Description of Historic Place

188 Granville Street West is a two-storey wooden home set back from the old highway running east-west through the Town of Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, on a long, steep riverfront property. This property was one of the original "ship-yard" lots above the north bank of the Annapolis River at the western end of the town. The property and the building are included in the designation.

Heritage Value

The property at 188 Granville Street West is valued for its Queen Anne Revival architecture and its elegant contribution to the main street in the west end of Bridgetown, which was still expanding at the close of the nineteenth century. It is also valued for being the home of Samuel Weare, an amateur photographer and owner of a local drugstore.

Samuel Weare was born in 1865 in Massachusetts and raised in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He removed to Bridgetown where he operated a drugstore on the south side of Granville Street, in the block immediately east of Queen Street, and was also an amateur photographer. The drugstore also housed visiting opticians and a telegraph operator for Western Union, and sold photographic supplies.

Weare's residence on Granville Street was one of a row of houses built in the "gay nineties" on the long and steep riverfront lots formerly owned by the Bridgetown Shipbuilding Company. It was built in 1897 by the contractors Curry Bros. & Bent. The prosperity of the "gay nineties" can be seen in the confident architectural style of this home, which has the typically complex roofline of the Queen Anne Revival style, marked here by the front-facing and side-facing gables.

Each part of this large, square house is accentuated with decorative details that break up the mass. For example, the pedimented front-facing gable has patterned shingles and a central window that is inset with small square-lights, or tiny panes. The front one-storey bay window is crowned with a spindlework balustrade. The façade is further embellished with a belt course of decorative shingling at the first-storey level.

Since this home is set well back from the road, both sides are on display, giving a full vantage point to the two-storey cutaway bay windows on either side. The massing of the house is further broken up by the enclosed entry porch, with an extended roof, which is a modification of the original corner gallery, shown on the accompanying historic photograph.

Source: Heritage Property file no. 1, Town of Bridgetown, NS

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 188 Granville Street West include:

- hip roof with a front-facing gable and side-facing gables;
- pedimented front-facing gable with patterned shingles and central window inset with small square-lights;
- pedimented side-facing gables set above two-storey cutaway bay windows;
- front one-storey bay window crowned with a spindlework balustrade;
- belt course of decorative shingling at the first-storey level;
- location of the property on one of the original "ship-yard" lots above the north bank of the Annapolis River at the western end of the town.