Tucked away on a leafy street in the West End sits a heritage house with a story.
The Roedde House (pronounced “roadie”) was built in 1893 for Gustav Roedde, a German immigrant and Vancouver’s first bookbinder. The architect is all but confirmed to have been Francis Rattenbury, friend of the family and the man responsible for the Vancouver Art Gallery building and Empress Hotel in Victoria.
And while other fine examples of “Queen Anne revival” architecture, with its bay windows, dramatic turrets, and asymmetrical quirks, still linger in Vancouver (Canuck Place is a soaring example), this one is celebrating its 25th year as a museum – one you may not have even known existed.
On approach, 1415 Barclay Street looks like any other restored wonder of the West End. A stroll through the lush garden, however, leads you to a front door that beckons “Ring bell to enter.”
Inside, you’re greeted by volunteers from the Roedde House Preservation Society, who will happily sweep you off the entrance into the ornate parlour room – a place where the musical family once gathered to sing and carouse– for a guided tour. Picture yourself enjoying a feast in the dining room, which was destroyed at one point by a raging Christmas tree fire and still carries signs of a “modern” makeover circa 1913. Imagine crawling into bed in the main floor master bedroom, where time-worn treasures like hair catchers (for sewing human hair into trinkets), collar boxes and glove stretchers line every surface, and set the scene of what the Roedde family’s life might have been like.
Upstairs, you can find examples of Roedde’s bookbinding, including his stunning displays of decorative paper-marbling, which was a popular handicraft in the 19th century.
In the window-lined sewing room, one can picture a petite Matilda Roedde sewing and mending in her extremely petite chair. The room is now surrounded by mature trees and buildings, but at the time, she would have enjoyed a view straight to the sea.
You can also explore the bedrooms the children shared and learn more about their lives, including the tragic loss of daughter Anna Catherine, a nurse who was killed at age 28 by a patient while on shift at St. Paul’s Hospital nearby.
Roedde House officially opened as a museum in 1990, and offers guided tours on weekdays and Sundays, and school tours for children. Every Sunday, it hosts a drop-in Tea and Tour afternoon ($8), featuring a tasting of its own Roedde House blend by Murchie’s. And, in honour of the musical family, the Roedde Museum also hosts two ongoing monthly concert series – a jazz concert the second Thursday of every month, and a classical concert on the second Sunday afternoon of each month, to keep the musical spirit of the house alive.
