Manitoba Municipal Heritage Site No. 124

 
 

McElroy House
Morden,
645 Thornhill Street

McElroy House

Designation Date: May 11, 1995
Designation Authority: The Town of Morden
Present Owner: privately owned

The town of Morden is well known for its fieldstone structures. This house is one of the community’s smaller examples, but is no less impressive than its larger neighbours due to its charming character and prominent location. The original owner, Henry McElroy, was involved in real estate dealings in the Morden area for a number of years. It was during the summer of 1895 that Mr. McElroy contracted W. H. Belcher, a local mason, to build a granite fieldstone house on a wooded lot near the banks of the Dead Horse Creek. The house he constructed was a simple one-and-a-half storey structure with a gable roof, with a smaller but similarly designed north wing. The appearance of the building is strongly reminiscent of a residential style commonly seen in England and Scotland during the late 19th century. The fact that Mr. Belcher’s business partner, Robert Innis, was a stonemason from Scotland suggests that the design of the residence may have been based on these structures. More recent owners of the residence constructed a sympathetically designed wood frame addition on the north side of the house, incorporating the same massing, roof line and window treatment of the original fieldstone portion.

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