Description of Historic Place

The John Henderson Residence is a two-storey wooden vernacular residence set back from the road at the lower end of Mecklenburg Street close to Courtney Bay.

Heritage Value

The John Henderson Residence is designated a Local Historic Place as a fine example of a well-preserved vernacular residential building in Saint John's South End. Typical features include its tall rectangular proportion and sloped shed roof, colourfully painted shingled siding, rear ell, vertical sliding wood windows and entrance porch with overhanging built-on room above. It forms part of an intact block on the lower stretch of Mecklenburg Street. Built in the first block that survived the Great Fire of 1877, its date of construction is not known. This vernacular style of plain wooden residence with a flat or shed roof with long ells, sometimes called "box style" or "Saint John Gothic style", is characteristic of the city. The style continued to be used in Saint John for many decades.

Source: Planning and Development Department – City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The charcater-defining elements of the John Henderson Residence include:
- tall rectangular two-storey massing with a protruding ell;
- sloped shed roof;
- wood shingle siding;
- rectangular entrance porch with overhanging extra room above;
- window placement and proportions;
- rectangular vertical sliding wood windows with plain wooden frames;
- simple entablature over entrance with multi-light transom under a plain lintel supported by scrolled brackets;
- deep setback from road.