Description of Historic Place

The Ewart-Duggan Residence is a two-storey home situated on a single lot near the centre of Medicine Hat. Built in 1883, the red brick house embodies Victorian style residential masonry construction and features a steeply pitched front gable roof, brick coursing, gingerbread trim, and a polygonal bay window.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Ewart-Duggan Residence lies in its association with some of the earliest and most prominent citizens of Medicine Hat and in its excellent and very rare early example of Victorian residential masonry construction.

In 1885, Harry Clinton Yuill arrived in the fledgling community of Medicine Hat and founded a construction business. His company was responsible for erecting many of Medicine Hat's earliest buildings. Yuill's entrepreneurship extended beyond construction; he also invested in real estate, established the community's clay products industry, and contributed to the founding of several early regional Hat enterprises, including the Alberta Linseed Oil Company, the Alberta Foundry, and the Monarch Theatre Company. In 1887, Yuill built the Ewart-Duggan Residence for Medicine Hat pioneer and influential local businessman John Ewart and his wife, Jessie Herald. After the death of Mr. and Mrs. Ewart, their daughter Jacqueline and her husband Hector O. Duggan resided in the home. Like previous residents of the home, the Duggans were significant figures in the community; in addition to trading in real estate and handling investments for international clients, Hector was also a member of a powerful family that included D. M. Duggan, Mayor of Edmonton, and J. J. Duggan, well-known Edmonton entrepreneur and realtor. The home has thus been connected with three of Medicine Hat's most important families and provides a vital historical link to the founding and development of the city.

The Ewart-Duggan Residence is one of the earliest extant homes in Medicine Hat and may be the oldest brick residence still standing in the province. Built of locally-made bricks and embodying the Victorian style of architecture, the residence contrasted sharply with the humble, mostly wood-frame buildings prevalent in most North-West Territories communities during this period. The Victorian aesthetic is evident in the residence's asymmetrical massing, decorative brickwork and gingerbread trim, and its balconies, bay window, and dormer. The home's materials and design were well-suited to reflecting the civic prominence of its residents.

Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 314)

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Ewart-Duggan Residence include such features as:
- asymmetrical massing, form, scale;
- fieldstone foundation walls;
- steeply pitched front gable roof;
- brick chimneys, including corbelled and banded chimney on east side of home;
- smaller gables near the rear of each side facade;
- gable dormer on west elevation;
- distinctive "soft mud" brick exterior laid in stretcher bond on the front facade and common bond on the sides and rear facade;
- fenestration pattern;
- inscriptions by Ewart and Duggan in exterior brick;
- belt courses with painted window lintel treatment;
- polygonal lower bay window with a multi-paned light in each face;
- rectangular gable-roofed balcony with diagonal fretwork in the gable end and a square rectangular grid as a backdrop to a flat gingerbread rail with quatrefoil decorations and curvilinear woodwork at the post tops;
- recessed French doors with a rectangular transom and moulded reveal;
- balcony on rear facade with a flat gingerbread rail;
- original interior wood and plasterwork, fixtures, staircases (including balustrades and fretwork along the steps), doors, fittings, floorings, baseboards, mouldings, and marble living room fireplace with egg-and-dart moulding;
- interior millwork, including door and window casings and main and rear stair balustrades.