Description of Historic Place

Wetmore's Drugstore is a three-storey, brick, Italianate commercial building with residences on the upper floors. It is located at the corner of Queen and Carmarthen streets in a residential area of Saint John's South End.

Heritage Value

Wetmore's Drugstore is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture, for its context, for its association with its past occupants value and for its connection with the Great Saint John Fire.

Architecturally, Wetmore’s Drugstore maintains its original massing and maintains some of its Italianate features such as segmented arch headers on the Carmarthen Street façade and brick belt course joining the lintels of the upper storey windows. Its position as a commercial building deep in a working class residential area adds significance to this property.

Wetmore’s Drugstore has a strong medical commercial association. The building was built circa 1878 as a grocery store with residences for the upper storeys. For 72 consecutive years (1897-1969) this building served as a drugstore and for many years was associated with druggist Stanley Wetmore. George Price started his practise in this building in 1897 and as a young man Stanley Wetmore was his associate before taking over as proprietor of the store in 1912. For almost 50 years Stanley Wetmore engaged his profession at this building and for more than 40 years he was proprietor of the store. Mr. Wetmore passed away in the store in 1957 but it remained as the South End Pharmacy until 1969.

Wetmore's Drugstore is also recognized as an expression of the rebuilding of Saint John after the Great Saint John Fire of 1877. This building is one of a collection of residential and commercial Italianate and Second Empire buildings that were built between 1877 and 1881 after two thirds of the City of Saint John were destroyed by the fire. The Great Saint John Fire was catastrophic and this building serves as a reminder of that fire and the strong will of the residents of Saint John to rebuild the city. The elements and design in this building demonstrate that the city was going to be rebuilt as well or better than the city that was lost.

Source: Planning and Development Department – City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Queen Street façade include:
- brick construction;
- doorway of #125 with original brick masonry header featuring segmented arch with ears protruding one brick width from façade;
- wood-framed transom divided into two arched lights with keystone arch supported on decorative columns in the doorway of #125.

The character-defining elements of the Carmarthen Street façade include:
- brick construction;
- slightly-pitched gable roof;
- window placement and proportions;
- brickwork ornamentation at cornice line and belt course continuing from segmented arch window tops at top storey windows;
- sandstone sills;
- protruding brick segmented arch headers with ears.