Description of Historic Place

The Senator John Lovitt House is a two-and-one-half storey Georgian style house with a Victorian era three storey centered glass tower that has made it a favourite Yarmouth, NS landmark. The house and its residential lot are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

The Senator John Lovitt House is valued for its association with its original owner, Captain John Lovitt. It is also valued for its architecture and, more particularly, its unique architectural element, the three storey glass tower centered in its façade.

Captain John Lovitt was born in 1832 to one of Yarmouth’s most prominent and influential families. From a young age he was involved in his family’s shipping business and spent a number of years at sea. His interests in other Yarmouth enterprises included Directorships in the Commercial Insurance Company, the Pacific Insurance Company, the Bank of Yarmouth and the first Yarmouth Water Company. In 1874 he was elected to the Nova Scotia Legislature and also became a Justice of the Peace. In 1887 he was elected to Parliament and served four years as a Member representing Yarmouth. In 1896 he became Yarmouth’s first Senator, a position he retained until his death in 1908.

The construction of this house was supervised by Captain Lovitt’s father, John Walker Lovitt, while his son and daughter-in-law were at sea. It is believed that Jacob V. B. Bingay (who married Lovitt’s sister Ann) was the local architect who designed the originally Georgian style house, and James E. Huestis, a well-know local contractor, was the builder. Although a stately and somewhat reserved edifice in its original configuration, the addition of the Victorain influenced glass tower in 1891, built by Hugh Jenkins, gave the house a lighter and more flamboyant appearance which established its place as an unmistakable Yarmouth landmark.

Source: Municipal Heritage Property files; Senator John Lovitt House

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Senator John Lovitt House include:

- location one block east of the main street and two blocks east of the waterfront;
- location among other municipally and provincially registered heritage properties;
- centered 3 storey glass tower with an s-curved, pointed dome roof.

Character-defining elements of the Senator John Lovitt House that relate to its Georgian style include:

- two-and-a-half storey main structure with a 2 storey back ell;
- wood frame construction;
- clapboard cladding;
- verge, frieze and base-board trim and wide corner pilasters;
- medium pitched gable roof with pedimented gable ends and inset chimneys;
- dentil trim in cornices and verges;
- symmetrical 3 bay façade;
- paired front entrance doors;
- double hung sash windows with 1-over-1 glazing and bracketed sills;
- moulded crowns on first storey windows;
- upper storey windows butted to frieze;
- round-headed windows with dog-eared labels in gables.