Description of Historic Place

The George Harcourt Residence is a two and one-half storey modified Foursquare with a low pyramidal roof, clapboard siding on the main floor, wooden shingles on the second floor, and an offset front porch. It is located on a residential street and occupies a single lot in the Edmonton neighbourhood of Windsor Park.

Heritage Value

The George Harcourt Residence is significant for its association with George Harcourt, its association with the development of the neighbourhood of Windsor Park, and its Foursquare design.

This residence, built circa 1909, is significant for its association with Dr. George Harcourt. Dr. Harcourt served as Alberta's first Deputy Minister of Agriculture from 1905 until 1915. Upon leaving government Dr. Harcourt was appointed the first Professor of Horticulture at the newly formed Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Alberta, where he worked until his retirement in 1935. While at the University of Alberta Dr. Harcourt developed a four-year degree program in agriculture and published a list of recommended plantings for Alberta. Dr. Harcourt was also actively involved in the Edmonton Horticultural Society, and championed the Vacant Lots Garden Program, initiated during the First World War to encourage urban food production in empty city lots. Dr. Harcourt lived in this home from c.1919 until c.1940.

The George Harcourt Residence is significant for its association with early residential development in the Edmonton neighbourhood of Windsor Park. Built circa 1909, archival photographs show this home to be one of the earliest houses in the area. The land that would become Windsor Park was purchased for residential development in 1910, and the community remained largely undeveloped until after the Second World War. The George Harcourt Residence is valued as a good example of Foursquare design. The Foursquare design was common in Edmonton during the first two decades of the 20th century. Typical Foursquare characteristics of this home include the hipped roof with a wide hipped dormer at the front of the house, the overhanging eaves with decorative eaves brackets, and the contrasting shingle and clapboard cladding. Geometrically patterned windows are also characteristic of the Foursquare design, exhibited in the diamond pattern mullions of the George Harcourt Residence, as are the two broad, flat chimneys. The single ionic column supporting the front porch is a less common feature, as Foursquare homes typically incorporate square porch supports.

Source: City of Edmonton Planning and Development File 83617215

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the George Harcourt Residence is expressed in such character-defining elements as:
- hipped roof with red brick chimney;
- wooden soffits and fascia board;
- beveled wood siding on lower storey;
- cedar shingle cladding on upper storey;
- large overhanging eaves with decorative eaves brackets;
- front porch supported by one ionic column;
- front door with wide wooden framing;
- turned wooden spindle balustrade across front porch;
- hipped roof dormer on the west facade;
- side entrance with wooden door;
- wooden single hung, double hung, casement, and fixed pane windows and storms with diamond pattern mullions in the upper pane;
- projecting bay with gable roof and two groupings of two windows;
- two one over one single hung wooden windows;
- two wooden basement windows;
- interior wooden trim, door framing, baseboards and mouldings.