Designed by architect Alfred Marigon Calderon, the home expresses the elegant, simple, and natural aesthetic of the Prairie style.
The Sheriff Robertson Residence embodies the Prairie style with its gently sloping hipped roof and deep projecting eave overhangs, low horizontal proportions and flat wall planes. It also has little ornamentation other than simple brick and wood detailing.
At the time of its construction in 1913 the Sheriff Robertson Residence was one of the most unique houses in Edmonton. The home remains one of the earliest and most northerly adaptations of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style in existence.
Walter Scott Robertson arrived in Edmonton from eastern Canada in 1881 and quickly became an important businessman and civic leader. He started a general store and wholesale business, ran a flour mill, speculated in real estate, and outfitted prospectors on their way to the Klondike. An early president of the Edmonton Rifle Association, he was appointed Edmonton District's deputy sheriff in 1884 and was elevated to the role of Edmonton's sheriff in 1905. Also a patron of the arts, he built a community performance space, encouraging the development of a local cultural scene. He built his elegant retirement home overlooking the North Saskatchewan River in 1913 but had little time to enjoy it. He passed away in 1915, and his family continued to live in the residence until 1919.