Description of Historic Place

Built circa 1878, the Magee House is a three-storey, brick, Second Empire residence located upon a crest with ample lawn frontage. The residence is located in the westernmost block of Mecklenburg Street in Saint John.

Heritage Value

The Magee House is designated a Local Historic Place for its association with the Great Saint John Fire of 1877, for the aesthetic value of its architecture and location and for its long association with the Magee family.

The Great Fire of 1877, which destroyed two-thirds of the City of Saint John, would prove to be one of the most catastrophic in the history of Canada. The resilient architecture of this building symbolizes the strong will of the residents of Saint John to rebuild the city. The John Magee family lived on Mecklenburg Street before the fire and rebuilt their home in the same place, actually building from the same foundations and re-using some walls from the original home. The work was supervised by the architects Croff and Camp. Work was carried out by H. H. Bowie and Co, a contractor from Montreal, and included clearing the ruin from the site left by the Great Fire.

This building is a fine example of an elaborate Second Empire home. Architects Croff and Camp of New York worked in Saint John after the fire on at least one other commission, and similar Second Empire style examples of fine private dwellings can be found in their surviving American work. Some of their other designs included the landscaping and such may have been the case here, as the John Magee Residence is notable for its unusual placement on the large lot, with a more park-like setting than what is common in the city's South End. The John Magee Residence, along with neighbouring Caverhill Hall, sets the high-end tone for the west end of Mecklenburg Street, once known as Mecklenburg Terrace. The entrance is characterized by the attractive stoop with pilasters, sandstone steps and a handsomely carved door with glass upper panels. The windows are tall and arched with decorative headers and large projecting moulded surrounds. The windows, flanked by miniature columns in some cases, add to the building’s classical character. The semi-octagonal bay window and central tower also express the Second Empire style of the building. The high style of the architecture of this building, including the baroque-influenced projecting and receding surfaces throughout the exterior, adds to its considerable architectural heritage value.

John Magee is a notable figure in Saint John history due to his civic, business, and social activities. He emigrated to Saint John from Ireland with his parents and siblings. He was a prominent citizen in organizing the rebuilding of the city after the Great Fire of 1877 and was on the relief committee immediately after the fire. In 1879, he was elected alderman of Duke Ward. John Magee was in business with his brother William Magee. The Magee brothers began in the dry goods business, later becoming coal suppliers. They were among the founders in the mid-1870’s of the Spring Hill Mine in Nova Scotia, whose head office was in Saint John. John Magee was also involved with the Saint John Agricultural Society and was on the vestry of Trinity Church. His wife, Mary Julia, came from the prominent Loyalist Merritt family. Mary Julia and John Magee had many children and after John's death in 1885 the widow and children stayed on in ownership of the house until the 1930’s.

Source: Planning and Development Department - City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of this Second Empire home include:
- symmetrical three-storey massing in brick;
- window placement and proportions;
- vertical sliding 4/4 wood framed windows;
- paired windows with square corners have heads with draping ears and keystone with motif;
- mansard roof with elaborate rounded dormers and bracketed cornice;
- brick quoins;
- plinth bands;
- single-storey semi-octagonal bay windows with heavily moulded denticulated cornice;
- window headers with floral motif keystones;
- continuous sandstone label moulding over bay window openings;
- fancy scalloped shingles on roof;
- circular window with header and keystone;
- brick course below the roof-line with triangular motif under dormers
- three-storey central bay consisting of the entrance.

The character-defining elements of the windows in the mansard roof on the south façade include:
- outer semi-circular openings recessed into eaves with concaved heads;
- central mansard roof window with a large moulded head with keystone and projecting moulded surrounds;
- heads of window openings supported by elaborate carved posts.

The character-defining elements of the west façade include:
- semi-octagonal tower;
- upper central opening with slender paired perpendicular panes topped by small four-part Roman arched window and header containing ears and keystone;
- upper central window with a large moulded hood, surrounds and drop finial;
- second-storey paired window with bracketed headers and paneled soffit;
- moulded headers with central pediment.

The character-defining elements of the west façade entrance include:
- paired wooden doors with ornately moulded lower panels, glass mid panels and oval arched upper panels with triangular bases;
- portico supported by four slender Doric pilasters;
- oval arched pediment atop the moulded portico roof.