Description of Historic Place

43 St. James Street consists of a one-and-one-half storey house located adjacent to the street in a residential section of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, and a small residential lot. The house is located in an area where most of the neighbouring houses are registered heritage properties. Both the house and the property are covered by the municipal heritage designation.

Heritage Value

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

Historic Value

This history of 43 St. James Street reflects this history of the entire community. It was originally part of a larger property owned in the seventeenth century by the Acadian Petitpas family and then French innkeeper and merchant Christophe Cahouet. Following of British conquest of Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) Cahouet left Nova Scotia. The Williams family, long associated with the British garrison, owned the larger property in the late eighteenth century. In 1846, land was sold the property to Joseph Norman, last ordnance storekeeper at Fort Anne. As the property changed hands over time, it was divided and subdivided. In 1902, then owner machinist Samuel Rippey purchased the ca. 1860 Lothorp Whitman house, which was located at 372 St. George Street (across from the Annapolis County Courthouse), and moved it onto his section of the former Norman property. The property was divided into its present form in 1905. The Rippey family owned the house until 1963.

Architectural Value

43 St. James Street is an excellent example of the type of property that would have been owned by members of the working class in Annapolis Royal during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The house is an unadorned interpretation of the Classic Revival style. This lack of ornamentation is in keeping with the house's original use as a working class dwelling. The house has an overall balance and symmetry which can be expected in this style of architecture, and compliments the surrounding streetscape of other historic homes.

Sources: Heritage Property Files, Annapolis Heritage Society, 43 St. James Street, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 43 St. James Street relate to its Classic Revival style and include:

- original one-and-one-half storey size and single detached massing;
- medium gable roof;
- two chimneys located on the ridge line on opposite ends of the house;
- overall symmetry of window placement;
- windows in dormer are located directly below the eaves.
- plain boxed cornice with a return.

Other character-defining elements of 43 St. James Street include:

- long shed dormer on the side of the house facing the street;
- hipped dormer on the back of the house;
- enclosed one storey porch with a hipped roof at the front of the house;
- enclosed one storey porch at the rear of the property.