Description of Historic Place

Rupert Doyle House is a wood-frame dwelling in the American Four-Square style of architecture, although single-storey examples of the style are quite uncommon. The house is distinguished by a truncated gable dormer, cutaway corner windows, and classical porch support columns. There is a matching detached outbuilding at the rear of the property. The house, built circa 1916, its outbuilding and the surrounding property are all included in the heritage designation.

Heritage Value

Architectural Value

Rupert Doyle House is valued as an uncommon single-storey example of the American Four-Square subtype of the Prairie School of architecture. American Four-Square houses in Truro, and most particularly the several examples found on Brunswick Street, were constructed almost exclusively with two storeys. In this house, the architect managed to compress the characteristic elements of the style into a single storey with a number of clever devices - use of the flight of stairs to accentuate the horizontal lines of the house; the heavy false porch piers in front of the working support columns; a recessed door giving depth to the shallow porch; and a truncated dormer roofline. The angled corner windows are idiosyncratic, and would likely not have worked at the normal scale of the Four-Square style.

The detached garage at the rear of the property mirrors the architectural elements of the main building, and is an integral part of the architectural value of the site.

Source: Planning Department, Town of Truro, file 10MNS0051

Character-Defining Elements

External elements that define the heritage character of the Rupert Doyle House include:

- all original or historic building elements, such as: basic single-storey hipped-roof American Four-Square style form and massing; truncated gable-roof dormer on the front with partial eave returns; shed-roofed dormer on the rear; overhanging eaves on house and dormers with wide trim boards below; shallow recessed front entrance porch with classical support columns; central chimney; prominent front stair flight with heavy side piers;
- all original or historic door and window elements, such as: double-sashed narrow windows; moulded window and door surrounds; panelled door;
- all original or historic building materials, such as: wood shingle cladding; trim on house and dormers painted a contrasting colour.

External elements that define the heritage character of the Rupert Doyle House garage building include:

- all original or historic building elements, such as: basic single-storey hipped-roof American Four-Square style form and massing; truncated gable-roof dormer on the front with partial eave returns; overhanging eaves on building and dormers with wide trim boards below;
- all original or historic door and window elements, such as: double-sashed multiple-paned windows;
- all original or historic building materials, such as: wood shingle cladding; wide door and window trim painted a contrasting colour.

Elements that define the heritage character of the Rupert Doyle House site include:

- unimpeded view of Lepper Brook and Priest Hill on the other side of the brook;
- placement of the house on a slight rise at a distance from the street consistent with its neighbours.