Description of Historic Place

The Rolfe House is a wood frame Craftsman-style house, located in an early residential neighbourhood in Chilliwack, British Columbia. The historic place includes the house.

Heritage Value

Rolfe house has historic value for representing the residential and commercial development and expansion of Chilliwack that occurred after the end of World War I. It served as a residence for notable figures in the community, such as the original owners - the Rolfe family, and Leslie and Connie Barber. Leslie Barber was the owner and publisher of the Chilliwack Progress and Connie Barber was a noted local writer. The historic place also has aesthetic value as an example of the dominant style of Craftsman architecture.

Character-Defining Elements

The elements that define the character of Rolfe House include:

- location, set back on a large lot with associated landscape features such as a grassed front yard
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its: generally symmetrical design, one and one-half storey height, full basement, side-gabled roof with twin front gable dormers and recessed central window semi-octagonal projecting front bay and projecting ground floor east rectangular bay, and full open front verandah
- wood-frame construction, with shingle cladding and dimensional door and window trim, and buff masonry external chimney
- Craftsman design features, including: cedar shingle cladding, full open front verandah with square porch columns and balusters and tongue-and-groove soffits and flooring, stucco and wood half-timbering in gable dormers, triangular eave brackets, and open tongue-and-groove soffits
- variety of original wooden-sash windows including: two casement assemblies with upper straight-leaded transoms, variety of 6-over-1 and 8-over-1 double-hung wooden-sash windows in single and triple assembly, and front bay double-hung wooden-sash windows with straight leaded upper sash.
- interior finishing that dates to the original construction of the house