Description of Historic Place

The Hamilton Patterson Residence is an Italianate wooden two-storey town house located at on Duke Street in a residential area of the Central Peninsula of Saint John. The building is set back from the road with a small front yard.

Heritage Value

The Hamilton Patterson Residence was built circa 1885-1887 and is typical of the Italianate houses in the residential section of Saint John's Central Peninsula. This wooden structure exhibits a regular flat two-storey front façade and three bays of openings. The off-centre, elevated entrance features an ornamental transom with bracketed entablature and pilasters flanking the door frame. At the flat roofline there is a cornice supported by scrolled, paired brackets, typical of Italianate architecture. The wooden water table over the brick foundation forms a typically Italianate plinth band.

Hamilton Patterson moved into this residence in the first decade of the 20th century and remained here until his death in 1941. Mr. Patterson was a well known Saint John printer who practised this profession for 45 years. He learned his trade as a printer with the Saint John Telegraph and, with the introduction of linotype machines, he became an operator. In later years he transferred from the Telegraph to the Evening Times Globe and was a member of the composing room staff. He was a member of the Saint John Typographical Union.

Source: Planning and Development Department - City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of this Italianate residence include:
- deep setback from Duke Street with a small yard;
- rectangular two-storey massing;
- wooden construction
- placement and proportions of thin, rectangular, vertically-sliding windows;
- wooden cornice with wide overhang and scrolled paired brackets;
- wooden water table forming plinth band;
- wooden entranceway with an entablature, long scrolled brackets and transom window.