Key Number:	HS 18438
Site Name:	Cobblestone Manor
Other Names:
Site Type:	0101 - Residential: Single Dwelling

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			3	25	4

Address:	173 - 7 Avenue W
Number:	73
Street:	1
Avenue:	7 W
Other:
Town:	Cardston
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	Rectangular
Storeys:	Storeys: 1 1/2
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Concrete
Superstructure:
Superstructure Cover:	Stone - Shape and Coursing: Plain Fieldstone
Roof Structure:	Medium Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:
Exterior:	Dimensions: 36 x 60. Ceiling and trim from rare hard-woods, doors and windows of unusual proportions. Tall chimneys.
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	The Cobblestone Manor is located on western limits of Cardston, overlooking Lee's Creek. Although zoned for highway-commercial development, the immediate setting is primarly residential; the site itself is well-treed and well maintained.
Condition:	The building has been well maintained on both the exterior and interior, and a high degree of original fabric remains.
Alterations:	1977 - addition, renovation. This stone and log structure has been converted into a restaurant with the dining halls occuping the original living/sitting areas on the main floor. Mechanical and electrical upgrading has occurred in both restaurant and private living quarters.

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Residence	1913/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Residence Residence & Restaurant	1913/01/01 1981/09/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
Joseph Young Henry Hoet Masonic Lodge Private family Ed and Arlene Flickinger	1893/01/01 1913/01/01 1929/01/01 1960/01/01 1976/01/01

