Description of Historic Place

The Capt. Ebenezer Scott House is a one-and-a-half storey house of wood construction, built in 1889 in the Greek Revival style, as an income property for Capt. Ebenezer Scott. It is located on Alma Street, a residential neighbourhood within the Collins Heritage Conservation District and near the main business district of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Municipal heritage designation applies to the house and its residential lot.

Heritage Value

The Capt. Ebenezer Scott House is valued for its historical associations with its original owner, Capt. Scott who was greatly invovled with the town of Yarmouth; its inclusion within the Collins Heritage Conservation District; and its simple Greek Revival architecture.

Capt. Ebenezer Scott was one of a long line of Scott family seamen from the Chebogue area of Yarmouth County. After his retirement from the sea-going life, he served a number of years as harbour master for the Port of Yarmouth. He was very invovled with community matters, and in particular, the Tabernacle Congregational Church, also located within the Collins Heritage Conservation District, for which his wife turned the first sod on June 7, 1892. A journal that he kept from 1865 to 1901 recounts several instances of his involvement on the building committee for the new stone church, including the laying of the cornerstone and a mention of having spent the whole of a rainy Thanksgiving Day, November 10, 1892, at work putting the furnace in place in the new Tabernacle Church.

Capt. Scott owned three properties in the town of Yarmouth: his homestead on Kirk Street, where he resided from 1874 until his death in 1910, and two other houses, including this one, on Alma Street, which he had built as income properties. His tenants in this house, before he sold it in 1901, were both small business owners in the nearby downtown area, a barber and a tailor, each of whom resided here for six years before moving into houses of their own.

The Greek Revival architecture of the Capt. Ebenezer Scott house is exemplified by its front-facing gable roof with return eaves, its one-and-a-half storeys and its two bay facade. The simple trim elements of corner-boards, verge-boards and frieze-boards are also typical of the style. The simple elegance of this house on the southwest edge of the Collins Heritage Conservation District is a pleasant contrast to its larger and more ornate neighbors within the Conservation District.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Capt. Ebenezer Scott House include:

- location within and at the southwest edge of the Collins Heritage Conservation District and near the central business district of the town;
- proximity to other houses of similar scale;
- shallow setback on a small corner lot.

The character-defining elements of the Greek Revival architecture of the Capt. Ebenezer Scott House include:

- one-and-a-half storeys with a one storey side ell;
- wood construction and cladding;
- medium pitched gable roof with return eaves;
- asymmetrical massing;
- two bay facade;
- off-centre principal entrance with a moulded crown;
- double hung sash windows with moulded crowns;
- corner-boards, verge-boards and frieze-board trim.