Description of Historic Place

138 Brunswick Street is a two-storey house located at the corner of Burnyeat and Brunswick Streets in the east end of Truro, Nova Scotia. Built in 1919, the house is in the American Four-Square style and features the hipped roof and full-width verandah with heavy support piers characteristic of the style. Both the house and the surrounding property are included in the heritage designation.

Heritage Value

Historical Value

138 Brunswick Street is valued for its association with the estate of Sir Adams George Archibald, Truro’s Father of Confederation, who owned large stretches of land on the hill south of Brunswick Street that he had purchased from his father-in-law Rev. John Burnyeat. Archibald built his summer residence, called simply “The Cottage”, on the hill directly above the site of 138 Brunswick Street. After Archibald’s death in 1892, his absentee heirs partitioned the estate, taking advantage of the construction boom in Truro as the population of railway workers grew rapidly. The Cottage itself has been demolished, but the streets and houses in this neighborhood reflect their historical association with the Cottage property and its prominent owners.

Architectural Value

The American Four-Square (or Prairie Box) style was a popular choice for houses built in this neighborhood in the post World War I period, and 138 Brunswick Street is a good representative example of the style.

Source: Planning Department, Town of Truro, file 10MNS0052

Character-Defining Elements

External elements that define the heritage character of 138 Brunswick Street include

- all original or historic building elements, such as the basic two-storey American Four-Square form and massing, with an asymmetrical entrance; front-facing hipped roof dormer; full-width hipped roof raised verandah supported by squat square pillars on massive wooden piers, and approached by a wide front stairway; wide eave overflights on the roof and verandah, with prominent moulding, trim and sill boards; discreet chimney centrally-placed.

- all original or historic door and window elements, such as the narrow upper-storey sashed windows; 8 over 1 picture window, 4 over 1 and 5 over 1 double-sashed windows, and a variety of “piano” windows on the western side; wide moulded window, door casings and frames.

- all original or historic building materials, including: wood shingles; wood trim painted contrasting colours; wood front stairway.

Site elements that define the heritage character of 138 Brunswick Street include

- location on a standard-sized corner lot in the historic “Cottage” area of Truro.