Background:
After being reassured for years that the Oshawa Hospital Foundation would use the existing building for a Cancer Lodge, Heritage Oshawa was informed, in May of 2005, that the new plan would mean the demolition of the home to build new.

Heritage Oshawa forwarded a designation proposal to Council, met with the Foundation and proposed that the existing building be used, an addition be put on the back and that the community be asked to donate time and materials to make up for the higher costs of adaptive reuse. Negotiations are continuing.

Although the designation proposal was defeated at Council, the Heritage Conservation District Study was passed and Rundle House is in the study area effectively stopping demolition until October 2006.

Reasons for Designation

The Rundle House, 364 Simcoe Street North, in the City of Oshawa is recommended for designation under Part IV of The Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter 0.18 for cultural, historical, contextual and architectural reasons, as follows:

Cultural

The designation of the Rundle House presents an opportunity to commemorate the Rundle family of medical practitioners. Their contribution to the City of Oshawa is also memorialized in the naming of Rundle Tower, City Hall. The house itself is one of the earlier homes to be built along Simcoe Street North and started the northern development of stately homes encouraged by the building of nearby Parkwood, the R.S. McLaughlin Estate in 1915-1917.

Historical

Built c. 1916 by either Albert E. Law or by subsequent owners Elizabeth Ann Owens and John Powers the property was purchased in 1919 by Walter Geikie. Walter was the son-in-law of George H. Pedlar and managed Pedlar People Ltd. (an important Oshawa manufacturer of sheet metal products) while he lived in the home. The house saw a series of owners until bought by Dr. James Edward Rundle in 1959. James' father, Dr. Franklin James Rundle was the Medical Officer of Health for East Whitby, Coroner, Canadian Pacific Railway and Bell Telephone Company surgeon and medical examiner and on the Oshawa Board of Health from 1933 to 1936.

His son and owner of the subject property, was Dr. James Edward Rundle. He made many contributions to Oshawa including chairing the council's traffic committee, as a member of Hillsdale Manor Management Committee, on a committee to develop medical standards for prospective city employees, and serving on a transportation study committee. He ran as an independent in the 1956 federal election, he was also a keen student of Oshawa City Council business. Quoting from his 1968 obituary, " There are many who will revere him as a personality who said what he thought and are firm in the belief that his contribution to the community he called home was such that it is better for his having loved and worked in it."

After the Rundle family sold the home it saw a series of private and public owners until bought in 1992 by the Oshawa General Hospital Foundation.

Contextual

Located just north of Hospital Court and Parkwood, the R. S. McLaughlin Estate on Simcoe Street North the home is the southern gateway to the tree lined community of a cluster of impressive Edwardian and Period Revival residences. The lot boasts mature trees, a period garage and is bordered on the west by historical Alexandra Park.

Architectural

The Rundle House is architecturally significant as an excellent example of Edwardian Classicism. The style in itself is seen in Ontario between 1900 and 1930 and is associated with the reign of British monarch Edward VII. While it exhibits some restrained classical inspiration the style is also know for its simplicity after the excesses of the Queen Anne style. Edwardian Classicism is a precursor to the simplified styles of the 20th century.

Typical of Edwardian architecture the Rundle House is a two and a half storey, red brick home with an irregular plan and roofline.

Although it appears to have several modifications, notably the polygonal shaped, flat roofed, one storey addition to the south; a bay window on the east and extended front verandah, these changes have maintained the formal composition of the Edwardian style.

Typical of a well executed example of Edwardian Classicism the house is balanced and is enhanced with uncomplicated ornament. Multi-part windows of all shapes and sizes dominate the brick facades. Each window is divided into many small panes of glass and capped with stone lintels or brick arches, some with keystones. Also dominating the front façade is the gabled verandah extended to form a portico over the driveway. Sparingly applied detail includes the wood shingling in the gables, the plain, grouped wooden columns on brick piers, the doorway with transom, sidelights and simply ornamented panels, the stone capped chimneys and wide eaves.

The garage appears to have been built at the same time as the house. It is significant as the second storey door seems to be a loading bay for upper level hay storage and so represents a time between the horse and automobile as the preferred mode of transportation.

Heritage Attributes to be Protected and Conserved

The specific attributes that contribute to the heritage value of the Rundle House and that should be preserved include:

• The overall massing of the two and a half storey, irregular plan, gable roofed building with 1-storey polygonal shaped, flat roofed addition to the south.
• The unpainted red brick
• Windows:
  The size, shape, material and window pane division of the existing fenestration must be maintained. Also note:
  
  • Flat stone lintels and sills on east, north and west sides
  • Segmental brick arches over windows on south and west sides
  • Semicircular brick arch with stone keystone on one storey addition to south, along with stone or concrete band that divides the semicircular from the rectangular section of the windows and continues around the addition.
  • Multi-part wood windows divided into 4/4 on east facade
  • Wood Oriel window on second storey of east façade with one third/ two third division top and bottom- 4/8 window division.
  • The wood bay window on the east facade with two single windows on the sides and four part window on the front, each 4/8 window division
  • Five semicircular windows on one storey addition to the south, 6/8 divisions in the multipart divisions
  • Segmentally arched basement window on east façade with three part division
• Entranceways:
  
  • Front doorcase composed of sidelights and transom
  • Door with large pane of glass
  • Decorative wooden panels under sidelights
  • French doors (3 by 8 window division on each door panel) on west side of one storey addition with semicircular transom (two divisions of 3 by 4 each) and 1 by 8 sidelights
• Verandah:
  
  • Across the east façade from the bay window and extending as a portico over the driveway
  • Grouped Tuscan inspired wooden columns on brick piers and pilasters against brick walls
  • Plain architrave under wide eaves
  • Low gabled roof
  • Two sets of concrete stairs
• Roofline:
  
  • Irregular outline originally clad in cedar shingles now with asphalt shingles
  • Wood shingled slightly flared gables facing east, north and west
  • Stone capped brick chimneys
  • Wide eaves
  • Plain wood frieze band under generous eaves
• Foundation:
  
  • Stone faced masonry foundation above grade
• Garage:
  
  • One and a half storey, red brick, rectangular, cedar shingled gable roof with dormer, chimney, three bay entrance and segmentally arched wooden side door