August 1912, having already received a permit to build a $3000 house on it. The home was designed by Nesbitt & Morehouse and built by Bailey & Berry. In 1915, the McLuhans moved to Winnipeg but continued to own the house in 1923, when Gladys Griffith, a teacher and assistant principal at the Highlands School bought the house.
Character-Defining Elements
The character defining elements as expressed in the form, massing and materials of the Marshall McLuhan House include:
• Craftsman bungalow style form, scale and mass of the McLuhan house;
• front gable with low pitch roof of the main house;
• front gable verandah with low pitch roof, tapered square columns and concrete block piers;
• horizontal wood cladding on the main floor and cedar shingles on the second floor;
• bay window on the south elevation;
• cable front dormers on roof facing north and south; and
• wood front door and double hung wooden sash windows.
Location
| Street Address: |
11342 – 64 Street NW |
| Community: |
Edmonton |
| Boundaries: |
Lot 17, Block 25, Plan 4065AE |
| Contributing Resources: |
Building: 1
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ATS Legal Description:
PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
4065AE
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25
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17
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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53.5676 |
-113.4385 |
Secondary Source |
NAD83 |
UTM Reference:
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Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Local Governments (AB) |
| Designation Status: |
Municipal Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
2013/07/17 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1912/01/01 |
| Period of Significance: |
1912 - Present |
| Theme(s): |
Peopling the Land : Settlement
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| Historic Function(s): |
Residence : Single Dwelling
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| Current Function(s): |
Education : Museum
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| Architect: |
Nesbitt and Morehouse
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| Builder: |
Bailey and Berry
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| Context: |
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Additional Information
| Object Number: |
4664-0389 |
| Designation File: |
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| Related Listing(s): |
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| Heritage Survey File: |
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| Website Link: |
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| Data Source: |
City of Edmonton, Sustainable Development Department, 10250 - 101 Street NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 3P4 (POSSE File: 000659588-003) |
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