Key Number:	HS 20678
Site Name:	McLean Residence
Other Names:
Site Type:	0101 - Residential: Single Dwelling

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			52	24	4

Address:	10454 - 84 Avenue
Number:	54
Street:	104
Avenue:	84
Other:
Town:	Edmonton
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:	Queen Anne Revival
Plan Shape:	Irregular
Storeys:	Storeys: 2
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Concrete
Superstructure:	Nailed Frame
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:	Cross Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:	Wall Design and Detail: Column or Engaged Column Wall Design and Detail: Corner Board Main Porch - Type: Open Verandah
Exterior:	The elaborately scrolled woodwork of the barge board, verandah trim, the turned support posts and finials, and the moderate textural diversity of the exterior covering (clapboard and shingles) are characteristic of the 'carpenter gothic' interpretation of the 19th century gothic revival style. Fishscale shingle on gable ends; barge board; verandah, Eastlake details, turned posts on open verandah (wrap around).
Interior:	The interior of the house shows a remarkable lack of structural change with almost all of the original functions of the living space maintained intact. Modernization has changed some functions like bathrooms, but the floor plan shows no major disruptions from the original layout.
Environment:	Neighbourhood: Strathcona Located in the Historic Strathcona District.
Condition:	The structure is in good condition with no extensive exterior changes.
Alterations:	Modernization of the bathroom and kitchen only.

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Constructed	1896/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Dwelling Residence	1896/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
Arthur McLean Old Strathcona Foundation	1896/01/01 1977/10/17

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	Bessit Brothers of Strathcona.
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	The McLean House was built in 1896 for Arthur McLean, an aggressive pioneer businessman of the new settlement of South Edmonton (Strathcona). His contribution to Strathcona and Edmonton history and development was typical of the myriad of pioneer entrepreneurs who built the foundations of commerce in the multitude of new communities which sprang up during the settlement of western Canada. During his relatively short time in Strathcona, for he died in 1916, he was active in school, church and community affairs, helping to build a strong community. The house he built for his family was a substantial residential structure for its time. From 1896 until 1977 the house remained the property of the McLean family. 1908 - McLean, Authur / McLean & Co. Ltd. Owner - MacLean 9528 - 77 Street. Tenant - Mr. Brady. 1909 Art MacLean - Hardware. ***** Arthur McLean established a hardware business at (10044 Whyte) in c.1893. The house remained with the McLean family until purchased by Old Strathcona Foundation in 1976. It was designated a Registered Historic Site by the Provincial Government. McLean served on town council of Strathcona (1901-02), helped erect. Holy Trinity Anglican church, was a member of the School Board, and died in 1916. McLean was listed in Strathcona (without address); first confirmed date 1908 (at 'NE corner 2nd Ave & 1 St. W') *** Bulletin, June 16, 1916: 'HEART FAILURE CALLS PIONEER BUSINESS MAN' Arthur McLean, 23 Year Resident of City, Dies at South Side Home. The death took place at the family residence yesterday at 84th Avenue and 105 Street of Mr. Arthur McLean, aged 60 years, pioneer of the south side and hardware merchant of the city. Death came as result of heart failure after a short illness. The deceased is survived by a wife and two sons, Cedric, the eldest, who runs the hardware business on Whyte Avenue, established by his father 23 years ago in Strathcona, and the younger son, aged 19, who is serving with the colors in the 202 Sportsmen’s Battalion, now at Sarcee Camp, Calgary. Mr. McLean was born in Middlesex county, Ont., coming to Brandon, Manitoba, when a young man where he was prominent as one of the best known athletes of Western Canada. He was a great hockey enthusiast and a record maker in the 100 yard and 220 yard dash. On coming to Strathcona in 1893, Mr. McLean located in the hardware business on the South Side, in which he has been successfully engaged since, until his retirement from business a short time ago. Funeral arrangements are in charge of H.W. Tylor, undertaker, of the South Side. Funeral will take place on Saturday afternoon at 2:30. As the deceased was so widely known, a large attendance may be expected at the ceremony.' Bulletin, June 17, 1916: 'FUNERALS The funeral of the late Arthur McLean, pioneer hardware merchant of South Edmonton, will be held from the family residence, corner of 105th Street and 84 Avenue, this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.' Bulletin, June 19, 1916: 'MEMORIAL SERVICES IN CITY CHURCHES Appropriate References Are Made To Deaths of Well Known Members. In memoriam a large number of old timers of South Edmonton attended the funeral of Arthur McLean, which was held on Saturday afternoon from the family residence, corner of 105 Street and 84 Avenue, to Mount Pleasant cemetery, and the memorial service at Holy Trinity church on Sunday morning. Both services were conducted by Rev. C. Carruthers, rector of Holy Trinity church, who preached from the text, 'Prepare to meet thy God.' He outlined the features of the life and work of Mr. McLean in the church and the community. As one of the pioneer members of the church he had suggested the name Holy Trinity for the church and had held several offices in the parish and also in the civic life of the community. The large attendance of friends and neighbors was a testimony to the respect and esteem in which he was held and a token of sympathy with the bereaved family.' 