Description of Historic Place

The house at 56 Dufferin Street is a two-storey Victorian home, built in 1888 in Lunenburg, NS. The residential building has clapboard cladding, a mansard roof, first floor front bay window and two storey bay enclosing the front entrance. It is set back only slightly from the streetline, and has yard space to either side. A large back yard extends down a slope to a public walking trail. Municipal designation applies to both the building and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

56 Dufferin Street, located in the New Town area of Lunenburg, is valued for its late nineteenth century Second Empire architecture and for its association with Richard Griffiths, a long-term, local magistrate. The house was built between 1886 and 1888 for Griffiths and remained in his family until 1919. At the time of construction, Dufferin Street was considered a fashionable area of Lunenburg, and the house incorporates many popular Second Empire elements for the time; notably the bellcast mansard roof and dormers. There are also elements that are typical of Lunenburg homes, including the enclosed entrance with the bay above it. Many original elements have been maintained on this home, making it a good example of architectural style in the area.

Source: Notice of Recommendation to Register as a Town Heritage Property, Heritage Designation File 66400-40-61, Town of Lunenburg.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of 56 Dufferin Street relate to its Victorian architecture and its location in Lunenburg's New Town, and include:

- location of the house slightly set back from the streetline, with a large back yard that was once common grazing land, in the socially prominent New Town area of Lunenburg, and its congruence in size and form with the other houses on the streetscape;
- all elements of the Second Empire style, including the bellcast mansard roof, symmetrically placed peaked dormers, and cornices between the upper and lower roof sections, Palladian windows on the front bay and centrally-placed chimney;
- all elements typical of Lunenburg architecture, including the two storey-bay on the front façade, with an enclosed porch entrance, bracketry on the roofs of the bays and dormer, proximity to the street, clapboard siding and wide cornerboards, window hoods and decorative panels on the bays.