Description of Historic Place

The Gervan Residence is a two and one-half storey, wood-frame house, located in the Chilliwack Proper neighbourhood, close to downtown Chilliwack, British Columbia. The historic place includes the house and landscaped lot.

Heritage Value

The Gervan Residence is an early 20th-century residence built in the Mountain View subdivision, developed by pioneer Reuben Nowell. It has aesthetic value as an example of Foursquare architecture style from the Edwardian era. The house went under alterations in 1935 by prominent Vancouver-based architects McCarter & Nairne and was renovated to showcase Colonial Revival Style architecture. The house has historic value for serving as a residence for notable figures in the community, such as the original owners-the Gervan family, the Banfords in 1919 and the Robertsons in 1933.

Character-Defining Elements

The key character-defining elements of the Gervan House include its:

- location in the historic Mountain View subdivision
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its two and one-half storey height plus basement, high-hipped roofline, symmetrical hipped dormers, gabled and flat-roofed projections, and irregular window placement
- wood frame construction and board-formed concrete foundations with stucco finish, brick chimneys, wooden siding with corner boards on the dormers, tongue-and-groove wooden soffits, dimensional wooden trim
- eclectic Colonial Revival features from 1935 such as: columned entrance porch with brick steps and quarry tiled floors, cornice frizes on additions, glazed front door and sidelights, and multi-rounded window
- windows such as double hung, casement, three-paned in basement and 12-paned staircase window at rear
- interior features such as panelled walls in dinning room and coffered ceiling, parquet oak floors at entry, wooden floors, wooden trim, wooden staircase, five-panelled doors, and bathroom added in 1935 with original fixtures and tiling
- mature garden setting