Description of Historic Place

Claverleigh is a Gothic Revival-style villa set in extensive park-like grounds in an isolated rural setting 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) west of the Village of Creemore, Ontario.

Heritage Value

Claverleigh was designated a national historic site in 1990 as a very fine representative example of a Gothic Revival-style villa.

The heritage value of this site resides in its physical expression of the Gothic Revival-style villa in Canada.

The house was built in 1871 by William Forster as a parish rectory, to plans by his brother, British architect Richard Forster. The Gothic Revival style was considered suitably ecclesiastical in character for the style of a small rectory.

Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, June 1989, February 1990, June 1990, November 1990.

Character-Defining Elements

Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
— the picturesque massing created by two one-and-a-half storey wings capped by steep roof gables joined by a small central entryway;
— the entry under a smaller, gable-roof porch and dormer window;
— the lively articulation of exterior elevations through the use of varied forms such as indentations (deep roof eaves) and projections (tall chimneys, small central roof gable, projecting porch, bay window, second floor balcony and verandah);
— the irregular articulation of its exterior surfaces through the use of textured finishing materials (shingle roof, board and batten walls);
— Gothic Revival exterior detailing including the pointed arch, label moulding framing the wooden entry door, the Gothic arches and tracery remnants of its second storey windows, the design of the bay window as an allusion to a cross);
— the Gothic Revival elements of its interior decor such as the spandrels of the wooden arches supporting its minstrel gallery;
— the building's scenic setting in expansive park-like grounds.