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	Joseph Young
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Cobblestone Manor is an unusual and rambling stone house built between 1913 and 1929 by Henry Hoet, using as its core the 1893 log house built by Joseph Young, on the south bank of Lee's Creek in Cardston. Faced with cobblestone and incorporating that material on its interior the house also contains unusual high quality decorative woodwork originally imported to finish the interior of the Alberta Temple. Cobblestone Manor is now a restaurant as well as a residence and has been slightly altered. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Cobblestone Manor was originally built as a log structure in the early 1890s by Joseph Young. Young was sent to Cardston in 1893 by Utah church officials to assist in establishing the Mormon Colony. The original structure which when built was one of only two two-storey houses in Cardstone, was twenty-two feet by thirty-four feet in diameterand made of ten inch logs. In 1913 it was acquired by Belgian immigrant Henry Hoet. Hoet came to Cardston as a finishing carpenter to work on the Alberta Temple and was also employed on the construction of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton. Between 1913 and 1929 Hoet replaced the original log walls with stone and added additional rooms made entirely of stone. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: Cobblestone Manor still has as its core some sections of Joseph Young's 1893 log house, which was radically altered and stands today as a monument to both commitment and craftsmanship. Low and rambling, the structure is not particularly coherent in plan or massing, but rather is significant primarily for its material and detailing. Hoses faced in cobblestone are rare in Alberta, and in this case the material was ussed also for tall chimneys and on interior fireplaces. Hoet designed and executed comples ceiling and trim from rare hard-woods imported for the Alberta Temple, scraps of which he could salvage. Doors and windows of unusual proportions and construction were designed by Hoet. Some alterations, particularly to the roofline have altered the structures appearance but its essential ambience is intact. * * * Cobblestone Manor was originally built as a log structure in the early 1890s by Joseph Young. Young was sent to Cardston in 1893 by Utah church officials to assist in establishing the Mormon Colony. The original structure which when built was one of only two two-storey houses in Cardston, was twenty-two feet by thirty-four feet in diameter and made of ten inch logs. In 1913 it was acquired by Belgian immigrant Henry Hoet. Hoet came to Cardston as a finishing carpenter to work on the Alberta Temple and was also employed on the construction of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton. Between 1913 and 1929 Hoet replaced the original log walls with stone and added additional rooms made entirely of stone. Cobblestone Manor still has as its core some sections of Joseph Young's 1893 log house, which was radically altered and stands today as a monument to both commitment and craftsmanship. Low and rambling, the structure is not particularly coherent in plan or massing, but rather is significant primarily for its material and detailing. 0Houses faced in cobblestone are rare in Alberta, and in this case the material was used also for tall chimneys and on interior fireplaces. Hoet designed and executed complex ceiling and trim from rare hard-woods imported for the Alberta Temple, scraps of which he could salvage. Doors and windows of unusual proportions and construction were designed by Hoet. Some alterations, particularly to the roofline have altered the structures appearance but its essential ambiance is intact. * * * THE COBBLESTONE MANOR Prepared by R.M. Massey for Alberta Culture, August 1981. ... The first house of Cardstone were of log, as this building material was readily available in the area. The structure now known as the Cobblestone Manor had its begining in this early period, as a log house built by Joseph Young. Young and his family arrived in Cardston in 1893, sent by Utah church officials to 'assist in establishing the Mormon colony.' He was appointed to a Church position in this same year. The home he built for his family on the south bank of Lee's Creek was twenty-two feet by thirty-four feet, of ten inch logs, and one of the two then-existing two story homes in Cardston. This log dwelling was the core of that which was to become the most famous house in Cardston. In 1908, a great flood swept through the town, devastating many homes located in its path. Although the Young residence was noth substantially damaged, the land on which it sat was reduced to a rubble field. In April of the year following the flood, Young sold his house to John T. Bateman, who had come to Cardston in about 1899 from Utah. Bateman's family retained the house until 1913, when it was purchased by the artisan who was resposible for transforming it into a vertibale dream home. When the Belgian immigrant Henry Hoet obtained the houe, which by that time had been weather boarded on the outside of the logs, it lay on a 'bare field of sand, gravel, and cobblestones.' In 1914, the house was assessed at a value of $150, and the lot on which it sat at $200, attesting to the condition of the property. Hoet saw beyond teh apparent rubble, recognizing it as potential building material, and set out to construct a lovely home of remarkable craftmanship. Much mystery surrounds the person of Henry Hoet. He is said to have been a Belgian immigrant, yet the tongue in which he was fluent was German. There is confusion over whether he came to Canada directly from his native land, or if he came from New York, where he may have worked in a piano factory. He came to Cardston to work on the Alberta Temple as a finishing carpenter, and was also employed on the construction of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton. The house that he built on his own time concurrently with these jobs is believed to have been meant for a sweetheart that he left behind in the old country, and who he expected to join him as his bride when the house was ready. Because Hoet was such a recluse, living alone with no family or close friends in Cardston, his history remains enigmatic. Hoet spent all his time when not working at the Temple, year round, in converting the log house to a stone house. This was accomplished by 'gathering and laying up rocks in mortar to convert the exterior walls.' He worked for the most part on his own, with the help of his big black dog, which he harnessed to a wheel barrow or two wheel cart, in order to haul stones. A local neighbor, who ran a draying business and who was Hoet's only confidant, sometimes helped with the heavy labour, using his team and wagon to bring rocks from the creed bed. It has been estimated that there is about two hundred tons of rock in the house, all of which had to be hauled to the site and washed before being used. After completing the exterior of the log house and ending up with walls that were twenty-two to twenty-six inches thick, Hoet began adding rock-walled rooms, with no apparent overall plan, completely finishing one room before beginning on the next. Starting at the northwest corner of the house, closest to the Creek, Hoet added what is thought to gave originally been a coal shed. It was probably after the comletion of this room that Stutz added a cellar, by digging under part of the old house and the new room to the bedrock, and pouring cement in such a manner that shelves were formed along with the floor and walls. The next two rooms to be added, at the front of the house facing south, were those in which his skills as a craftsman were primarily