Description of Historic Place

6 Drury Lane is a single detached, one-and-one-half-storey building built in the Late-Victorian plain style. The building is located adjacent to the street near the corners of St George Street, Drury Lane and Prince William Street. The building is also located directly across Drury Lane from the Annapolis Royal Farmers' and Traders' Market. The property at 6 Drury Lane is a small grass covered lot which would be of interest for archaeological study. The municipal heritage designation covers both the building and the property.

Heritage Value

Historic Value

The property at 6 Drury Lane, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, as recognized by its municipal heritage designation, is valued for its contribution to the architectural landscape of the town and its association with historic personalities of the community. The lot was originally part of the four-acre property purchased by the French government in 1704 from Captain Claude-Sebastien Villieu for use of the parish church. Following the British conquest of Nova Scotia, the former Villieu property was granted to the Anglican Church as glebe lands and was subsequently subdivided and leased. In 1868 the Anglican Church sold the area between Drury Lane and Church Street to the Windsor & Annapolis Railway and over the next few years divested itself of the remaining glebe lands in the Lower Town. This lot was part of the glebe property purchased in 1872 by its occupant, John Moore Campbell Ritchie. In 1876 Ritchie sold the property to merchant Thomas Spurr Whitman who soon afterwards built a three-storey commercial building on the lot. The ambitious structure housed a dry goods store on the first floor, the offices and vault of the Bank of Nova Scotia (for which Mr. Whitman was local agent) on the second floor, and a public hall on the third level as well as the library and reading room for the Young Men's Christian Association. The structure, known as Whitman's Hall, was burned in the fire of 1887. In 1930 then owner George Harnish sold the back of the property bordering on Drury Lane to blacksmith Harry Gormley, who the same year constructed the current building, built as a blacksmith shop. The Gormley blacksmith shop was subsequently used as the Town's salt shed from 1958 until 1985 and, for a short period, was once again used as a blacksmith shop at the end of the twentieth century.

Architectural Value

Throughout its life, this building has been used for light industrial and commercial purposes. Its current exterior reflects the fact that it has been modified to accommodate changing uses. 6 Drury Lane is a one-and-one-half-storey building built in the Late-Victorian plain style. While the construction of the building is much too late to be considered Neo-Classical, the building shows some influence from neighbouring properties built in this style. Typically, this building does not have a great deal of exterior decoration. The building has a medium gable roof with a brick chimney centrally located at the rear of the structure. Wooden shingles are still used as the siding material for the building. The one-storey addition on the Prince William Street side of the building is a modern construction.

Source

Heritage Property Files, Annapolis Heritage Society, 136 St George Street, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of 6 Drury Lane are related to its Late-Victorian Plain style and include:

-modest exterior decoration;
-medium gable roof;
-wooden shingle siding;
-one-and-one half storey size;