July 12, 2018
City Council designated the Ernest W. Morehouse Residence as a Municipal Historic Resource. The 1912 two-and-a-half-storey house is located on a quiet, residential street in the Highlands.
Design elements include an open veranda that runs the front width of the house with wooden fascia and pillars with brick bases. The main structure is sheathed in wood siding with corner boards. It has a pyramidal roof with projecting eaves over the veranda, a front bay window shaped by the hip roofed veranda and a balcony centred above the main steps.
“This wood framed Foursquare style house is an early example of the dwellings favoured by moderately well-off Edmontonians prior to the First World War,” said Robert Geldart, Senior Heritage Planner for the City of Edmonton.
Born in Chatsworth, Ontario in 1871, Ernest W. Morehouse trained as an architect in Toronto. He came to Edmonton in 1910 after studying in Chicago, Chatham and Detroit. He, more than any other architect, had a heavy influence on the early development of the Highlands. From 1912-1915, he designed 13 buildings in the Highlands, including the Gibbard Block, the Holgate Residence and the Magrath Residence.
The City's
Historic Resource Management Plan
outlines the City's mission to identify, protect and promote the preservation and use of historic resources. The Plan contains 24 policies and 88 action items that direct how Edmonton's heritage should be preserved and celebrated.
