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Canadian Bank of Commerce Manager's House
Nanton
Other Names:
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Bank of Commerce Manager's Residence (Old)
Bank of Commerce Residence
Bank of Commerce Residence (Old)
Bank of Nanton Manager’s Residence
Old Bank of Commerce Manager's Residence
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Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Canadian Bank of Commerce Bank Manager’s House in the Town of Nanton was built in 1909. It is a rectangular, one-and-a-half storey, wood frame house with a side-gable roof and an overall low-slung, horizontal appearance. Its front elevation features a wide, shed-roofed dormer window and a full length porch with decorative posts and fieldstone foundation. Designed in the Craftsman style, the house’s flared posts, eaves and beams portray a Japanese aesthetic. The house is situated at the corner of 24th Avenue and 20th Street (formerly Fourth Avenue and Shaw Street) and occupies one and a half urban lots. It is located in a residential neighbourhood, approximately three blocks west of Nanton’s commercial district.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Canadian Bank of Commerce Bank Manager’s House lies in it being an excellent example of a Craftsman style home. This style was a popular for middle- and professional-class residences in the pre-World War I period.
As a service centre for the regions’ ranching and farming sectors, the community of Nanton attracted many businesses and services. In 1904, the Bank of Commerce established a branch in Nanton. In December 1906, C. F. A. Gregory, of Barrie, Ontario, became the manager of the Nanton branch. In 1909, he had an impressive Craftsman style home built in town. When Gregory was transferred to Winnipeg in 1911, the house was sold to the bank, which used it as a manager’s residence until the mid-1970s.
The Craftsman style became popular in the United States around the turn of the twentieth-century. Like the larger Arts and Crafts movement, the Craftsman style was a reaction to the increasing industrialization and mechanization of society. The style was popularized by American designer and furniture manufacturer Gustav Stickley in his publication The Craftsman, in which he lauded the Arts and Crafts movement and extolled the virtues of natural materials and the benefits of craft-labour over the efficiencies of machinery and mass produced products. Craftsman style homes contained copious quantities of interior woodwork, such as exposed ceiling beams and high quality mill work; custom-fit, built-in shelving and cabinetry; built in seating, often with under seat storage, stone or petrified wood fireplaces; stone foundations; variegated exterior finishing; and exposed eaves and rafter ends. The Arts and Crafts style was also influenced by Oriental design styles and ethos. Similarly, many Craftsman bungalows had a Japanese aesthetic, which was communicated through low-slung roofs, an overall horizontal orientation, pergolas and stylized balcony pillars and rafter ends. The Craftsman style melded well with the bungalow design, which emphasised domesticity, family-life and harmony. Bungalows tended to be modest in size and usually featured open-floor plans with wide archways between rooms; large sitting rooms with fireplaces; a clear demarcation between public and private space, large verandas, and occasionally developed half-storeys.
The Bank Manager’s Residence communicates many Craftsman values and motifs. There is a high emphasis on natural materials, and craftsmanship, from the sandstone foundation, fieldstone veranda pilings and chimney to the interior wood work, such as the baseboards, wainscoting, window and door frames and wood strip floor. Entry to the house is through a wide wooden door with a lattice paned window, flanked by four-over-one paned windows. The interior features an open floor plan with wide, wood-trimmed archways, some with sliding pocket doors, defining the living room, dining room and study, and a usable upper half-story. High quality, built in cabinetry and shelving, most with latticed glass doors, are present in the living room and dining room and the living room features a large fireplace. From the street, the residence’s gently-sloped gable roof and the horizontal orientation of the front veranda, decorative beams and wide, shed-roofed dormer window, give the one and one-half-storey residence a low profile. The house also communicates a Japanese aesthetic through its tapered veranda pillars, which are echoed in the fenestration trim; the stylized design of the exposed eaves, rafter and beam ends and veranda brackets; the low-sloping, shed roofs on the dormer and side windows; the slight curvature of the main roof edge; and the use of lattices in the windows and the veranda railings. Altogether, these elements effectively set the house as being an excellent example of the Craftsman style.
Source: Alberta Culture, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 1523)
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage value of Nanton’s Canadian Bank of Commerce Bank Manager’s Residence include such elements as its:
Exterior
- low profile and horizontal orientation, communicated by the long support and decorative beams and the wide, gently-sloped dormer window;
- Japanese aesthetic, communicated by the tapered verandah pillars and window trim pieces; stylized eaves, rafter ends, and brackets; latticed verandah railing and dormer window inserts, and slight curvature of the main roof edge;
- wide veranda running the length of the front elevation;
- sandstone foundation, fieldstone veranda pilings and chimney;
- general sense of balance and symmetry of the front elevation;
- wood shingle-clad gable roof with exposed eaves;
- two four-over-one windows flanking a wide front entry door with latticed window insert;
- historic fenestration pattern.
Interior
- open floor plan with wide wood-trimmed archways separating and defining the dining room, living room and study;
- built-in cabinetry in the dining room, living room and built in sideboard in the dining room;
- extant historic window and door frames, wainscoting, mouldings, baseboards, doors and wood strip floors
- extant historic hardware, such as heating vent covers, window latches, and door and window hinges;
- sliding pocket door separating the study from the living room;
- original bathroom fixtures, including the claw foot tub, pedestal sink and toilet;
- extant historic interior finishes and materials.
Landscape
- situation on a corner lot in a residential neighbourhood.
Location
| Street Address: |
2419 - 20 Street |
| Community: |
Nanton |
| Boundaries: |
Portion of Lots 9 and 10, Block 14, Plan 2325P |
| Contributing Resources: |
Building: 1
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ATS Legal Description:
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Mer |
Rge |
Twp |
Sec |
LSD |
4
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28
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16
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15
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5 (ptn.)
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PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
2325 P
2325 P
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14
14
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9
10
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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50.345258 |
-113.779019 |
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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: |
2012/05/15 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1910 to 1910 |
| Period of Significance: |
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| 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: |
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| Builder: |
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| Context: |
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
The Bank of Commerce house was constructed in 1909 for C. F. A. Gregory, manager of the Nanton branch of the Bank of Commerce. Gregory had come from Barrie, Ontario in December 1906 to assume his new duties as bank manager and held that position until July 1911 when he was transferred to Winnipeg. In September 1911 the house was purchased from Gregory by the Bank of Commerce. The opening of the Nanton Branch on October 12, 1904 and the purchase of the house in 1911 occurred during a period of rapid expansion for the Bank of Commerce in Western Canada.
The first branch was opened in Medicine Hat on July 24, 1902 to be followed by Calgary and Edmonton in October of the same year. By 1914 an additional 51 branches had been established primarily in Southern Alberta communities. The Bank of Commerce residence is an example of Southern Alberta communities. The Bank of Commerce residence is an example of the bungalow style, which was popular between 1900 and 1920 for residential designs throughout the urban communities of Alberta. The most popular bungalow designs in Alberta resemble the Southern California Bungalow. The Bank of Nanton Manager's residence is an example of this style.
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Additional Information
| Object Number: |
4665-0603 |
| Designation File: |
DES 1523 |
| Related Listing(s): |
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| Heritage Survey File: |
HS 27414
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| Website Link: |
N/A
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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. 1523) |
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