Description of Historic Place

The William H. Redding House was built around 1862 for William H. Redding, a tanner, who had a boot and shoe factory next to this house, which is located in the community of Hebron, Nova Scotia, north of the town of Yarmouth. The municipal heritage designation applies to the building and its residential lot.

Heritage Value

The William H. Redding House is valued for its historical association with William H. Redding and its more recent association with Earle F. Porter. It is also valued as a good example of the Second Empire style of architecture.

William H. Redding was a tanner who founded the ‘W. H. Redding & Sons Boot and Shoe Manufacturers’ factory across a brook located immediately south of this house. In 1893 Mr. Redding literally removed himself and the business into the town of Yarmouth, dismantling the factory building beginning on May, 9th, 1893 and reconstructing it in Yarmouth over the next six weeks. By June 19th the factory had been enlarged, refitted and finished inside and out and the manufacture of boots and shoes resumed.

This property was purchased in 1978 by the late Earle F. Porter who had been a Director and Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Electronics in the Canadian Ministry of Transport, Ottawa, before his retirement in 1975. He was also an avid yachtsman and in the 1950s established the Ottawa branch of the Canadian Power Squadron which operated in the Rideau Canal and of which he was a charter member. Mr. Porter was also an amateur radio operator and one of the first local people to have his initials as part of his call sign, “ve1EFP”. He was instrumental in establishing packet radio facilities in western Nova Scotia and, in Yarmouth, initiated Sunday morning breakfasts at a local restaurant for the local amateur radio operators’ club, a tradition which continues to this day.

The Second Empire style of the William H. Redding House is typified by its two storey rectangular massing and the mansard roof and dormers. Originally, the house had a nearly equal sized back ell, which burned at an unknown date and was not replaced.

Source: Municipal Heritage Property files: the William H. Redding House; located at 400 Main Street, Yarmouth, NS.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the William H. Redding House include:

- location on Highway No. 1;
- setback from the road;
- residential use.

The character-defining elements of the Second Empire style of the William H. Redding House include:

- two storeys;
- one storey enclosed sunporch on back;
- concave sloped mansard roof;
- two shallow dormers with moulded framing on each of three sides of roof;
- discretely placed inset chimney at back;
- asymmetrical two bay facade;
- one storey enclosed front entry porch with paired, panelled doors;
- one storey cutaway bay windows on facade and south sides;
- paired window on north side;
- double hung sash windows with two-over-two glazing and simple moulded crowns;
- wood construction and shingle cladding;
- plain frieze-board and base-board trim.