Description of Historic Place

The Bowerman House is a Municipal Heritage Property located at 1328 Avenue K South in the Holiday Park district of Saskatoon. The property features a two-storey wood-frame home constructed into the slope of a hill. Designation pertains to both the house and a portion of the property grounds.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of The Bowerman House lies in its “Arts and Crafts” or “Western Stick” architecture. The Arts and Crafts movement stressed simple forms and quality craftsmanship in buildings that integrated with their surrounding landscape. Its compact, low massing is highlighted by a low-pitched cross-gable roof with broad eaves, creating a sheltered outdoor living space, whose cornice, exposed rafter tails and stylized dormer with exposed brackets represent key features of this architectural style. The use of organic materials, including fieldstone and wood complement its woodland setting on the South Saskatchewan riverbank; the house faces a park that was part of the Sanitorium grounds. The variegated fieldstone of its prominent chimney is repeated in its porch piers. A glassed-in sunroom faces east and the ground-level rooms open onto a patio. Inside, the intricacy of design is continued in beamed ceilings, built-in cabinetry and wainscoting, which, together with a large fieldstone fireplace, enhance the retreat-like country ambience.

The Bowerman House is also valued for its long association with Allan Bowerman. This house was built as a private hunting lodge and summer residence for Bowerman in 1907, reflective of his abiding love of and interest in studying nature. Arriving in Saskatoon from Winnipeg in 1899 and a graduate of Kingston Military College, Bowerman became Saskatoon’s first postmaster on the west side of the river. A member of Saskatoon’s first Town Council (1903 – 1905) and advocate of a Board of Trade, Bowerman built his lodge on his homestead located four miles west of the Saskatoon city limits. He is remembered in Saskatoon for the construction of the commercial Bowerman Block and the eight-storey, half million dollar Canada Building in 1912.

The Bowerman House is also strongly associated with the history of tuberculosis treatment in Saskatoon. The building was acquired from the Anti-Tuberculosis League in 1924, serving thereafter as a residence for Sanatorium doctors until 1987. From 1923-1959, it was the home of prominent doctor, Dr. H.C. Boughton. Joining the Sanitorium staff in 1925, Dr. Boughton initiated the practice of mass tuberculosis surveys in Saskatoon and was an advocate of tuberculosis vaccination.

Source:
City of Saskatoon Bylaw No. 6440

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of The Bowerman House lies in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the Arts and Crafts architectural style such as its low, compact organic shape; its layout; the slope of its roof and its eaves; the verandah; its variegated granite chimney and piers; the dormer with its bracket supports; window size, style and placement; the location of the front steps and its newel posts; the covered side entrance and its detailing; its interior feature including: its fieldstone fireplace, its cabinetry of birds’-eye maple, its beams and their finishing, and its wainscoting;
-those elements that speak to its association with Allan Bowerman, such as the building’s orientation on its original lot, and the surrounding wooded landscape;
-those elements that relate to its use by the Anti-Tuberculosis League, including the park that was part of the Sanitorium grounds.