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Anderson's Home

810 Broadway Avenue South, Melfort, Saskatchewan, S0E, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1991/07/15

Front view of Anderson's Home, 2008; Winkel, 2008.
Anderson's Home
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Other Name(s)

Anderson Residence
Spence Residence
Anderson's Home

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1907/01/01 to 1907/12/31

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2009/03/26

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

Anderson’s Home is a Municipal Heritage Property located on a quarter section of land on the outskirts of the City of Melfort. The designation applies to a two-and-a-half storey, concrete block farm house, detached garage and landscaped grounds.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of Anderson’s Home lies in its association with several prominent families in the community. The property was originally owned by brothers James and Jim Aikenhead, who homesteaded on the site in the late 1880s. The Aikenheads sold the property to Dr. Thomas Spence in 1907, one of Melfort's earliest physicians. Dr. Spence made numerous house calls throughout the Melfort district and also practiced from an office in the home. Dr. Spence also became involved in local politics, serving as the Mayor of Melfort in 1912 and running as a candidate in both provincial and federal elections. Dr. Spence retired from his practice in 1914 and died in 1923. The house was also the residence for Arthur Edward Spence Hill, a Tony Award winning actor who was born in Melfort in 1922 and lived in the house for a period of time before moving to the United States. The current owners, the Anderson family, purchased the Spence Residence in 1947.

The heritage value of Anderson’s Home also resides in its architecture and setting. The house is an uncommon surviving example of a residential building in Saskatchewan constructed of rusticated concrete blocks. While several concrete block manufacturers were active in the province during the first decade of the 20th-century, this type of construction did not become popular in Saskatchewan. The house displays the influence of Georgian style architecture, witnessed in its balanced, box-like massing, hip roof and symmetrical arrangement of window and door openings. Inside the house, the historical integrity of the original design can be seen in the stone fireplace, wood trim, banister, stringers and stained glass windows. The large grounds surrounding the house, featuring both landscaped and bush-covered terrain, offer a unique, rural-like setting within a largely residential neighborhood within Melfort’s city limits

Source:

City of Melfort Bylaw No. 91-13.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Anderson’s Home resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those features associated with the property’s association with the prominent families, such as its location on its original site;
-those features associated with Dr. Spence, one of the first physicians in Melfort including the home’s floor plan that accommodated an office and examining room;
-those architectural elements typical of the Georgian style, such as the columned porch over the front entrance, hip roof with ornamental eaves, symmetrically placed windows on each level, bay window and stained glass windows in the living room;
-the concrete block construction;
-those interior elements that display the historical integrity of the original construction, including the stone fireplace, original trim, banisters, sculptured stringers and ornamental balustrade;
-The property’s landscaped features such as the treed entrance lane, surrounding grove, planted shubbery and open green space.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Saskatchewan

Recognition Authority

Local Governments (SK)

Recognition Statute

Heritage Property Act, s. 11(1)(a)

Recognition Type

Municipal Heritage Property

Recognition Date

1991/07/15

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Peopling the Land
Settlement

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Residence
Single Dwelling

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Saskatchewan Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Heritage Resources Branch 1919 Saskatchewan Drive Regina, SK File: MHP 1420

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

MHP 1420

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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