utilized. Finally, on the east side, an open verandah was added to tie the section together. The second and third rooms that Hoet built are the outstanding, for it was in these that he used the exotic hard woods that he was allowed to take home from his jobs at the Temple. Hoet's workmanship brought him his employer's favor, and he was given scraps of the costly wood that has been imported to finish the Temple's interior. With this wood, Hoet sought to imitate in his home the gradeur of the Temple, by piercing together 'precision-cut, delicate patterns for walls, ceilings, furniture, and light fixtures.' The second room that he added was finished in variours dark woods; oak was used to frame the room's wall panels. The some one hundred and twenty five ceiling patterns in this room each have about fifty carefully interlocking pieces of wood. A beautiful cobblestone fireplace, mantel, built-in cupboards and bookshelves, were also added to this room, which was likely finished by 1923. As a finishing touch, Hoet later imported beautiful swirled-colored stained glass from Europe, which he made into fine tiffany-style lamps, and added to cupboards and furniture, in all the rooms. In the dark room alone, over forty lights were installed, including indirect lighting behind cabinets and bookcases, which was contrived to shine through the swirled glass doors. Such unusual and extensive lighting was rarely found in houses built in this period, when a single light source per room was common. The third room to be finished contrasted greatly with the somber tones of the dark wood room, for it was finished entirely in bright golden oak. For some unknown reason, the floor of this golden room was four inches above that of the dark room. The ceiling was finished in a honey-comb design, with approximately one hundred and fifty blocks, each crafted of sixty-one pieces of interlocking, inlaid hardwood. Because Hoet used this golden room as a workroom, it was not completely finished, and some of the lower wall panels were left without the usual trim. The final addition Hoet made was an open verandah and entrance on the east side, to tie in the new front section with the original house. The verandah, which was used by Hoet as a green house, was supported by cobblestone pillars which stand today. This was probably completed by 1929. The original roof on Hoet's rock hose was flat. Sawdust was used for insulation between roof and ceiling. Strangely, Hoet's floors were not hardwood, in keeping with other wood used, but fir. All doors were hand made to fit the unusual-sized doorways. The windows intalled by Hoet were also of unusual construction. Each window had several frames, each containing two pieces of glass together, a mixture containgin amonia was wiped on the inside face of the glass. When propelry sealed, and inert gas formed between the two pieces of glass, providing effective insulation and keeping out moisture indefinately. Hoet's farsightedeness can be appreciated today by anyone seeing the clarity that the glass has retained over the years, for many of the windows have been saved. The house has three cobblestone fireplaces, which Hoet finished with a stain and beeswax, to keep soot form adhering. Two of these have since been retouched by various occupants: on one, the mortar has been painted green, and on another, located in the golden room, the stones have been painted - first brown, then white, then green, and then been bricked over to meet fire regulations, but in such a manner so as not to damage the underlying stones. Hoet lived in his house for only one year after completing it. His work had become an obsession 'eventually leading to a complete metal breakdown probably triggered by a 'Dear John' letter from his fiance,' and he was commited to a mental institution in Ponoka, where he died soon after. The monument he built was left to pass into other hands. The Cardston News of October 10th, 1929, records the sale of the by then famous Hoet 'Wonder House' for $2,000 at public auction, under government direction, to the Masonic Lodge. The article referred to the house as a landmark, and noted that its wonderful interior finishings and effects would be kept intact for the use of local societies. The value of the house, as it there stood 'with all its fittings and decorations' was placed at $20,000 to 25,000. Unfortunately, many of the lovely tiffany lamps were removed and sold, as was much of the heavy oak hand-carved and glass-decorated furniture, either by the Masonic Lodge, or separately at auction towards Hoet's support. Many of the pieces sold have come into the hands of local townspeople. While the Masonic Lodge owned the Hoet house until the 1960's, it was used as a clubhouse for only ten years, during which time the verandah was enclosed and divided into three more rooms, creating a total of ten in all. Except for short periods when occupied by caretakers, the house stood empty, falling into a state of disrepair. Eventually it acquired the reputation of being haunted, and was known as 'the ghost house.' Contributing to this reputation, no doubt, was the memory of the reclusive adf mysterious Hoet, who died in a mental hospital, the secretive and low-key nature of the Mason's, and of course, the house's desertion. The fact that the house remained intact over its long period of emptiness is likely due largely to its frightening reputation. In the 60's, a private family acquired the house and started repairing it. It passed into the hands of a second family around 1968, and a hot-water heater and other convieniences were installed. Although minor repairs and 'improvements' were made, no work was done on foundations. In 1976, the house was purchased by its present owner's, Ed and Arlene Flickinger, and major repair work was undertaken where needed. The original flat roof, which was leaking and sagging badly because of the soaked sawdust that had been meant for insulation, was replaced with a new wood-shingled, ...xed roof, with cables and chains to support the crafted ceilings of the added rooms. Several pieces of the imported stained glass had been knocked out, lost, or broken over the years; these were replaced or restored, and it was found that the process that resulted in the extremely hard, swirled glass is a lost art; the glass itself is very rare, and can no loger be purchased. Time consuming and costly repairs such as these have resulted in the salvation of the house. While the older part of the house, as well as the first added room and the now closed verandah rooms are used as a residence, the two front rooms were converted by Flickingers into dining areas, and the house has acquired new fame as a restaurant. The house as it now stands contains fourteen rooms. In addition to the original seven that existed by the time Hoet completed his additions, there are the three rooms created by the closing of the verandah by the Masonic Lodge, and a restaurant kitchen, entryway, and two public washrooms, added by Flickingers. Cobblestone work was done on the south (front) face of the house where new rooms were added. The west side is covered with siding. The house faces south, with Lee Creek still following behind it. The house's irregular shape gives it a disorganized look from the outside. The roof has a center gable and is hipped. On its rock and concrete foundation, the house stands as solid today as when Hoet finished it. Inspection shows that the logs have not settled appreciably; there are no gaps; and the mortar that holds the cobblestones in place is still solid. The Cobblestone Manor appears as if it will easily stand for another hundred years, giving to future generations a legacy of the past.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	1982/10/10

Register:

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0480