Alberta Register of Historic Places

Perrenoud Homestead

Cochrane, Near

Other Names:

Perrenoud House

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Perrenoud Homestead is situated on 4.5 hectares (11.1 acres) of land just north of Cochrane. The main building is a two-storey 1910 wood frame home featuring a hipped roof, a verandah on the west and south-facing bay windows. The site also includes a blacksmith shop, granaries, a sawmill, and a cattle loading chute.

Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Perrenoud Homestead lies in its association with early ranching operations in southern Alberta.

The Perrenoud Homestead site serves as a vital link to the establishment of ranching in Alberta in the 1880s and 1890s. The land on which the Perrenoud Homestead is located was originally part of the massive grazing lease granted in the early 1880s to the Cochrane Ranche Company, the pioneering cattle operation organized by eastern capitalist and Senator Matthew Cochrane. Cochrane had been instrumental in securing amendments to the Dominion Lands Act to allow for large grazing leases in western Canada and his massive venture - the first large-scale ranching operation in southern Alberta - attracted other settlers and ranchers to the region, including Charles Perrenoud. Born in France in 1863 and trained as a jeweller, Perrenoud came to Western Canada in 1886 to set up a ranching operation. After several years working on ranches at Sheep Creek and Mortimer Coulee, he staked his claim in the early 1890s to a homestead north of present-day Cochrane on lands formerly leased by the Cochrane Ranche Company. With the help of his younger brother Ernest, who had arrived in 1888, Charles established a horse ranch on his claim and eventually amassed a herd of 1900 saddle and work horses, including Hackneys, German Coach horses, Clydesdales, and Shires. The Perrenouds were one of several French families in the area and participated in the early efforts to profitably establish ranching in southern Alberta, particularly in the Cochrane region.

The homestead includes buildings that reflect both the domestic and work lives of the Perrenoud family. The two-storey wood frame house was built in 1910, replacing a log house used by Charles since 1889 and his wife Laura after the pair married in 1902. The log house was demolished in 2016. The home is a basic, but comfortable, square building with a hipped roof and little ornamentation. Notable features of the house are the verandah on the west side that is connected by a deck to the open porch at the front door, which is flanked by two bay windows. The home's simplicity suggests that the contractors, the Chapman Brothers of Cochrane, may have employed a standard plan in constructing the house. There is a high degree of original fabric on both the exterior and the interior of the home. The site also has several buildings and structures associated with the practical requirements of ranching, including a blacksmith shop, granaries, a sawmill, and a cattle loading chute.

Source: Alberta Arts, Culture and Status of Women, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: DES 1053)

Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of the Perrenoud Homestead include such features as:

Site:
- shelter belt of mature evergreens defining the western edge of the property along the access road;
- mature clump of poplar and evergreens and caragana to the east of the house, planted in 1911;
- associated artifact collection;
- unobstructed view of the house from the road;
- spatial and visual relationship between the extant buildings, with the house separated from the working buildings by plantings to the north and east; and
- circulation pattern.

1910 House:
- scale, mass, form, and style;
- hipped roof with corbelled chimney stack;
- clapboard siding;
- verandah elevation featuring turned posts, gingerbread trim and balustraded railing;
- deck with balustrade extending across the south elevation to join the verandah with an open porch at the front door;
- fenestration pattern and style, including double hung windows and two bay windows on south elevation;
- panelled front door with sidelights;
- original interior elements, including fir tongue and groove flooring and dark-stained tongue and groove pine panelling;
- mature clump of poplar and evergreens and caragana to the east of the house, planted in 1911; and
- associated artifact collection.

Ancillary buildings and structures, including:
- blacksmith shop;
- granaries;
- sawmill;
- cattle loading chute;
- wood frame car garage;
- interconnected log feed sheds; and
- root cellar ruin.

Location

Street Address:
Community:	Cochrane, Near
Boundaries:	Block 1, Plan 8811026
Contributing Resources:	Buildings: 5 Landscape(s) or Landscape Feature(s): 1 Structures: 1

ATS Legal Description:

Mer	Rge	Twp	Sec	LSD
5	4	27	4	3 (ptn.)

PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):

Plan	Block	Lot	Parcel
8811026	1	N/A

Latitude/Longitude:

Latitude	Longitude	CDT	Datum Type
51.272410	-114.510232	Secondary Source	NAD83

UTM Reference:

Northing	Easting	Zone	CDT	Datum Type

Recognition

Recognition Authority:	Province of Alberta
Designation Status:	Provincial Historic Resource
Date of Designation:	1992/11/04

Historical Information

Built:	1910 to 1910
Period of Significance:	N/A
Theme(s):	Developing Economies : Extraction and Production
Historic Function(s):	Food Supply : Farm or Ranch Residence : Single Dwelling
Current Function(s):	Leisure : Historic or Interpretive Site
Architect:
Builder:	Chapman Brothers of Cochrane
Context:	HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE Charles Perrenoud was born in 1863 in Besancon, a town in the French Alps. He immigrated to Canada in 1886 where he spent his first year at the Winterbottom Ranch on Sheep Creek learning about the operations of the ranch. In 1888 his young brother Ernest arrived from France and the two moved to Mortimer Coulee in the Cochrane area to establish their own ranch. Cochrane was the site of the first large-scale ranching operation in Southern Alberta. Charles and Ernest were successful in establishing themselves as horse ranchers in this area. By 1910 Perrenoud could afford to build a new house which was constructed using lumber brought in from British Columbia.

Additional Information

Object Number:	4665-0439
Designation File:	DES 1053
Related Listing(s):
Heritage Survey File:	HS 75081
Website Link:
Data Source:	Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (File: Des. 1053)