Description of Historic Place

The Hutcheson Residence is a Municipal Heritage Property located at 2200 Montague Street in the Cathedral Neighbourhood in the City of Regina. The property features a 2¼-storey house constructed in 1912, which has a multi-sided corner tower and is faced with shingle and wood siding.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the property resides in its Queen Anne Revival style of architecture. Local carpenter Robert Thompson constructed this building for Elton B. Hutcheson in 1912. Distinctive features of the property include the verandah and prominent multi-sided corner turret tower, which is particularly noteworthy for its unusual positioning and its distinctive copper-clad dome. Other Queen Anne Revival stylistic elements include the property’s asymmetrical design with steeply pitched roof, and the use of combined shingle and lapped-wood siding materials.

The heritage value of the property also resides in its association with the original owner, Elton Beverley Hutcheson, who lived here until 1918. Hutcheson, a prominent figure in the early development of Regina’s public school system, arrived in Regina in 1894 to serve as the Assistant Principal and then Principal of Regina’s only high school. In 1903 he became the School Inspector for the North-West Territories government. In 1906 he was appointed the first Superintendent of Regina public schools. During his tenure in the Regina public school system, he introduced domestic science and manual training courses, the teaching of music, the school nursing system, and had classrooms set aside for students with special needs. Hutcheson resigned in 1912 to pursue legal training. He was admitted to the bar in 1915 and practiced in Regina until 1918, at which time he moved to Kerrobert to serve as a crown prosecutor.

The heritage value also resides in its location on Montague Street. The Cathedral neighbourhood, or “West End” as it was originally known, was laid out as part of the initial townsite survey of Regina. When the McCallum-Hill land development company was formed in Regina in 1903, the firm purchased a large tract of land in this area. The area’s convenient location near the downtown core appealed particularly to working and middle-class families. The Hutcheson Residence is a prominent local landmark and, with several other houses constructed during Regina’s pre-First World War building boom, forms an integral component of one of the Cathedral neighbourhood’s most intact and significant heritage streetscapes.

Source:

City of Regina Bylaw No.2005-47.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Hutcheson Residence lies in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements associated with the Queen Anne Revival style of architecture, such as the verandah, corner tower with copper-clad dome, steeply-pitched roof, asymmetrical massing, and the use of shingle and lapped-wood siding materials;
-those elements that reflect the property’s association with Elton Beverly Hutcheson, including its location on its original site;
-those elements which speak to its location within the Cathedral area of Regina and to its contribution to the continuity of the area’s historic architectural character, including the historical integrity of the house’s façade.