Description of Historic Place

The Capt. Charles Carty House is a two storey Greek Revival style house built around 1893 for Capt. Charles Carty. It is located in the community of Dayton, Yarmouth County, which is just north of the town of Yarmouth. The municipal heritage designation applies to the building and its residential lot.

Heritage Value

The Capt. Charles Carty House is valued for its historical associations with Capt. Charles W. Carty, the original owner, and with the Rogers family who owned it from 1911 to 2000. It is also valued for its Greek Revival style of architecture.

Capt. Charles W. Carty was one of the many Master Mariners for which the Yarmouth area was known in the 1800s. He had this house built around 1893 and resided here until 1911, when he had another new house built in the town of Yarmouth.

In 1911 the property was purchased by James and Lois Rogers. Mr. Rogers passed away at age 66 in 1924 but his widow remained here and continued to run their farm by herself for a number of years. Apparently, she was a very fit and energetic woman, as she was known to walk to and from her sisters’ homes more than five miles away, to visit on a regular basis, when she was well into her 80's. As well, with some assistance from her son, she cut and brought in the hay crops, which she sold to help pay the taxes. The property remained in the Rogers family for nearly 90 years, through three generations

The Greek Revival architecture of the Capt. Charles Carty House is typified by its medium pitched front gabled roof and its double hung sash windows. The off-centre entrance is also a common feature of the Greek Revival style, which is a typical style for many Nova Scotian farm houses and of which this house is a good example.

Source: Municipal Heritage Property files: the Capt. Charles Carty House; located at 400 Main Street, Yarmouth, NS.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Capt. Charles Carty house include:

- location on the southern boundary of the community of Dayton;
- setback from the road;
- residential use.

The character-defining elements of the Greek Revival architecture of the Capt. Charles Carty House include:

- brick foundation;
- two storeys;
- one storey enclosed entry porches in front and back;
- medium pitched gable roof;
- pedimented front gable;
- bracketed cornices;
- asymmetrical two bay facade;
- off-centre, conservatory-style front entry porch;
- paired interior main entrance doors;
- double hung sash windows with one-over-two glazing and straight crowns;
- one storey bay windows on east and west sides;
- triple window in first storey of facade;
- stained glass borders in top window sashes;
- upper storey windows tight to the frieze;
- wood frame construction;
- shingle cladding;
- patterned shingles above window in front pediment;
- corner-board and frieze-board trim.