Description du lieu patrimonial

The Samuel Herman House is located at the corner of Broad and MacDonald Streets, in the New Town neighbourhood of Lunenburg, NS. The turn-of-the twentieth century house is set back from the road and the lot is well landscaped, with large trees and shrubbery. Municipal Designation applies to both the building and surrounding land.

Valeur patrimoniale

The Samuel Herman House is valued for its Victorian architecture, as a contributing building to the New Town streetscape, and for its association with Captain Samuel Herman, a well known merchant sailor and manager of the Capitol Theatre in Lunenburg. The house occupies a corner lot overlooking the New Town area of Lunenburg and has a view of Lunenburg Harbour and much of the Old Town area. As one of the first homes built in New Town, this home showcases the architectural grandeur that characterized the development of New Town in the late nineteenth century. The New Town streetscape differs from the Old Town in that the houses are larger than older Lunenburg homes, reflecting styles that were common across the continent at the time and the burgeoning prosperity of the shipbuilding and fishing industries in Nova Scotia.

The Samuel Herman House has several interesting details that add to its sense of opulence. Fully returned eaves on the gable ends create attractive pediments, and the formal front entrance with a porch and second storey balcony have intricate turned posts and rails. The house is setback from the street on both sides, which allows for landscaping around the property, adding to the elegance of the property.

Source: Notice of Recommendation to Register as a Town Heritage Property, Heritage Designation File 66400-40-58, Town of Lunenburg.

Éléments caractéristiques

Character-defining elements of the Captain Samuel Herman House relate to its location and Victorian architecture, including:
- impressive façades on both Broad and MacDonald Street in Lunenburg's New Town, with a large landscaped yard, and paths leading to entrances on both sides, and large gable pediments providing views in each direction;
- all characteristics that give the building a sense of height, including the two-storey bays on both the SW and NW sides, the large front offset dormer, and the formal entrance enclosed by a wide porch and second storey balcony;
- all Victorian decorative elements, including turned posts on the dormer soffits, turned rails on the porch and balcony, and the transom window on the front entrance, and the large scale of the entranceway, providing formality to the façade.