Emily Murphy Residence

This two storey house was built around 1912 in the Garneau neighbourhood. The home incorporates several Craftsman style features including clapboard siding on the first floor, wooden shingles on the second, and a clipped gable roof with eave brackets and exposed rafters on the exterior.

This simple, little house is named after Emily Murphy, who lived here with her family from 1919 until her death in 1933. Murphy was an unshakable advocate who challenged the status quo for the rights of white women and children. Although much of her advocacy conflicted with held beliefs regarding eugenics and minority peoples, she achieved wide acclaim for her work as a jurist, reformer, and author.

In 1916, she was appointed a magistrate, the first woman in the British Empire to attain such a post. Her association with the “Famous Five” (including Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and Irene Palby) is also well known for having women recognized as “persons” under the British North America Act, which meant that they could be appointed to the Canadian Senate. Fittingly, after being used as student housing, Emily Murphy’s house is now home to the University of Alberta Student Legal Services.