Carr House is a
National Historic Site of Canada located in
Victoria, British Columbia. It was the childhood home of
Canadian painter Emily Carr, and had a lasting impression on her paintings and writings.
Early history
Built in 1863 for the affluent Carr family, the house address was originally 44 Carr Street on a large property owned by
Emily Carr's father, Richard. The building was designed in an
Italianate style by prominent local architects
Wright & Sanders
Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a shipwright is ...
, who also built another Victorian
National Historic Site, the
Fisgard Lighthouse
Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site, on Fisgard Island at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour in Colwood, British Columbia, is the site of Fisgard Lighthouse, the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada.
Fisgard Lighthouse is about by bo ...
. The area was the heart of 19th century Victoria, with many other merchants, businessmen, and politicians such as the
Dunsmuirs living in the area, many of whom commissioned other important buildings, such as
Helmcken House
Helmcken House is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, located in Thunderbird Park. It was built by Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, the first doctor in Victoria, in 1852, a surgeon with the Hudson's Bay Company. It is one of the oldest houses in ...
.
Structurally, the building is an excellent and well-preserved heritage example of the Italianate villa style popular at the time.
The site is most notable for its association with Emily Carr; artist and writer. Born in 1871, Carr spent much of her life within walking distance of her family home, and the environment left a lasting impression on her which is mentioned in all of her books.
In her 1942 ''The Book of Small'', a young Emily offers a description of Carr street, and her house, as it appeared around 1880:
Our street was called Carr Street after my Father. We had a very nice house and a lovely garden... Carr Street was a very fine street. The dirt road waved up and down and in and out. the horses made it that way, zigzagging the carts and carriages through it. The rest of the street was green grass and wild roses. ..In front of our place Father had made a gravel walk but after our trees stopped there were just two planks to walk on.
As far back as I can remember Father's place was all made and in order. The house was large and well-built, of Californian redwood
''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...
, the garden prim and carefully tended. Everything about it was extremely English. It was as though Father had buried tremendous homesickness in this new soil and it had rooted and sprung up English. There were hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
hedges, primrose banks, and cow pastures with shrubberies
A shrubbery, shrub border or shrub garden is a part of a garden where shrubs, mostly flowering species, are thickly planted. The original shrubberies were mostly sections of large gardens, with one or more paths winding through it, a less-rememb ...
."
Emily lived in the house for most of her childhood, before leaving to pursue artistic training in
San Francisco,
London and
Paris. Her father's death in 1888 left ownership of the farm to her elder sister,
Edith Carr
Edith Carr (February 5, 1856 - December 11, 1919) was an American-Canadian China-painter and founder of the YWCA in Victoria, British Columbia. Most notably, she was the elder sister of Canadian artist Emily Carr. While Edith's artistry never re ...
, who divided up the estate into lots which were sold off, with the Carr sisters retaining five of them.
Upon her return to Victoria in 1913, Emily built her own house adjacent to Carr House at 646 Simcoe Street. Her time here was immortalized in her 1944 book ''The House of All Sorts'' — the structure still stands and contains a mural she painted on the attic roof in the style of
First Nations. Her sisters Edith and Alice also built houses surrounding Carr House — Alice Carr House was run like a kindergarten by Alice, and Emily occasionally held art lessons in the building.
Later history and restoration
Carr House passed through the Carr family for several years, before being sold to a private owner for use as a rental property. The building was extensively modernized following a fire in 1938. In 1964,
MP David Groos
David Walter Groos (20 April 1918 – 12 January 1976) was a Liberal party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States and became a naval officer by career.
He was first elected at the Victoria ...
saved the building from demolition and turned it over to the
Emily Carr Foundation
Emily may refer to:
* Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name
Music
* "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily''
* "Emily" (Dave Koz song), a 1990 song ...
three years later, for use as an
art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
and school known as the Emily Carr Arts Centre. In 1976, the provincial government purchased the property, and helped return the building to its original condition.
The building was extensively
restored
''Restored'' is the fourth
studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard ...
by two different architects, undoing many of the additions and modernizations that had been added to the house since the 19th century. The
wood finishes, mentioned by Carr, were restored from scratch, while the exterior of the house was returned to its original design and color using period photos from Emily Carr's lifetime. The interior of the house is faithful to the original, following the painstaking removal of layers of newer paint and wallpaper to discover the original pattern and colors used inside.
Most of the original artifacts in the home have long-since been replaced; however, a handful have been recovered and restored. The Carr family
Bible was recovered, along with some of the original pieces of hardware for the doors and windows. Most items from the house have been replaced with replicas, or other period artifacts — such as the
piano in
parlour, which was originally owned by neighbours of the Carr family.
Carr House is currently a cultural centre celebrating Emily Carr's life through seasonal tours, rotating exhibits, programming and events. It is operated by a site manager and owned by the Province of
British Columbia. Carr House is located at 207
Government Street, six blocks from Victoria's
Inner Harbour and the
Parliament Buildings. In addition to the heritage rooms Carr House is surrounded by a Victorian styled garden. During the summer season Carr House is open for tours by appointment. Programming and events take place during the rest of the year, building upon themes of Emily Carr's life such as art and environmentalism, respect for First Nations Communities, feminism, and mentorship of emerging artists and writers. Heritage preservation and gardening workshops are also offered.
See also
*
List of historic places in Victoria, British Columbia
References
External links
*
Emily Carr: At Home and at Work
{{British Columbia parks
Museums in Victoria, British Columbia
Historic house museums in British Columbia
Art museums and galleries in British Columbia
Houses completed in 1863
Historic buildings and structures in British Columbia
National Historic Sites in British Columbia
Italianate architecture in Canada
Houses in British Columbia
Emily Carr