Description of Historic Place

The Normand Homestead is a Municipal Heritage Property located nine kilometres north of the Highway 6 and 11 junction, then three kilometres east along the Zehner Road, in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood No. 159. The property includes a two-storey, square stone farmhouse, with brick trim, and modern single-storey additions to the north and south sides of the building. The property also includes an older barn, and several non-contributing modern farm buildings. A shelterbelt encloses the east and west sides of the farmyard.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Normand Homestead lies in its association with the McEwan and Normand families. William McEwan homesteaded this land in 1882-83, and farmed this property for almost 50 years. William and Mabel Normand apparently rented this farm in the late 1930s or early 1940s, and then purchased it in 1964. They farmed along with son Ross, this property until 2005, when it was sold to the Bartlett family.

Heritage value of the property also lies in its representation of a historic homestead on the Saskatchewan prairie. The property includes a variety of buildings and features all constructed at different times during the life of the farmstead. The stone house, constructed by W.A. McEwan in 1905, was a replacement for an earlier temporary pioneer residence. The age of the barn is unknown, but predates the arrival of the Normand family. The barn has been converted from a cattle and horse barn into a seed cleaning facility.

Heritage value also resides in the architectural design of the stone and brick farmhouse, which is representative of large farmhouses constructed at the turn of the 20th century. The impressive massing of the house, and its combined stone and brick construction, lend a sense of elegance to the Foursquare design. The front of the house features a symmetrical layout, while the rest of the building displays irregular window and door placements. Also typical of stone farmhouses of the period, the property features the use of bricks as decorative elements at the corners and around door and window openings, the use of segmented arches over the doors and windows, and the offset placement of the chimney. It also includes a hip roof with cast iron metal cresting. A small triangular dormer on the north side features fish-scale shingles on either side of the window.

The heritage value of the barn lies in its utilitarian design, which includes a simple rectangular plan and a plain, medium-pitched gable roof.

Heritage value also resides in the historic landscape, which includes an unusually shaped shelterbelt to protect the farm from the wind. This shelter belt consists of two parallel rows of trees running north-south, rather than the more traditional L-shaped shelter belt, protecting against northwest winds. However, a low east-west hedge close to the house also reduces direct north winds substantially.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Sherwood No. 159 Bylaw 9/98.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Normand Homestead resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the property’s association with the McEwan and Normand families, including its location on its original position;
-those features that reflect the property's representation of a historic homestead on the prairie, including the barn and stone house and their physical relationship to one another;
-those features that reflect the farmhouse’s Foursquare style, such as the square massing of the building; symmetrical placement of doors and windows on the primary (north) façade, and the hip roof with a dormer window and metal cresting;
-those features of the barn that reflect its utilitarian design, such as the rectangular massing, and medium-pitched gable roof;
-those exterior features that are typical of stone farmhouses of the period at the turn of the century such as its combined stone and brick construction, the use of bricks as decorative elements at the corners and around doors, and window openings, the use of segmented arches over the doors and windows, and the offset placement of the chimney;
-those landscape features that reflect the unusual design of the shelter belt, such as the planting of trees in parallel rows on both sides of the farmyard.