Description of Historic Place

The J. T. Lauder Homestead is a Municipal Heritage Property located in the Rural Municipality of Lumsden No.189, approximately seven kilometres east of the Town of Craven. The property, approximately five hectares in area on the south slope of the Qu'Appelle Valley, features a 2½-storey fieldstone farmhouse built in 1903, situated on a scenic landscape of natural pasture and bush.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the J. T. Lauder Homestead lies in its status as one of the oldest, occupied homes in the RM of Lumsden. The land, on the south slope of the scenic Qu'appelle Valley, was sold in 1892 to Helen Lauder, a widow, and her son James, who arrived from Scotland in 1884 and farmed in the Condie area. Originally named "Eildon Vale" after the Eildon Hills in Scotland, the three-storey cut-fieldstone Victorian farmhouse was built for the Lauders by stonemason Quinton Pettigrew from Lumsden in 1903. Five generations of the Lauders lived in the home until 1968.

Heritage value also lies in the architecture and construction of the farmhouse, which reflects a Folk Victorian style seldom seen in typical Saskatchewan farmhouses. The building is one of the few fieldstone farm houses in the area utilizing stones found on the valley floor and features massive two-foot thick walls, with the interior covered with lath and plaster, as well as six inch, planked-fir floors, deep window boxes with original fir wainscoted jams, an original staircase and a large window with stained glass upper sashes. The front verandah features sculptured columns, a lower railing with carved wooden spindles and an upper railing treatment along the verandah ceiling of bric-a-brac made with shorter spindles which speak to its Folk Victorian style.

Located on a slope of the scenic Qu’Appelle Valley, the house overlooks its farm and pastureland, and is adjacent to a nature preserve with natural prairie grassland.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Lumsden No. 189 Bylaw No. 1/91.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the J. T. Lauder Homestead resides in the following character-defining elements:
-elements that reflect the building’s architecture and construction, including the cut fieldstone, two-foot thick walls, deep window boxes with fir wainscoted jams, original staircase with a stained glass window, verandah with spindlework detailing, combination hip and gable roofline with dormers;
-its location on a parcel of land in the scenic Qu'Appelle Valley overlooking its farm and pastureland.