'McLean House designated The province has designated McLean House in Old Strathcona a registered historic resource, qualifying it for consulting assistance whenever maintenance, renovation or restoration are proposed. The house, at 10454 - 84th Avenue was built for businessman Arthur McLean in 1896.' Wednesday, September 6, 1978's Bulletin 'New owner must restore exterior Historic Strathcona house put up for sale The Old Strathcona Foundation is putting the old MacLean House at 10454 - 84th Avenue up for sale. The foundation purchased the house three years ago but held onto it until the new Alberta Historical Resources Act was passed giving it authority to place a restrictive caveat on the 84 year-old house. This means that, by power of the Act, any party or parties purchasing the home must honor its historical significance and must be willing to perform a bond ensuring that restoration of the exterior be adhered to. The interior design is left up to the discretion of the owner. General manager of the foundation Jock Fyfe is now taking bids for the house, based on market value, with the stipulation that the owner be ready to restore the exterior as a residence and use the home for that purpose. 'It is the first project in Edmonton - or Alberta for that matter - since the act was created and we hope it will set a pattern of what will happen with Heritage Canada and city-owned houses.' The purpose of the caveat is solely to have the houses restored and turned back to the private sector', Mr. Fyfe says. The MacLean House was built around 1894 by Art MacLean, who owned a hardware store in 1902. The house is currently being rented and the tenants will remain there until it is sold. Heritage Canada has five houses on 104th Street north of 86th Avenue and sixth between 103rd and 104th Street and Saskachewan Drive. The number of city owned houses that will go on sale in the future will depend on how many can be declared 'historical resources' under the new act, which means those built prior to the 1912 cut off date. 'Strathcona residence in 'sad shape' By JAC MACDONALD Journal staff Writer Like a war veteran proudly bearing his decorations, the historic but deteriorated home of pioneer merchant Arthur McLean sports a bright green plaque near its front door indicating its new found status as registered historic resource. But the designation, which was given last week by Alberta Culture, isn't all that is needed to save the 89-year-old rambling white frame two-storey at 10454 84 Ave. Other than linoleum flooring in the kitchen and a new toilet, the plaque is the only improvement the house has seen for some time. Even its cash-strapped owner - the Old Strathcona Foundation - admits the home is showing signs of age. 'There's no question but that the house is in sad shape,' Foundation administrator Wes Candler said. 'We probably have not been paying as much attention to it as we should.' The Foundation purchased the house in 1976 for $40,000 'to restore it and protect it' from area redevelopment. Restoration costs were then estimated at $50,000. 'Unfortunately we have not been able to restore it due to lack of funds and our focus on other buildings in the area,' Candler said. The floors need repairs and earth is spilling through the brick basement walls. The sagging roof is missing shingles and has leaked through the bathroom ceiling exposing the lath. While an umbrella isn't mandatory equipment while using the bathroom during a rain or melting period, a number of buckets are required, tenant Carol Arnold mused. 'Tremendous' heating bills won't thaw out the pipes to the upstairs bathroom during periods of extreme cold, she added. While she loves the house, it is 'really run down. But if you want to live around here, it goes with the territory.' Arnold, her husband Stephen and their two children have lived in the house for a year. She has urged the Foundation to repair the house for its basic preservation. A building evaluation prepared for Alberta Culture in 1982 said the house is structurally sound, slightly modernized, but with no major interior or exterior alterations. 'When we say it is structurally sound, we mean it isn't going to fall over tomorrow,' Alberta Culture's historic site designation officer Art Looye said. 'But there are problems requiring remedial work.' Looye said the building rates as a site of 'regional historic importance,' considering the neighbourhood, Arthur McLean's involvement in the early business and political community, and the style of the house. The four-bedroom home is s aid to be of Gothic Revival style - a romantic design with steep gable roofs. Inside it features maple flooring in the hall, living and dining rooms. The house has a built-in an oak corner china cabinet. The ornate oak moldings and trim are all painted over. A large verandah wraps around the west and south sides of the house. The use of gingerbread trim on the verandah reflects the rich decorative fashion of the late 19th Century. The gable ends have gingerbread trim projecting from the edges of the roof and overlapping curved shingles which give the gable a scaled appearance. This is also in