Attachment 4
Heritage Planner’s Summary of Historical and Architectural Information
HERITAGE PLANNER’S SUMMARY OF HISTORICAL
AND ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION
BUILDING NAME AND ADDRESS—
McTaggart Residence (1922)
11530 – 95A Street, Edmonton
Register of Historic Buildings in Edmonton—“B” List
RECOMMENDATION
The McTaggart Residence is recommended for designation as a Municipal Historic Resource
because of its historical and architectural significance.
ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY
Style/Type
The McTaggart Residence is a post World War I (1922) rectangular bungalow built in the
Craftsman-style. The front elevation is marked with a prominent enclosed verandah, the home is
sided with timber clapboard and shingle siding and also features a Clinkerbrick foundation,
chimneys and fireplace. The home boasts great variety in terms of detailing and style.
The builders of the McTaggart Residence paid particular attention to detail in the interior of the
home. With wood paneling, built-in bookshelves, a plate rail, a small reading room and an
indentated space built especially to accommodate his wife’s piano, the original owner John
Lawson Haight constructed an excellent and unique example of a middle income single family
dwelling from this era.
Design
The house was most likely a catalogue home design and records indicate that the original owner,
John Lawson Haight was involved in the actual building of his home and did much of the interior
woodwork
This house is an excellent example of a 1920’s middle income single family dwelling. It is
believed that the interior has a higher attention to detail than other bungalows of this size and
vintage.
The timber framed property sits on a brick foundation (clinkerbrick) rising approximately 2 ½ feet
above ground level. The property is rectangular in shape with a front exposed gabled porch
occupying 2/3’s of the front elevation and the south side elevation having two modest square bays.
The porch is framed by timber columns with 8 large fixed windows with smaller rectangular
glazing panes running above them. The porch sits on two brick supports (with diagonal
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Attachment 4
Heritage Planner’s Summary of Historical and Architectural Information
latticework in-between). The windows sit above clapboard siding and a belt course that separates
the house from the foundation level (continues all around the house). The gable end has shingle
siding with a band of curved patterned shingles in the middle. The gable end has exposed eaves
with 3 decorative supporting brackets.
The front elevation has a tri partite window (6 over1, 12 over 1, 6 over 1) with double hung
windows. The windows are framed with a simple timber trim and a moulded crown. This feature
is found around all the windows on the building, except on the porch. Again the wall is covered in
clapboard whilst the gable is treated in the same manner as the porch’s. The front door is on the
south side of the porch with side steps leading up to the level. A sidelight sits to the left with
treatment similar to the front glazing.
The rear elevation is covered in clapboard, with one off centre window and a back door to the
lower southern corner, rising up through the exposed foundation wall. The foundation wall has
two basement windows separated from the clapboard by a wide timber belt course. The gable has
shingle siding similar to the front elevation, but this elevation has a small central casement window
with 8 panes, two high. Again the eaves have exposed decorative brackets.
The south elevation is sided in clapboard with two bays projecting out. The bay closest to the front
has a picture window, whilst the other bay has two sash windows. These windows do not have
moulded crowns as the trims join into the frieze board below the eaves. The exposed rafters have a
modest decorative curve cut into the ends.
The clapboard sided north elevation has four windows, two larger casement windows to the rear
and two picture windows either side of the exposed brick chimney that rises up through the roof.
The porch is flush with this elevation and has 4 fixed windows with matching glazing to that
already described. The rafter details match the south elevation.
The interior of the property retains much of the original features, especially the living and dining
rooms at the front of the property. The original built in bookshelves, wood paneling, plate rail,
sideboards, window and door surrounds etc. still exist in more or less original condition. Two
features exist of note, the small reading chamber next to the front window in the dining room and
the recessed wall in the living room to accommodate an upright piano.
Construction
Timber framed upon a brick foundation. Wood clapboard siding and shingles were used as
exterior cladding.
CULTURAL HISTORY
Historical Importance
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Attachment 4
Heritage Planner’s Summary of Historical and Architectural Information
The first couple to live in the home were John Lawson Haight, a teacher at Parkdale and H. Allen
Gray schools, and his wife Kate Eleena Laycock-Haight, a piano instructor. Before his teaching
career began, John completed military and physical training courses thereby becoming an officer
and aviator in World War I. He was captured by the German army in 1917 and spent two years
as a prisoner of war. John’s teaching career began upon his return to Alberta.
The McTaggart family bought the house in 1925 when the Haights moved to Florida. John
Wesley McTaggart was a well-known accountant in Edmonton. He worked for Kinnaird and
Henderson, Western Transfer (which became Western Moving and Storage) and served as the
manager of MacCosham Storage for 25 years. John was an active member of the Norwood
United Church and the Patricia Masonic Lodge and he also served as the president of the Thistle
Curling Club in the 1940s. John’s wife was also an important figure in the Norwood
community; she lived in the house for 17 more years following her husband’s death in 1960.
CONTEXT
Site
The site sits on a rectangular plot of land bounded by residential units to the north and south, and
alley at the rear. The house looks out at more residential homes and 95A Street in the front.
Neighbourhood
The McTaggart Residence is located in the Norwood neighbourhood, an area made up
predominantly of single-family homes built between 1910-1950. It can be classified as a mature
neighbourhood, one where the majority of the lots still hold their original structures.
Visual/Symbolic
The McTaggart Residence is an excellent example of an early modest arts and craft bungalow,
and acts as a symbolic representation of the benefits of restoring as opposed to remodeling.
INTEGRITY
The foundations have buckled and are in need of urgent repair, however the exterior of the home
has retained its original configuration aside from minor alterations to the rear door. The original
elaborate detailing in the interior living and dining rooms also remains largely intact.
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