Description of Historic Place

The brick J.C. Falls House, a 2 1/2-storey structure, stands in the Osborne Village area of Fort Rouge, just south of the Assiniboine River and downtown Winnipeg. The City of Winnipeg designation applies to the building on its footprint.

Heritage Value

The J.C. Falls House, built in 1907, is one of just a few surviving buildings that recall its district's post-1900 evolution from a quasi-rural suburb to a higher-density yet still prestigious residential area favoured by wealthy, influential Winnipeg families. The picturesque Georgian Revival-style dwelling, designed by Wardell and Nichols for John C. Falls, a wholesale hardware executive, relied on scale and ornamentation to rival its peers among the other substantial single-family homes, some of them sumptuous mansions, that fronted well-treed Roslyn Road until the mid-1900s when new phases of area redevelopment began. By accommodating a boarding house and private nursing home, then by rehabilitation and conversion to commercial office use, the Falls house has withstood displacement pressures to remain a refined example of the types of grand homes that made Roslyn Road such a desirable address in central Winnipeg.

Source: City of Winnipeg Committee on Planning and Community Services Minutes, April 5, 1994

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the J.C. Falls House site include:
- the corner location near the eastern end of Roslyn Road at Bryce Street in Fort Rouge, among a mix of historic and modern single- and multiple-family residential buildings
- the structure's placement within the site, facing north, set back from public rights-of-way and buffered by mature trees

Key elements that define the dwelling's reserved Georgian Revival architecture include:
- the nearly square, 2 1/2-storey massing, of masonry construction with red brick walls atop a stone foundation and a broad hip roof pierced by shed dormers (south and east) and at the front by a prominent gable dormer
- the symmetrical front dominated by a brick staircase and central entrance flanked by two-storey bay windows crowned with simple pedimented and stone-capped parapets
- the east facade's large wooden combined verandah and upper deck with simple railings
- the many windows throughout, mostly tall rectangular openings with segmental-arched brick heads and concrete lug sills, etc.
- the minimal details, including a plain fascia, jack arches and other modest brickwork atop some windows, a brick chimney, etc.

Key elements that define the dwelling's interior character include:
- the formal centre-hall plan, including the entrance vestibule's finely appointed wood and glass walls and doors
- the dramatic wooden staircase with elegant handrails and a deep landing
- the fireplaces, including some with simple, classically carved wood or glazed tiling, etc.
- the details and finishes, including some plank floors, wood panelling, trim and baseboards, etc.