The Haines / McIntyre Residence
10419 127th Street
Originally: “935 27th Street”
Constructed: 1913
Robert D. Haines took possession of this home in March 1913. An Ontarian, Haines came to Edmonton in 1909. “Well known in newspaper circles throughout the Dominion,” he started his career as “a journalist in early life, but laterally conducted circulation campaigns.” When he arrived in Edmonton, he offered his services to two fledgling papers, the Saturday News and the Daily Capitol, where he served as business director.
He and his wife Edith’s home is typical of the more opulent Edwardian-era properties found south of Stony Plain Road. Developed in 1911, this grand sliver of Westmount known as Groat Estate, served as a spiritual continuation of the elite Glenora community just across the Groat Ravine. It certainly looked the part — the same development caveats imposed on that neighbourhood were imposed here too. James Caruthers, its developer, “restricted the construction in the area to houses costing no less than $5000, built no closer to the streets than twenty-five feet. The caveat also disallowed any kind of trade, advertising, or multi-dwelling buildings.”
The Haines’ property fit right in. Built on a full concrete basement, the home featured automatic hot-water heating and hardwood floors on all levels. A den with fireplace, “spacious reception hall, large living room, and family sized dining room” made up the first floor. Five “extra large” bedrooms made up the second. “Both inside and out,” the “best of materials and workmanship” were used for an “excellent finish.”
Be that as it may, notices suggest that as soon as the Haines’ moved in they wanted to sell the home — listings first appeared that September. A souring real-estate market forced them to stay put until 1917. They eventually moved to 124th Street, but with both the Saturday News and Capitol folding during the Great War, the Haines’ decided to leave Edmonton for greener pastures. Robert worked for several Torontonian papers during the 1920s.
Doctor Morton A. McIntyre, a dentist, purchased their old estate in 1918. He and his family lived here for twenty-six years. Quoting from John Blue’s 1924 Alberta, Past & Present: Historical & Bibliographical:
“[McIntyre] took up the profession of teaching, which he followed successfully for five years, imparting readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he had acquired. In this way he earned the money that enabled him to pursue his dental course and he also added to his exchequer by working in various other ways. In 1907 he matriculated in the Royal Dental College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1912. He began practice at Nelson, British Columbia, and in 1913 came to Edmonton.”
Blue describes the doc’ as “ambitious to render his efforts of the highest possible service” and took post-graduate studies in dentistry, “including the Smith course in oral surgery and special training in plate work,” to meet that end. In 1914 he married Miss Myrtle Frost, a fellow Ontarian, and school teacher. They had two children together.
McIntyre was a thirty-second degree Mason and a recreational shooter — in fact, he was “one of the original and genial members of the [Edmonton] Gun Club. While his ability in the practice of dentistry has gained him high professional standing, his social qualities have won him wide popularity among his many friends.”
Sources:
“Society Affairs of Every Day Occurrence In Alberta’s Capital,” Edmonton Journal, March 21, 1913.
“Residence of D.R. Haines,” Edmonton Journal, September 26, 1913.
“Ex-City Newsman Dies In Ontario,” Edmonton Journal, July 21, 1936.
“D.R. Haines Dies In His 58th Year,” Windsor Star, July 23, 1936.
“Glenora: Large Family Home Close to Ravine,” Edmonton Journal, September 30, 1957.
John Blue, Alberta, Past and Present: Historical and Biographical Volume III (Chicago, Illinois: Pioneer Historical Publishing Co., 1924), 256,
https://archive.org/details/albertapastprese03blue/page/256/mode/2up.
Lori Yanish & Shirley Lowe, Edmonton’s West Side Story: The History of the Original West End of Edmonton From 1870 (Edmonton: 124th Street & Area Business Association, 1991), 31-32.
