Description of Historic Place

The Larder Home is a vernacular home constructed circa 1885 that features elements of the Queen Anne Revival and Carpenter Gothic Revival styles of architecture. Located at the top of a small hill, the home sits beside Highway 12 that passes through New Ross, Nova Scotia. The municipal heritage designation applies to the building and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

The Larder Home is valued for its age, historical associations, and architecture. After being built circa 1885 by Joseph Skerry, a prominent local builder, it was sold for $800 to Skerry's daughter, Annie (Skerry) Larder, and her husband Clarence.

The home has had numerous additions made to it since it was first constructed, some of those completed by Joseph Skerry himself, as he actually lived with his relatives in the home until his death. The original home was a small one-and-a-half storey gabled roof construction with its ridgeline facing Highway 12. However, a large two-storey cross-gable addition expands from both ridgelines, dwarfing the original portion of the home. All of the gables feature ornamental shingles in the peaks and elaborate vergeboards that feature a blend of Carpenter Gothic Revial and Queen Anne Revival styling.

In addition, the bay windows have been added to the gabled ends of the original portion of the home and the east gable addition. These additions are adorned with decorative wooden shingles and feature sloped roofs supported by ornate brackets. The final addition to the home is a small one-storey gabled construction constructed circa 1929 to serve as a woodshed and porch area for the home.

The home also features a recessed porch on the ridgeline of the front section of the large cross-gable addition, an element common to Queen Anne Revival architecture. In addition, the two-bay dormer located on the south elevation of the home at the ridgeline of the eastern side of the original gable is located over a double-bay window at the first storey; all featuring rounded windows common to the Queen Anne Revival.

Source: Municipality of the District of Chester Heritage Property Files, File 34MNS0035.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Larder Home that relate to its Carpenter Gothic Revival architecture include:
- cross-gable construction with steep pitches;
- elaborate hanging vergeboards that include a spindled design at their peak on the gabled ends of home, excluding rear shed addition;
- decorative bargeboards under the eaves of all the gabled roofs;
- decorative wooden shingles in the peaks of the gables, excluding the rear shed addition;
- decorative wooden shingles the whole way around the home at the second-storey level and on the bay windows located on the north, south and east gables;
- shed roofs located over the bay windows supported by decorative brackets;
- trefoil designs at the termination of the vergeboards on the north and south gables.

The character-defining elements of the Larder Home that relate to its Queen Anne Revival architecture include:
- recessed porch on the southern elevation of the eastern side of the cross-gable, featuring an ornate archway with scroll designs on the east opening;
- two-bay dormer on the southern elevation on the eastern side of the cross-gable located over a double bay window at the first-storey, all consisting of rounded windows and hoods;
- asymmetrical layout created by the addition of the dormer on the southern elevation on the eastern side of the cross-gable.