Description of Historic Place

The Gerald R. (Sylvia) Nuttall House is a Municipal Heritage Property located in the farming district between Regina and Moose Jaw, approximately 4 km east of the Village of Pense. The designation applies to a 2 ½-storey wood-frame house built in 1911 and situated in a farmyard surrounded by grain fields. The yard’s several outbuildings are non-contributing resources.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Gerald R. (Sylvia) Nuttall House lies in its association with the Nuttall family and their part in the agricultural development of the Pense area. The first homesteaders to the district had favoured locations with light-textured soil that could be easily cultivated with the farm implements of the day, and where there was access to wood and water. By 1900, these more sought-after homesteads had been taken up and settlement shifted to the dry, treeless, heavy-clay lands closer to the Pense village site. With the refinement of dryland farming techniques and the introduction of machinery capable of tilling the heavy soil, this area would, however, become some of Canada’s best grain-growing land.

It was to this latter area that Isaac Nuttall brought his family from Ontario in 1907. After a few years of working his homestead and living with his wife and six children in rude accommodations, Isaac was prosperous enough to purchase more land and build this sturdy wood-frame home. The house has remained in the family ever since, and today is home to a third generation that continues the Nuttall’s farming tradition.

Heritage value also lies in the house’s American Foursquare-derived architectural style, which is evident in its square massing and 2 ½-storey height, hip roof with central dormer, symmetrical window arrangement on the primary façade, and four-room floor plan. Economical and practical to build, and making efficient use of interior space, houses of this type were very popular across the Prairies during the early-twentieth century.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Pense No. 160 Bylaw 9-97.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Gerald R. (Sylvia) Nuttall House resides in the following character-defining elements:
-elements that express the property’s connection to the Nuttall family and rural settlement in the Pense area, including the house’s original location in a farmyard amidst surrounding grain fields;
-elements that are typical of the American Foursquare architectural style, including the square massing, 2 ½-storey height, hip roof with central dormer, symmetrical window arrangement on the primary façade, and four-room floor plan.