Description of Historic Place

454 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, consists of a a one-and-one-half storey wood frame structure built circa 1815 in the Neo-Classical style and a small residential lot. It has a low slope gable roof and is surrounded by designated heritage properties. The house is directly across from the main entrance to the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens. The designation includes the building and the surrounding property.

Heritage Value

454 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, as recognized by its municipal heritage designation, is valued for its contribution to the architectural landscape of the town and for its association with historic local personalities.

Historic Value

The house at 454 St. George Street sits on property that was originally part of an eight acre grant given to the garrison engineer, Paul Mascarene, in 1732. In 1794 this portion of the Mascarene property was the site of what was referred to as a "horizontal" windmill owned by John Cooper, gentleman, and built for him by millwright Nathaniel Morgan. It is thought that sections of 454 St. George Street may predate 1815, the year that Elizabeth Johnstone purchased the property, following the death of her husband. Johnstone was the mother of Nova Scotia Premier James W. Johnstone, the mother-in-law of Judge Thomas Ritchie, and she owned the property until 1848. At the turn of the twentieth century the house belonged to master mariner, Captain George Stailing. For much of the rest of the century it was the home of Ralph T. and Vera Harris.

Architectural Value

454 St. George Street has undergone numerous changes. Presently it is a one-and-one-half storey square wooden structure situated on a full rubble and concrete basement with a low slope gable roof. The house appears on the 1878 Birds Eye View map and on the 1906 and 1924 Fire Underwriters maps as a two-storey house with a center gable and a two-storey ell. It is also shown on these maps with bays projecting out of both front corners. To add more complication, Charlotte Perkins in her 1925 "Romance of Old Annapolis Royal," draws the house as a one-storey structure. Its current appearance may cover these earlier presentations. The building's asymmetrical front elevation and rear sleeping porch makes it somewhat unusual among the houses on St. George Street.

The rear wing is one-and-one-half storeys with a gable roof. This wing has an exterior second level glass-enclosed balcony supported by wooden brackets and exterior posts.

Source: Town of Annapolis Royal Heritage Property Files, Annapolis Heritage Society, 454 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements of 454 St. George Street relate to its Neo-Classical style and include:

- exterior brick chimneys at either gable end;
- wooden cornice with boxed sloping soffit;
- flat wood trim with entablatures around front windows;
- pair of narrow windows on the second floor at the center between two double hung sash windows of normal proportions;
- main door with a sash with side lights;
- closed entry porch to the right of the building;
- main entry with panelled wooden door and side light;
- location on a street with other registered buildings.