Roslyn Court Apartments National Historic Site of Canada

Winnipeg, Manitoba
Exterior photo (© Parks Canada/Parcs Canada 1983 (HRS 0320))
Roslyn Court Apartments
(© Parks Canada/Parcs Canada 1983 (HRS 0320))
Address : 105 Roslyn Road / 40 Osborne Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1991-03-01
Dates:
  • 1909 to 1909 (Construction)

Other Name(s):
  • Roslyn Court Apartments  (Designation Name)
  •   (Special Name (in French))

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  105 Roslyn Road / 40 Osborne Street, Manitoba

Roslyn Court, constructed in 1909, is one of Canada's finest apartment buildings in the Queen Anne Revival style. Popular between 1880 and 1914, this style is characterized by asymmetrical composition, contrasting colours and textures, and strikingly varied rooflines. It left a gracious legacy of comfortable, highly decorative residences across the country, including this example. Designed by local architect W.W. Blair, Roslyn Court is among the few Queen Anne Revival apartment buildings that still retain their interior features, such as wood panelling, mouldings, stained glass and fireplaces.

Description of Historic Place

Roslyn Court Apartments National Historic Site is a five-storey, 37-suite, red brick apartment building prominently located at the corner of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street in Osborne Village, Winnipeg.

Heritage Value

Roslyn Court Apartments was designated a national historic site in 1991 as a fine example of the Queen Anne Revival style and turn-of-the-century apartment design.

The heritage value of this site resides in its illustration of the Queen Anne Revival style as used for apartment building design in Canada in the early twentieth century.

Roslyn Court Apartments, built in 1909, was designed by Winnipeg architect William Wallace Blair. It is one of the few early 20th century apartment buildings that still retains its original interior features.

Source: HSMBC Minute, March 1991, July 1999; Commemorative Integrity Statement

Character-Defining Elements

The key elements that relate to the heritage value of this site include: the asymmetrical massing comprised of advancing and receding vertical elements of the composition; the lively, picturesque roofline with varied features including chimneys, gables, dormers, and conical projections; the use of historical references in the design (pillar-like protruding blocks topped by classically shaped ends that are irregular in form, allusion to a roof tower, prominent chimneys, palladio-like flat expanses with square arches, main door topped by an arched pediment and flanked by faux pillars); high quality materials (brick, stone, tile, copper, hardwoods and clay tile on the roof); the richness of material colour and texture contrasts (striated limestone foundation in rusticated and smooth layers, rich red brick walls, contrasting smooth stone trim, red clay roof tiles, flat glass expanses); intact, rich original interior elements (wood panelling, plasterwork, mouldings, stained glass, fireplaces, maple hardwood flooring, copper elevator); aspects of the design that support a high quality early 20th century lifestyle (interior courtyard, light wells, fireplaces, built-in furniture); its setting as a landmark in its neighbourhood, Osborne Village.