Description of Historic Place

Edward Bates Apartments is a two-storey wooden Italianate building with two central entrances with pediments and two-storey bay windows on either extremity of the front façade. It is located on Duke Street within the Trinity Royal Preservation Area of the City of Saint John.

Heritage Value

Edward Bates Apartments are designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture and its association with Edward Bates and some of its former tenants.

Edward Bates Apartments is recognized as being a part of the building boom in Saint John near the turn of the 20th century. After the Great Saint John Fire of 1877, which destroyed nearly the entire Central Peninsula of the city, commercial and residential areas of the city were rapidly rebuilt in the 1890's and early 1900's. When the city began to expand again at the beginning of the 20th century, lots such as this, outside of the reconstruction area, were built upon. Built in 1895 by Edward Bates, Edward Bates Apartments is a good example of wooden Italianate residential architecture from this period in Saint John. This style is evident in details such as the overall symmetry of the front façade, the use of scrolled brackets, the two-storey bay windows and the wide moulded cornice.

Edward Bates Apartments is also recognized for its association with Edward Bates, in addition to several significant Saint John citizens who resided here throughout the years. Coming to Saint John in the 1880’s, Edward Bates worked as a foreman for William L. Prince before beginning his own business as a carpenter and building contractor. Bates was responsible for the construction of a number of significant structures throughout the city, including Holy Trinity Church, the Provincial Hospital Annex, the Church of the Assumption, as well as several private residences.

Edward Bates rented the apartments of this building to numerous prominent individuals of Saint John, including A. P. Barnhill, John E. Moore, H. Fielding Rankine and Frank J. Likely.

A.P. Barnhill was a lawyer and barrister who took up residence here in 1895. Founder of the law firm Barnhill, Sanford & Harrison, Barnhill was a highly prestigious social figure who extensively involved himself in both politics and business. Given the title of “King’s Council” in 1908, Barnhill served as chairman of a joint international commission under the Waterways Commission between Great Britain and United States that dealt with the uses of the Saint John River.

John E. Moore was one of the most prominent lumber dealers and shippers of the Maritime Provinces who took up residence in 1895. At this point he was only beginning his illustrious career as a commission merchant. In the years to follow, he established his well-known firm “John E. Moore & Co.” in addition to acting as director of the Saint John Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company and president of the Saint John Ironworks.

H. Fielding Rankine was the son of Frank Rankine, vice-president of T. Rankine & Sons. Taking up residence in 1905, Rankine entered the family owned, manufacturing business as a director. He later succeeded his uncle Allan Rankine as president of the firm in 1920.

Frank L. Likely entered his father’s firm, Joseph A. Likely, Ltd., at an early age and continued with this lumber and cement pipe manufacturing business for his entire career. He resided at these apartments for over twenty years. During this time, he was promoted to treasurer of the business and remained so until his death in 1952.

Source: Planning and Development Department - City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements that describe the Italianate architecture of Edward Bates Apartments include:
- symmetrical two-storey massing;
- wood construction;
- wide moulded cornice supported by decorative brackets and ornamented with dentils;
- a pair of two-storey bay windows on the front façade;
- rectangular vertical sliding wooden windows;
- wood pilasters flanking the first storey bay windows;
- a single window over each entry with decorative surrounds, pediments and entablatures supported by brackets;
- two central entrances below pediments and entablatures supported by pilasters with Doric capitals;
- entrances consisting of rectangular transom windows over paired wood doors with glass panels.