keeping with the detail of the era. McLean was born in Middlesex County, Ont. Before coming to Alberta, he lived in Brandon, Man., where he was known as a hockey enthusiast and a record-holder in the 100 and 200-yard dashes. He moved to Strathcona in 1892 where he established a hardware business. He built his house four years later. McLean served on Strathcona's school board and town council in 1901 and 1902, and helped establish of Holy Trinity Anglican Church. He died at the age of 60 in 1908. His wife, Maria Agnes McLean, lived in the house until her death in 1951. One of their two sons lived in the house until 1955, although it remained in the family's possession until 1976 when it was purchased by the foundation.' *** Arthur McLean arrived in Strathcona from Ontario in 1892. When he wasn't working at his hardware business, McLean was very involved in community affairs. He served as a member of one of Strathcona's first school boards, was elected to the town council in 1901 and 1902 and participated in the establishment of Holy Trinity Anglican Church (number 29), where he was a vestryman. The house McLean built himself in 1896 is a good example of the most popular style of architecture in the late nineteenth century. Built before the time when brick became the usual construction material for large houses in Strathcona, this wood frame house has many features characteristic of the Queen Anne Style. It has a varied roof line and an irregular plan; there two different types of siding - clapboard and fishscale shingles - and fancy 'gingerbread' trim; and the wrap-around porch completes the scheme. There are many other wood frame houses in Strathcona which are variations of the Queen Anne Style, but the McLean residence is one of the best examples. It was owned by the Old Strathcona Foundation when it was designated a Registered Historical Resource in 1983. *** In addition to running a successful hardware business, Arthur McLean was active in community affairs, serving as a Councilor and a School Board member, and participated in the establishment of Holy Trinity Anglican Church. The house that he built just four years after his arrival from Ontario still stands, and is one of the earliest surviving houses in Strathcona. The Bessit Brothers were the contractors that McLean chose to build this house. It is a simple venacular frame structure in the Queen Anne Revival Style, with unusually fine carpenter ornamentation (known as 'gingerbread') in the gable ends and on the wraparound verandah. The location of this house reminds us that corner lots were the most desirable in the newly subdivided sections of early communities, and were the first to be built on. The McLean Residence remained in the McLean family until it was purchased by the Old Strathcona Foundation in 1976. * * * SITE DATA FORM BUILDING/SITE DESCRIPTION: The two and one half storey McLean House is situated on one lot of a two-lot site. The building is structurally sound with no major faults obvious. The interior of the house shows a remarkable lack of structural change with almost all of the original functions of the living space maintained intact. Modernization has changed some functions like bathrooms, but the floor plan shows no major disruptions from the original layout. The exterior of the building is decorated in 'carpenter gothic' wooden trim over a frame structure all sitting on a stone foundation. The site is well treed, surrounded by a dense caragana hedge, located in a residential neighbourhood and in the Strathcona Heritage Preservation Area. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The McLean House was built in 1896 for Arthur McLean, an aggressive pioneer businessman of the new settlement of South Edmonton (Strathcona). His contribution to Strathcona and Edmonton history and development was typical of the myriad of pioneer entrepreneurs who built the foundations of commerce in the multitude of new communities which sprang up during the settlement of western Canada. During his relatively short time in Strathcona, for he died in 1908, he was active in school, church and community affairs, helping to build a strong community. The house he built for his family was a substantial residential structure for its time. From 1896 until 1977 the house remained the property of the McLean family. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: The McLean House was built in 1896 by the Bessit Brothers of Strathcona. The structure is frame on a stone foundation. The exterior treatment, general appearance and plan of the house are characteristic of late 19th century residential architecture. With regard to the exterior treatment the house is given a gothic appearance. The elaborately scrolled woodwork of the barge board, verandah trim, the turned support posts and finals, and the moderate textural diversity of the exterior covering (clapboard and shingles) are characteristic of the 'carpenter gothic' interpretation of the 19th century gothic revival style. MCLEAN HOUSE ... It was into this developing commercial environment that Arthur McLean arrived in 1892 or 1893. By 1894 his hardware business located at 39 Whyte Avenue beside the Commercial Hotel was prominent in the business district. For about twenty years, from 1894 to 1914, the business of McLean & Co. served the needs of Strathcona and district. McLean appears to have been an aggressive businessman, instituting a 'cash only' policy for his store as of November 12, 1894, shortly after which he claimed to better the prices charged by his competition by ten to