Description of Historic Place

Lingley Printing Establishment is a three-storey brick Italianate building with a prominent storefront and two recessed entrances. It is located on Canterbury Street within the Trinity Royal Heritage Preservation Area of the City of Saint John.

Heritage Value

Lingley Printing Establishment is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture, a warehouse and its association with the printing industry.

Built in 1881, Lingley Printing Establishment is a three-storey brick Italianate building with a prominent storefront and two recessed entrances. It is part of a collection of commercial and residential, Italianate, and Second Empire, buildings that were built between 1877 and 1881, after two thirds of the City of Saint John was destroyed by the fire in 1877.

Lingley Printing Establishment is also recognized for its original function as a warehouse for T. R. Jones and Company, in the clothing and dry goods industry. They were importers of British and foreign dry goods and manufacturers of clothing. T. R. Jones started out in 1849 as a retail dealer in clothing and furnishing goods. Shortly before the Great Saint John Fire of 1877 this firm employed nearly 150 people. They manufactured more clothing for the wholesale trade than all of the rest of Atlantic Canada, marketing their goods throughout the Maritimes. In the fire of 1877, Jones lost $150,000.00 and he was set back considerably. By 1890, he left this building and later became involved in banking.

Lingley Printing Establishment is also recognized for its association with the printing industry. From 1894 until 1902, it was home to the Progress Printing and Publishing Company Ltd. The Progress was a Saint John newspaper from 1888-1902. In 1903, this building was purchased by printer and publisher George Day. This publishing firm remained here until 1928. From 1896 until 1928 Charles Lingley operated his printing business in the Hunter building across the street. In 1928, Lingley Printing was incorporated and they relocated in this building. This printing firm remained here until the early 1980's. In total, Lingley Printing lasted 101 years from 1896 to 1997.

Source: Department of Planning and Development - City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe Lingley Printing Establishement include:
- sharing similar set-back with neighbouring buildings;
- three-storey rectangular massing filling entire width of the lot;
- roof-line cornice decorated with corbel bands and dentils;
- draping, projected, segmented brick arch;
- 2/2 vertical sliding wood windows, with sandstone sills;
- wooden cornice with brackets at each corner;
- wood paneled bulkheads;
- wood paneled doors;
- large storefront windows;
- cast iron and brick pilasters.