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Holgate Residence
Edmonton
Other Names:
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Bidwell/Holgate Mansion
Holgate House
Holgate Mansion
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Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
Holgate Residence is a two and one-half storey brick and stucco-clad wood frame building located on a single lot in Edmonton's Highlands district. The ground floor of the building boasts a grand veranda encircled by simple, white Tuscan columns. The upper storey and a half are composed of exposed wood framing infilled with stucco, creating a "half-timbered" appearance.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of Holgate Residence lies in its association with Edmonton's pre-World War One housing boom, its representation of the housing and lifestyle of highly successful businessman Bidwell Holgate and his social class, and its eclectic architectural style.
Between 1905 and 1913, the housing market in Edmonton experienced dramatic growth. Spurred in part by a series of major agreements between railway companies and the Town of Edmonton, the housing boom swelled the town's population and created 274 new subdivisions. Unlike other Western Canadian centres, where land development was directed by the Hudson's Bay Company or the railway companies, Edmonton's growth was fueled by the energy and entrepreneurship of the local business community.
One of the most significant figures in Edmonton's pre-war land boom was Bidwell Holgate. In 1909, Holgate partnered with William J. Magrath to establish the Magrath Holgate Company. The firm was involved in numerous projects to establish residential areas for Edmonton's burgeoning population, the most ambitious of which was the creation, development, and promotion of the Highlands district of Edmonton. Hoping to make the area into an exclusive residential neighbourhood, Magrath and Holgate built their own stately and elegant homes in the Highlands, anticipating that other prominent Edmontonians would be moved to construct similarly impressive houses in the district.
Built in 1912, the Holgate Residence exhibits the eclectic architectural vision of well-known Edmonton architect Ernest W. Morehouse. The home's design combines several architectural styles prominent during the Edwardian period. The highly influential Arts and Crafts Movement, which stressed the use of natural, hand-crafted materials and the vernacular forms of English rural architecture, is apparent in the finely crafted, intricately detailed elements of the home's interior. Other influences are also apparent: the asymmetrical massing and stucco-filled wooden-framing - or "half-timbering" - of the exterior showcase the architect's interest in the Tudor Revival style, while the classicist emphasis of the Georgian Revival style is evident in the simple, white Tuscan columns of the exterior and the more elaborate, oak-carved Ionic columns of the interior. The overall effect of this mingling of architectural styles is one of solidity, unity, and relaxed formality.
Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 1326)
Character-Defining Elements
The heritage value of Holgate Residence lies in such exterior character-defining elements as:
- form, scale and complex massing;
- steeply pitched gable roof, deep roof overhang, wide and open eaves, exposed rafter ends, decorative fascia and ridge capping boards, intersecting gable roof masses, shed dormers, and corbelled brick chimneys;
- half-timbering in a mock Tudor arch
- use of Redcliff face brick, wood framing, and stucco;
- wrought iron gate and open-air main floor verandah encircled by Tuscan columns;
- second floor sunroof with sleeping porches;
- fenestration pattern including multi-paned upper sash over simple lower sash windows.
The heritage value of the Holgate Residence lies in such interior character-defining elements as:
- asymmetrical floor plane including curved walls, room divisions, and staircases;
- oak-carved Ionic columns;
- extensive use of hand-carved, hand-finished wood, ceramic tiles, leaded and bevelled glass, coloured and textured glass;
- frescoes, linen wallpaper, ornate cornices and dentils, exposed ceiling beams, intricate mouldings, doors, wainscoting, carved balustrade;
- built-in bookshelves, liquor cabinet, and oak buffet;
- exposed oak beams and panelling, oak parquet floors, mahogany trim;
- unimpeded view of the North Saskatchewan River valley;
- linen chute, built-in vacuum system.
Location
| Street Address: |
6210 Ada Boulevard NW |
| Community: |
Edmonton |
| Boundaries: |
Portion of Lot E, Block 9, Plan 5582KS |
| Contributing Resources: |
Buildings: 1
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ATS Legal Description:
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Mer |
Rge |
Twp |
Sec |
LSD |
4
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24
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53
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11
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11 (ptn.)
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PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
5582 KS
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9
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E
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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53.563703 |
-113.432335 |
GPS |
NAD 83 |
UTM Reference:
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Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Province of Alberta |
| Designation Status: |
Provincial Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
1987/05/06 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1912 to 1912 |
| Period of Significance: |
N/A |
| Theme(s): |
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life : Architecture and Design
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| Historic Function(s): |
Residence : Single Dwelling
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| Current Function(s): |
Residence : Single Dwelling
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| Architect: |
Ernest W. Morehouse
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| Builder: |
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| Context: |
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
Bidwell A. Holgate and his business associate W.A. Magrath played an important role in the real estate boom, which occurred in Edmonton prior to World War One. Holgate's involvement in the Edmonton real estate market began in 1909 when he bought out J.H. Hart's investment in the firm of Magrath, Hart and Co. The company was renamed Magrath-Holgate and Co. with Holgate serving as the administrative and financier while Magrath consistently fulfilled the public role as the company's official spokesman. The most important project of the new company was the promotion and development of the Highlands subdivision. It was their intention to create an upper class residential district. As part of their development activities, they invest $10,000 in 1911 to provide services such as streetcar lines, lights and power, water, sewers, telephone lines and sidewalks in order to link it with the City of Edmonton.
In October 1912, only a few months after construction had begun on the Holgate residence, William Magrath and Bidwell Holgate announced the retirement of their firm from the active business field. The reason cited was that Magrath wished to devote his energies fro what was ultimately an unsuccessful mayoralty bid in December of that year. Despite their expressed intention to live in comparative retirement, the firm continued to remain active and prosperous.
As one of the biggest of Edmonton's real estate firms, Magrath-Holgate Co. Ltd must have suffered tremendous financial and property losses from the collapse of the real estate market, yet the company remained in existence until 1921, a year after the death of William Magrath. Also in 1921, the Holgate family moved out of the residence at 6210 Ada Boulevard and into another one of Holgate's properties located at 6010 Jasper Avenue. Holgate apparently went into full retirement from the real estate business in 1923. While in hospital for diabetic treatments, he contracted pneumonia and died suddenly on November 27, 1928.
The Holgate residence is representative of a relatively small number of private homes constructed by the wealthy between the turn of the century and 1914 in Edmonton. Its designer, William Morehouse, was a prominent Edmonton architect who also designed the Magrath Mansion as well as various commercial buildings and at least one church.
The Holgate residence reflects the architectural trends of the Edwardian period which ws influenced by the neo-Georgian domestic revival and the Arts and Craft movement. A significant source for Arts and Craft architecture was the Elizabethan Stylr from the late 16th cebtury. As seen in the Holgate Residence, the imitation of half-timbering, the complex roof massing, the step pitch of the gable rood, multi-paned windows and the classical detailing - as the eaves brackets and Tuscan porch columns - indicate and Elizabethan source was employed.
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Additional Information
| Object Number: |
4665-0516 |
| Designation File: |
DES 1326 |
| Related Listing(s): |
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| Heritage Survey File: |
HS 29805
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| Website Link: |
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| 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. 1326) |
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