Description of Historic Place
The Hall & Fairweather Building is a brick Italianate office building with a four-storey façade and a storefront on Prince William Street and a five-storey façade on Water Street. It is located within the boundary of the Trinity Royal area of the City of Saint John.
Heritage Value
The Hall & Fairweather Building is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture and for its association with its former occupants, as well as for its association with the wholesale grocery trade and water transport.
The Hall & Fairweather Building is one of a collection of commercial Italianate buildings that were built between 1877 and 1881 after two thirds of the City of Saint John was destroyed by fire in 1877. Built circa 1881, this building is a good example of commercial Italianate architecture from the rebuilding period in Saint John. This style is evident in such details as the rectangular massing, the elaborate cornice with corbel brackets and the variety of shapes of window openings. The building also exhibits the unique feature of a four-storey façade facing Prince William Street and a five-storey façade facing Water Street at the rear of the building. The use of brick and the quality of the workmanship in this Italianate building represent the will for the city to rebuild, as well or better, after the fire.
The Hall & Fairweather Building is also recognized for its association with its former occupants. The building was built shortly after the Great Saint John Fire and was initially occupied by lawyers and other professionals. Two lawyers that occupied these premises in the late 1800's were E.T.C. Knowles and T. W. Peters. The magazine Gripsack was published here during that periodical’s short history. This magazine had articles of general literary interest, travel news, New Brunswick personality sketches and history.
The Hall & Fairweather Building is also recognized for its association with one of Saint John’s leading wholesale grocers, Hall & Fairweather. The partnership of Mr. Hall and C. H. Fairweather started in 1854. After 151 years of continuous operation by various directors, this company still exists under the same name, making it probable that it is the oldest running company in Saint John. The company had already been established 57 years before they occupied this building in 1911. Hall & Fairweather occupied the whole of the building with the exception of seven offices.
In 1929, the year of the Great Depression, Hall & Fairweather switched to the insurance business after 75 years as wholesale grocers. They have carried on with as much longevity in the field of insurance as they had with the wholesale grocery as they are still insurance brokers in 2005 after 76 years. In the late 1930's, they left this building.
The Hall & Fairweather Building is also recognized for its association with wholesale grocery trade and water transport in the area. This building, along with other buildings on this block, illustrates the advantages of the ice free port of Saint John as these buildings fronted on the bustling Water Street. It also had the advantage of being on the major thoroughfare of Prince William Street.
Source: Planning and Development Department - City of Saint John
Character-Defining Elements
The character defining elements that describe the Italianate architecture of the Hall & Fairweather Building include:
- rectangular massing;
- brick exterior walls;
- overall symmetry of the placement of doors and windows.
The character defining elements specific to the Prince William Street façade include:
- four-storeys;
- single and double rectangular vertical sliding windows with rectangular transoms on the second storey and segmented arch transoms on the third and fourth storeys;
- cast iron pilasters separating second floor double windows;
- large rectangular transom windows above doors;
- decorative brickwork;
- corbel brackets under the cornice;
- four large projecting brick pilasters with sandstone capitals;
- brick keystones;
- sandstone sills;
- street-level storefront with a cornice, cast iron pilasters, wooden bulkheads, storefront windows and two entrances.
The character defining elements specific to the Water Street façade include:
- five storeys;
- single and double rectangular windows with rectangular transom windows;
- corbel brackets under the cornice;
- central entrance between storefront windows;
- continuous sandstone lintels and sills;
- windows separated by brick pilasters with sandstone capitals.
