Description of Historic Place

Seven Oaks House National Historic Site of Canada is located within greenspace on a park-like lot adjoining McGowan Park in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. This large two-story house, in a vernacular Georgian style, features a symmetrical five bay façade. The site comprises two buildings, a larger, central residence of log construction (1851-1853) and a smaller, earlier cabin of Red River Log Frame construction (1831) now repurposed as flanking wings. The designation refers to the parcel of land associated with the Seven Oaks House Museum and the adjacent Seven Oaks Park (also known as McGowan-Colleen Park) bounded by Mac Street, Colleen Road, Jones Street, and the back lane of Tait Avenue.

Heritage Value

Seven Oaks House was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2022. It is recognized because:

— the original two-room cabin built circa 1831 and later divided to become a general store and a kitchen wing for a new larger house, is an extant early example of Red River Frame construction, and the later house, constructed from 1851 to 1853 and known as Seven Oaks House, is among the finest examples of the stately Georgian style at the Red River Settlement. Together, the two structures illustrate the Red River fur trade period, the transition to an agricultural economy, the transition to an urbanized centre, and the influence of the Inkster family for more than 80 years;

— the house and its primary residents, the Inkster family, exemplify the centrality of Métis families and their kin networks in the Red River community, in the settlement of the West, and to the passing down of Métis culture and history throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century;

— the location of the property oriented to the Red River provides a reminder of the original river lot and typifies the historical spatial understanding and landscape practices of the Métis and Red River inhabitants before and after Manitoba joined Confederation in 1870.

The property for the Seven Oaks House is comprised of two buildings and the surrounding grounds, set in an urban residential neighbourhood. Originally a farm, it has since been converted to a museum with a walking entrance access on Tait Avenue.

Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, December 2022.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements contributing to the heritage value of this site include:

— the urban setting on a treed lot adjacent to Seven Oaks Park amongst urban housing;
— the site, a park-like treed lot;
— large massing of the primary residence, a Georgian style two-storey house, and smaller massing of the earlier log cabin, later divided to provide flanking wings, as a kitchen on the north elevation, and a free-standing two room general store on the south side, each with gable roof and deep-set windows;
— quality construction materials, the Red River log frame construction of the kitchen wing and detached general store and the log construction of the main house;
— main house elements including the stacked stone foundation, horizontal wood siding, cedar shingled steep-pitch hip roof, dormers and brick chimneys;
— the surrounding verandah, and the regular fenestration pattern;
— remaining original interior configuration, features and finishes;
— the spatial relationship between the buildings and their relationship to the treed lot;
— the integrity of any surviving or, as yet unidentified archaeological remains which may be found within the site in their original placement and extent.