Roedde House Museum facts for kids
Exterior of the museum
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| Established | May 12, 1990 |
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| Location | 1415 Barclay Street Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Type | Museum (Victorian era) |
The Roedde House Museum is a beautiful old home in Vancouver, Canada. It was built in 1893 and looks like a late-Victorian house. This house was once the home of Gustav Roedde and his family.
People believe the famous architect Francis Rattenbury designed it. The house is built in the Queen Anne Revival style. After many years, the house was fixed up and filled with old furniture in the 1980s. It opened as a museum in 1990. Now, you can visit it and see what life was like over 100 years ago!
Contents
Discovering Roedde House History
Meet the Roedde Family
Gustav Roedde (1860-1930) came from Germany to the United States in 1882. He learned to be a bookbinder. At a Halloween party, he met Matilda Cassebohm (1862-1951), who was also from Germany. They got married in 1883.
Gustav and Matilda lived in different cities. They lived in San Francisco, California, and Victoria, British Columbia. Finally, they settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1888. Gustav Roedde's bookbinding business grew quickly. Vancouver was a fast-growing city back then. He was very skilled, especially with a technique called paper marbling. This helped him become a successful businessman. His company, G.A. Roedde Printers, still exists today!
The Roedde Family Home
The Roedde family's house was finished in 1893. The architect, Francis Rattenbury (1867-1935), was a talented English immigrant. He also designed other famous buildings. These include The Empress Hotel and the old Vancouver courthouse. The courthouse is now the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The Roedde House has some special features. It has an uneven shape, open porches called verandas, and a round tower called a turret. These are all common in the Queen Anne Revival style. The inside and outside of the house are made of cedar and fir wood. This wood was easy to find and cheap back then.
The Roedde family grew quite large! They had seven children and three big St. Bernard dogs. Their first child, Anna Henrietta, sadly passed away when she was four years old.
When World War I started, two of the sons, Walter and William, went to Europe. They fought for the British army and safely returned home. During that time, their daughter Emma Cather moved back to the Roedde House. She brought her two daughters, Emma Gwendolyn and Kathleen Frances, with her.
Stories say the children would play in the upstairs storage room. From there, they could listen to the adults talking downstairs! In 1925, another daughter, Anna Catherine, passed away at age 28. She was a nurse at the Vancouver General Hospital. Later that same year, the family moved to a new home in Point Grey.
Saving Roedde House: From Home to Museum
In the late 1970s, the Roedde House was almost torn down. But the Community of Arts Council of Vancouver stepped in. They argued that the building was very important to history. They succeeded! In 1976, the house was named a "Class A Heritage Building." This meant it could not be moved, and its outside walls could not be changed.
The City of Vancouver fixed up the outside of the house. Then, in 1984, a group called the Roedde House Preservation Society was formed. Their job was to restore the inside of the house. They used old records to make sure the house looked just like it did between 1893 and 1925. They even peeled off old wallpaper to find the original wall colors! The house was filled with items that a middle-class family would have owned in the 1890s.
On May 12, 1990, the Roedde House Museum officially opened. The mayor at the time, Gordon Campbell, was there for the opening.
Exploring the Museum Today
The museum has a collection of over 2,700 items! These include furniture, clothes, books, and other household things. Some of these items even belonged to the Roedde family.
Some cool things you can see include:
- A tall longcase clock made in 1775.
- An upright Steinway piano from 1893.
- Other interesting items like a stereoscope (for looking at 3D pictures), a chestnut roaster, and a special bread maker.
Besides guided tours, the museum also hosts Classical and Jazz Concerts. If you visit on a Sunday for "Tea and Tour," you can try the "Roedde House Blend" tea. This special tea is made just for the museum!
