321 Wilson
The Ranier house at 321 Wilson Avenue was designed in 1937 by architect Lewis Dunn of Dunn and Quinn, and built by the contractor, T. Miller and Sons, for oilman Mr. Lee Welch and his wife Valverde. Lee Welch was a business leader and principal in the oil firm of Vincent and Welch. It was one of Mr. Dunn’s first houses, and he went on to design many local schools and houses including one for Mr. Vincent, in a long and distinguished career.
The original plans show that the house, a rectangular two storey white painted brick, was designed and built in the Federal style. The front of the house featured a diamond shaped window set in the triangular stucco cornice on the central protruding part that included the front door, hall and curving staircase, and upstairs landing. There were two octagonal shaped windows in the wings on either side of the front door which were later walled over. The rectangular transom is decorated with leaded glass with an undulating oval motif. The front door has a curved pediment embellished with dentil moulding and fluted pilasters on both sides. It also has a waist high door knob in the centre of the door. The house had no front columns.
The home is distinguished among other things by the attention to detail and the craftsmanship of the woodwork, and rounded architectural features which add interest and charm, such as the curving staircase and the sloping hall wall. Upper casement windows have composition rosette and wood fluted pilasters. The dining room and game room had garden facing doors with glass brick panels on either side which were later walled in. The two car garage was on the north end of the house but was later converted into a den.
The living and dining rooms have wainscoting and cool plaster walls. The living room fireplace is wood and marble and the bank of windows overlooking the garden is curved. The game room is paneled and shelved and, with its spare wooden fireplace and mantel, it has a Georgian simplicity of form.
220 Wilson
220 Wilson, The William Henry Managan House
In a turnabout from a more conventional sequence of events, the William Henry Managan House at 220 Wilson Street, was “handed-down” from son to father – as a result of a fire. That little footnote to history was revealed in research by the current owners, Mr. and Mrs. Lastie Paul Vincent.
The original cottage was built in 1920 by a young Managan – the bachelor son of a family well established in the lumber business – in Margaret Place, the Lake Areas' first "Streetcar Subdivision."
In the late 1920’s, the Westlake residence of the Managan’s parents was destroyed by fire while they were at their Calcasieu (Big) Lake summer home.
Improvements included a master bedroom and bath complete with dressing areas, a solarium, a library and a covered walk to a double garage with servant’s quarters overhead. Especially significant are wood carvings, depicting the Cascade Mountains of Washington, which frame all four walls of the library.
The home, including the solarium which may be used as a greenhouse, is heated by a still operable steam system. The library, dining, living rooms and master bedroom feature antique ceiling fans dating from the early part of the century. An ornate walkway leads to guest quarters and the utility and garage areas.
An elaborate fish pond in the backyard was covered when the house was purchased by its previous owners in 1981. They felt the pond was hazardous to small children.
The senior Managans occupied the house until their deaths in 1946, at which time their son, the original owner, and his wife returned to the house. He died in 1974 and his wife Frances, well known throughout the area as a musician and piano teacher, remained there until 1981. She died in 1989.