1312 – 10th Street
(Lots 14/18, Block 25, Plan 193)
Brandon, Manitoba
Designation Date: February 5, 2007
Designation Authority: The City of Brandon
This 2½ storey house was built in 1912 and was the residence of Benjamin James Hales. Hales was the first principal of the Brandon Normal School, one of four schools devoted to teacher training built in Manitoba. Hales was also an educator, author and naturalist. He founded the B.J. Hales Museum of Natural History which, in 1965, became permanently established at Brandon University. Educated as a lawyer and a teacher, Hales served as an alderman from 1920 to 1923, and as chairman of the City of Brandon Parks Board for nineteen years. Hales studied the flora and fauna of Manitoba and, through his personal endeavors, a tree of every species that will grow in Manitoba was planted on the Normal School grounds.
Hidden behind a wall of towering trees, this brick structure is not specifically representative of any single architectural style. The home showcases a number of interesting architectural features such as two dormer windows on the second floor bound by connected eyebrows; a steep hipped roof; and a fairly unique canted bay window, side lights, and display windows.
The lot is partially bordered by a fieldstone wall with a large fieldstone fireplace built into the southern wall of the property. The property’s wild grape arbor, wild crabapples, Manitoba maples, elms, ferns, honeysuckle, mountain ash and huge basswood trees are legacies of B.J. Hales’ residency.