Description of Historic Place

The Otto Reiher Cottage consists of a modest one storey, wood frame bungalow on a corner rectangular lot location on a residential street in the Newton neighbourhood.

Heritage Value

The Otto Reiher Cottage has heritage value for its simple Craftsman style influenced architecture and for its association as a working man's house typically built by the miners who worked in the nearby Beverley coal mines.

Built in 1937, the Otto Reiher Cottage is valued because of its modest cottage style architecture, which is a restrained example of the Craftsman style. The design was likely taken from a builders' yard or a design book and consists of simple timber frame construction, finished in lapped siding with wide corner board edges. The architecture is an example of typical construction for the area. There are very few examples of this vintage and type of structure remaining.

This house was built in 1937 by or for Otto Reiher who worked in the Beverley Bush Coal Mine. The Town of Beverley grew out of the coal industry that was based in the area and the Newton neighbourhood was settled mainly by the working classes at the time, while the professionals and more established lived in the wealthier Highlands neighbourhood. The Otto Reiher Cottage is typical of the scale and style of residential buildings constructed for the miners and their families.

Source: City of Edmonton Planning and Development Department (File 56896300)

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Otto Reiher Cottage is expressed in such character-defining elements as: - location in the Newton neighbourhood;
- form, scale and massing;
- low profile of the home;
- gable roof configuration;
- exposed rafters and eaves;
- exterior brick chimney;
- large sun room/entrance windows divided in 4 sections with 2 panes each;
- wooden front door;
- simple timber window casings with edge framing;
- 3-over-1 wooden sash windows with the central window being wider than the two side windows on the main portion of the home;
- two 3-paned casement windows and one 3-over-1 single hung wooden window on the south elevation;
- three 3-over-1, single hung wood windows on the north elevation.