Seven Oaks House National Historic Site

Seven Oaks House was designated as a national historic site in 2022.

Commemorative plaque: no plaque installed^{Footnote 1}

Seven Oaks House

The site of Seven Oaks House includes two historic buildings and is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, within the homeland of the Métis and on Treaty 1 Territory. The original two-room cabin, built around 1831, is an early example of Red River frame construction. The later house, constructed from 1851 to 1853 and known as Seven Oaks House, is among the finest and most impressive examples of the Georgian style at the Red River Settlement. Together, the two structures illustrate the Red River fur trade period, the transition to an agricultural economy and urbanized centre, and the long-lasting influence of the Inkster family. Seven Oaks House takes its name from a nearby creek where seven large oak trees once stood, marking the site of the Battle of Frog Plain / Seven Oaks in 1816. The house and its primary residents, the Inkster family, exemplify the centrality of Métis families in the Red River community, in the settlement of the West, and to the passing down of Métis culture throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century. The location of the property oriented to the Red River provides a reminder of the original river lot and typifies the historical spatial understanding and landscape practices of the Métis and Red River inhabitants.

The original cabin was built around 1831 for John and Mary (née Sinclair) Inkster, an influential Scottish and Métis couple. The cabin was later divided to become a general store and a kitchen wing for a new larger house, and the two remnants represent one of the oldest standing buildings in Manitoba. The large two-storey 1850s Seven Oaks House was designed in a vernacular Georgian style and represents a phase of wood residential architecture at Red River when settlement became more permanent. Of log construction, the house has horizontal wood siding on the exterior and is insulated with a layer of buffalo hair and fur and finished on the interior with plaster. The house has numerous double-hung multi-pane windows, and it is mostly encircled by a verandah. The vernacular Georgian style was commonly used for Hudson’s Bay Company warehouses and has therefore been described as the “Hudson’s Bay style.” Scottish emigrants adapted this style to the design of “big houses” built in the Red River Settlement during the first half of the 19th century and it was adopted by merchants, ministers, and craftsmen. The river lot on which the house is situated retains some of its original dimensions, though it initially stretched to the Red River as its frontage and, in the opposite direction, extended back to where the Battle of Frog Plain / Seven Oaks monument stands on Main Street. The Inkster family owned the property until 1912 when it was donated to the City of Winnipeg for use as a park and museum.

Seven Oaks House is a distinctive surviving piece of built heritage and landscape that speaks to both Western Canadian settlement and Indigenous history. It is located within the Red River Settlement, an early fur trade hub, the first European and Euro-Canadian agricultural settlement in the west, and the territory of many Indigenous nations. The Red River Settlement set a pattern for further development in the prairies. Métis families like the Inkster family were integral to that development, and the growth of the Inkster family’s home mirrors the growth of the region, the City of Winnipeg, and the province. The longevity of the lived history of the site and structures, the scale and design of Seven Oaks House, and the maintenance of the property with some of its original farm features and river lot spatial arrangements illustrates the influence of large Métis families and the transitions the Red River Settlement went through from the fur trade to an urbanized city centre.

“The national historic designation for the Seven Oaks House is significant as it brings attention to a distinctive surviving piece of Western Canada’s earliest Red River settlement history. The historic house and its grounds reveal stories that are rich in historical significance and illustrate a unique microcosm of the settlement and development of this region of Canada. Visiting the Seven Oaks House Museum provides a unique opportunity for visitors to experience its historic identity in the midst of a modern city, providing context for key themes of conflict, and reconciliation between settler and indigenous groups, and Scottish-Métis history."

This press backgrounder was prepared at the time of the Ministerial announcement in 2025.

Description of historic place

Seven Oaks House National Historic Site of Canada is located within greenspace on a park-like lot adjoining McGowan Park in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. This large two-story house, in a vernacular Georgian style, features a symmetrical five bay façade. The site comprises two buildings, a larger, central residence constructed in the Red River Frame style (1851-1853) and a smaller, earlier log construction cabin (1831) now repurposed as flanking wings. The designation refers to the parcel of land associated with the Seven Oaks House Museum and the adjacent Seven Oaks Park (also known as McGowan-Colleen Park) bounded by Mac Street, Colleen Road, Jones Street, and the back lane of Tait Avenue.

Heritage value

Seven Oaks House was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1922 because:

• the original two-room cabin built circa 1831 and later divided to become a general store and a kitchen wing for a new larger house, is an extant early example of Red River Frame construction, and the later house, constructed from 1851 to 1853 and known as Seven Oaks House, is among the finest examples of the stately Georgian style at the Red River Settlement. Together, the two structures illustrate the Red River fur trade period, the transition to an agricultural economy, the transition to an urbanized centre, and the influence of the Inkster family for more than 80 years;
• the house and its primary residents, the Inkster family, exemplify the centrality of Métis families and their kin networks in the Red River community, in the settlement of the West, and to the passing down of Métis culture and history throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century;
• the location of the property oriented to the Red River provides a reminder of the original river lot and typifies the historical spatial understanding and landscape practices of the Métis and Red River inhabitants before and after Manitoba joined Confederation in 1870.

The property for the Seven Oaks House is comprised of two buildings and the surrounding grounds, set in an urban residential neighbourhood. Originally a farm, it has since been converted to a museum with a walking entrance access on Tait Avenue.

Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, December 2022.

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