Description of Historic Place

The John Yeats Residence is a two-and-a-half storey, brick, side-gabled, Neo-Classical residence built circa 1850. It is located at 9 Chipman Hill at the lower end of a significant group of three pre-fire brick buildings in Saint John.

Heritage Value

The John Yeats Residence is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture, for its survival against two separate incidents of near loss (fire and urban renewal), and for its association with the first residents of the home. The building also has cultural value as the headquarters of a benevolent organization.

This property is one of three brick Neo-Classical town houses in succession that descend from Union Street to King Street in one of the oldest parts of Saint John. This building was at the boundary of the area destroyed by the Great Fire of 1877. The hard work that was put into saving it and its two sister properties from the flames broke the fire and helped prevent its spread to Union Street. The other buildings on the street and nearby on King Street were demolished during Saint John’s urban renewal program. The group of three pre-fire brick residential buildings at the top of Chipman Hill were slated for demolition as well, but citizen action led to their preservation. The simple symmetrical style of these three older Neo-Classical brick buildings provides a stylistic contrast to the more ornate late-Victorian styles found in the adjoining post-fire district. The residence has a steep side-gable with no roof overhang. The high ceilings in this home allow for large elongated windows. Ornamentation is limited to a slim string of dentils at the roof-line cornice. This building differs slightly from the others in that the entrance is not located on the street façade.

The lots containing this home and its sister homes were once part of the Ward Chipman estate. Ward Chipman was an important lawyer and politician in early Saint John. The construction date of the three Chipman Hill properties is unclear. It is likely that they were built before Ward Chipman’s sale of the land in 1853 to grocer Robert Armstrong and his brother-in-law, Aaron Hastings. The style of the buildings is consistent with an early date. It was sold again to 54 year old spinster Deborah Hazen in 1859. Deborah Hazen was a member of another Saint John family significant in local history. Through the 1880's this was the home of John Yeats, one of Saint John’s most prominent and prosperous merchants at the time. John’s father, Alexander Yeats, owned a large iron warehouse under the name of Yeats and Sons. They built the Europe-bound ship “Alexander Yeats,” which was said to be the best vessel ever constructed in Saint John. John Yeats led a movement for steam fire engines and a proper fire alarm system. He worked many years with the fire department. He was also director of the Bank of New Brunswick and its vice president at the time of his death in 1894.

The tenure of the Saint John City Union of the International King's Daughters and Sons in the building was from 1899 to 1940. Expanded from a small group calling themselves The King's Daughters in New York City in 1886, this progressive international service movement was based on circles of ten women uniting in service with a defined social structure of united groups. The John Yeats residence provided the third home in Saint John for the Union of King's Daughters and King's Sons groups, and provided a space for their organizational activities. The organization was active in war work during WWI and went into decline in the 1930's.

Source: Planning and Development Department – City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of this Neo-Classical townhouse include:
- rectangular two-and-a-half storey massing in brick;
- side-gabled roof;
- symmetrically placed chimneys at the ends of the four slopes;
- placement and proportions of vertical sliding wood windows;
- brick dentils at roof-line cornice;
- projecting brick course between upper windows and cornice;
- sandstone sills and lintels;
- plinth band surmounts ashlars masonry with dressed stone.