sixteen percent. Arthur McLean died in 1908 but his hardware store continued to operate at the same location and under the same name until 1914 when it disappeared from Strathcona's oldest business area. ... McLean, like other small businessmen, did participate willingly in the development of his community. Serving the new town on the school board, as a 'vestryman' in his church, on the town council through 1901 and 1902, his contributions were noteworthy for their very commonplace nature. While his contributions were not earthshaking in consequence to the community of Strathcona, he, among others, characterized the attitude that built the new town. In all probability Arthur McLean first arrived in Strathcona as early as 1892, beginning his hardware business in 1893 because by late 1894 the business was thriving on Whyte Avenue. Two years later, in May 1896, McLean arranged the purchase of the 'Hedland' property on the corner of Lumsden Avenue (84 Avenue) and Niblock Street (105th Street). The house was begun by mid-May 1896 and by mid-August the builders, Bessit Brothers of Strathcona, had only to put on the finishing touches to allow occupancy. On October 15, 1896, the South Edmonton News announced that Arthur McLean and his family had moved into the new house. The house itself was basically rectangular in plan with a large verandah wrapping around the front and the west side. It was large with four bedrooms, storage room and sun porch on the second floor. The ground floor had a small entrance hall, dining room and living room or parlour. At the rear, the kitchen complex occupied about a third of the floor area of the house. A pantry led off the kitchen as did a larger room, perhaps used as a bedroom for a hired domestic, indicating McLean's economic stature in the community. Architecturally the house that McLean had built for his family could be termed 'Gothic Revival' in style. In residential buildings the style was romantic with steep complex gable roofs, with finals which in the case of the McLean House are very simple, hanging down from the apex of the gable being incorporated into the barge-board with its foliate characted and was typical of the style. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the style was popularized for residences in 'plan books' published by Andrew Jackson Downing. The style so used was also termed 'Carpenter Gothic', especially when referring to the decorative details like the elaborate scrolled woodwork and turned supports of the verandah. The textural diversity of the outside covering, the scalloped shingles in the gable ends and the vertical clapboard detailing under the eaves and along the front and bottom of the house, while not particularly true to the style, were a very popular exterior treatment for the period. The McLean House is typical of the period and also of the Gothic Revival or Carpenter Gothic style. The members of the McLean family owned the house from 1896 until 1977. Arthur McLean moved into the house in the fall of 1896 and until 1908 he operated a hardware store on Whyte Avenue. On May 4, 1908 the title to the property was transferred to Maria Agnes McLean, Arthur McLean's widow. His exact date of death is unknown but a gap appears in the string of advertisements for McLean & Co. in the South Edmonton News during the early part of 1908. The business continued to operate under the name of McLean & Co. on Whyte Avenue until 1914 when it ceased to be an entity in the Strathcona business community. McLean's widow lived in the house until her death in 1951 when McLean's two sons Cedric and Edwin took possession of the house on February 16, 1951. On that date, title to the property was transferred solely to Edwin McLean, who lived in the house until 1955. The house had been converted to use a portion of the house as an apartment sometime before 1955. Apparently the McLeans did not live in the house after that date although they continue to own the property until 1977. The house was owned by members of the same family from 1896 until 1977 and while the 81 year ownership of the house by McLean’s may or may not be longest in Strathcona, its architectural style and association with the community through its occupants is certainly in keeping with the historical preservation district in which it is located. * * * DRAFT RELEASE The McLean House in the Old Strathcona District of Edmonton has been designated a Registered Historic Resource, announced Mary J. LeMessurier, Minister of Culture. The McLean House located at 10454 - 84 Avenue was constructed in 1896 for Arthur McLean, a pioneer businessman of Strathcona. He arrived in the community in 1892, shortly after the Calgary and Edmonton Railway was completed as far as Strathcona. Mr. McLean established a hardware store which he operated until his death in 1908. He served the new town of Strathcona on the School Board and Town Council in 1901 and 1902. He was also active in the establishment of Holy Trinity Anglican Church where he was a vestryman. The house features a large verandah which wraps around the west and south sides. The use of gingerbread trim on the verandah reflects the rich decorative fashion of the late nineteenth century. The gable ends, which not only have gingerbread trim projecting from the edges of the roof, but also overlapping curved shingles which give the gable a scaled appearance, are in keeping with the style of the era.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Municipal A List

Register:	A94

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places: