Description of Historic Place

The Napa Auto Parts Building is a brick two-storey Italianate building with a street-level storefront and distinctive Roman arch windows. It is located on King Street in St. Stephen.

Heritage Value

The Napa Auto Parts Building is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture and for its association with its former occupants. The brick and wood building was built in the early 1800’s. It is an excellent example of commercial Italianate architecture from this period in St. Stephen. The building exhibits definitive features of the Italianate style of architecture such as the elaborate roofline cornice and the elongated Roman arch windows on the front façade.

An early occupant of the building was the Temperance Hall, as evidenced by the plaque on the exterior of the second floor dated 1886 and inscribed “Temperance Hall”. The Saint Croix Courier occupied the building following a fire in 1877. The Saint Croix Courier was established in 1865, the first editor being David Main. Following his death at the age of 48, the company became known as the St. Croix Printing and Publishing Co. The business was purchased in 1920 by Stanley Granville and in 1961 his son, Richard Granville, became the publisher. The Saint Croix Courier is one of the outstanding weekly newspapers in New Brunswick. In 1970 they moved to their present location on Milltown Boulevard.

Source: St. Stephen Town Hall - Historic Places file “Napa Auto Parts Building”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe the Napa Auto Parts Building include:
- rectangular two-storey massing;
- elaborate roofline brick cornice with dentils and corbel brackets;
- red brick exterior walls;
- elongated Roman arch 4 over 4 windows with sandstone sills on the front façade;
- rectangular and segmented arch window openings with sandstone sills on the side façade;
- street-level storefront;
- “Temperance Hall” plaque dated 1886.