Claverleigh National Historic Site of Canada
Links and documents
Listed on the Canadian Register:
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
Claverleigh is a Gothic Revival-style villa set in extensive park-like grounds in an isolated rural setting 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) west of the Village of Creemore, Ontario.
Claverleigh was designated a national historic site in 1990 as a very fine representative example of a Gothic Revival-style villa.
The heritage value of this site resides in its physical expression of the Gothic Revival-style villa in Canada.
The house was built in 1871 by William Forster as a parish rectory, to plans by his brother, British architect Richard Forster. The Gothic Revival style was considered suitably ecclesiastical in character for the style of a small rectory.
Source: HSMBC Minutes, June 1989, February 1990, June 1990, November 1990.
Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
- the picturesque massing created by two one-and-a-half storey wings capped by steep roof gables joined by a small central entryway,
- the entry under a smaller, gable-roof porch and dormer window,
- the lively articulation of exterior elevations through the use of varied forms such as indentations (deep roof eaves) and projections (tall chimneys, small central roof gable, projecting porch, bay window, second floor balcony and verandah),
- the irregular articulation of its exterior surfaces through the use of textured finishing materials (shingle roof, board and batten walls),
- Gothic Revival exterior detailing including the pointed arch, label moulding framing the wooden entry door, the Gothic arches and tracery remnants of its second storey windows, the design of the bay window as an allusion to a cross),
- the Gothic Revival elements of its interior decor such as the spandrels of the wooden arches supporting its minstrel gallery,
- the building's scenic setting in expansive park-like grounds.
Government of Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Act
National Historic Site of Canada
Theme - Category and Type
- Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
- Architecture and Design
Function - Category and Type
Architect / Designer
Location of Supporting Documentation
National Historic Sites Directorate, Documentation Centre, 5th Floor, Room 89, 25 Eddy Street, Gatineau, Quebec
Cross-Reference to Collection