Description of Historic Place

Matheson House consists of a simple medium size, two storey wood frame house, currently located in Langley Meadows Municipal Park in the Langley Meadows community.

Heritage Value

The area of Langley Meadows, historically known as Langley Prairie, refers to the area from the Salmon River to Murrayville. It is important to the Township of Langley because it was an early and successful agricultural settlement located adjacent to the Hudsons Bay Company Farm of the 1830s.

The Matheson House is protected because of its historical significance to an early farming life and to an important pioneer family. Built in 1898 by John Matheson for his family, it is reputed to be the only 19th Century farmhouse still extant in the Langley Meadows community, and is one of about half a dozen 19th Century residences left in all of the Township.

The Matheson family, originally from Nova Scotia, are a well known and respected pioneer family, moving to Langley Prairie in 1894 from San Francisco. For the six years prior to the move, John spent each winter at his property making a road and clearing his land before moving his wife, Cassie, and two children (Una Jeanneta and George) to their new community. It was another four years before the house was built. They earned their livelihood from dairy farming, which George and his wife, Caroline, continued until George retired.

The house is a physical link to both this historically important family and to the farming history of Langley Prairie and its adjacent Meadows. It is highly valued as a unique representation of the community's local history.

Source: Langley Centennial Museum, heritage files

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Matheson House include the:
- footprint of building
- simple design
- balloon frame using local building materials
- gable roof
- front door centred on main facade, which runs the width of the building rather than the length
- wood siding
- number and size of window openings