Description of Historic Place

The Tupperville School Museum, built c. 1858, is a one-and-one-half storey wood-frame building in the Greek Revival style typical of many rural Nova Scotia schoolhouses. The building is set back from the road at the north side of Highway 201, which runs east-west through Tupperville, Nova Scotia. Both the building and the property are included in the municipal heritage designation.

Heritage Value

The architectural value of the building as recognized by its municipal heritage designation is its Greek Revival style with Gothic Revival influences.

The Tupperville School Museum, originally established as a one-room schoolhouse, was constructed c. 1858 by local area residents and continued to operate as a one-room schoolhouse until its closure by the province of Nova Scotia in 1970. The building took on new purpose as the Tupperville School Museum in 1972.

The original building site was slightly to the east and south of Highway 201; the structure was relocated several years after its speculated construction date. The A. F. Church map of 1876 geographically situates the schoolhouse on the north side of Highway 201.

The Greek Revival styling of the Tupperville School Museum is reflected in the structure’s true sense of proportional balance and symmetry, characteristic of a design movement that influenced the construction plans of many Nova Scotia country schoolhouses. The simple one-and-a-half storey wooden building has a medium-pitched front-gable roof, symmetrical window placement and a one-storey pedimented entry porch. A striking architectural feature is the use of Gothic Revival six-over-six double hung rolled glass windows along the sides of the building with a decorative tracery gable end window. The building exhibits slightly pronounced pilaster corner boards with capital mouldings. Narrow gauge siding reflects an end board wall detail and design style. Of note are typical wide soffit boards with matching unadorned frieze boards along with a slight decorative embellishment of the fascia drip boards. Regular narrow clapboard siding is used on the public sides of the building with irregular exterior cladding on the private rear yard portion.

The basic structure has not been altered from its original form, save for the deletion of an interior chimney, the addition of an exterior rear wall chimney and the connected combination remodeled woodshed and outhouse facilities. The simplistic but appropriately proportioned and style-replicated front entrance is a more recent addition.

The building is a valued testament to the integrity of the builders’ craftsmanship and to the community’s commitment to heritage preservation through the creative practice of adaptive reuse of the property.

Source: Heritage Property File no. OIBNS01490, Municipality of the County of Annapolis, 752 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, N. S., B0S 1A0

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Tupperville School Museum that are associated with its Greek Revival style include:

-medium-pitched front-gable roof;
-symmetrical window placement;
-a one-storey pedimented entry porch;
-Gothic Revival six-over-six double hung rolled glass windows;
-decorative tracery gable end window;
-slightly pronounced pilaster corner boards with capital mouldings;
-wide soffit boards with matching unadorned frieze boards and a slight decorative embellishment of the fascia drip boards;
-regular narrow clapboard siding.