Description du lieu patrimonial

The Stone House is a unique one-and-a-half storey Neo-classical wooden house with Scottish dormers that appear to be built of stone. It is located on a lot overlooking Beaver Harbour in the Port Dufferin, Nova Scotia. The municipal heritage designation applies to the building and the lot it occupies.

Valeur patrimoniale

The Stone House is valued for its association with its occupants, role in the community and unique building materials.

Lydia (McLeod) Hartling purchased the land in 1874 from her father, Captain James McLeod, who had received a large land grant in the Port Dufferin area in the 1850s. Lydia's husband, Alexander Hartling, a carpenter and a shipwright, built the house later that year and lived there with his wife and children. It has remained in the Hartling family since.

From 1919 to 1953, the house also had the distinction of being the post office for Port Dufferin West and therefore a gathering place for the community, at a time when small, rural postal services were run from family homes.

Although Hartling was not able to build his home out of stone, he used materials that gave the appearance of stone in its construction, hence earning the home the moniker "the Stone House." Using planks painted grey with white lead applied between the planks, Hartling was able to mimic a stone and mortar façade. He placed wooden "quoins" at the corners, painted them a lighter shade of grey, and mixed sand with his paint to give a textured appearance to the surface. The result was a wooden dwelling that at first glance appears to be constructed of stone.

In the 1980s the original siding failed, allowing moisture to enter the walls and necessitating its removal and replacement with wooden shingles. However, the quoins at the corners were retained, maintaining some of the house's unique "stone" appearance.

Source: HRM Heritage Property File: 25049 Highway #7, Stone House

Éléments caractéristiques

Character-defining elements of the Stone House relate to its Neo-classical architecture and imitation stone construction and include:

- symmetrical façade with centre hall plan;
- rear ell addition;
- steeply pitched gable roof with returned eaves;
- two five-sided Scottish dormers on the front elevation;
- two-over-two windows with window hoods;
- wooden shingle cladding and distinctive wooden quoins on all corners of the
structure;
- front door with entablature, transom window and sidelights;
- veranda with stairs on both ends.