Description of Historic Place

Built in 1818, the Anthony Flower House is an early modest, one-and-a-half storey saltbox type cottage of frame construction with white clapboard walls and a natural cedar shingle roof. The windows, doors and corner boards are green, and it has a field stone foundation. The dormers, one in front and one in back, were additions about 1915; they are not identical and had an effect on the original roofline. Originally, the chimney at one end served a large natural stone fireplace.

Heritage Value

The Anthony Flower House is designated a Local Historic Place for its association with Anthony Flower and for its architecture.

The Anthony Flower House was built in 1818 by English immigrant Anthony Flower. At 26 years old, Flower was already a producing artist and, for most of the next six decades, he lived in this house and produced hundreds of paintings. He married in 1820 and he, his wife and family, their spouses, his grandchildren and some great grandchildren lived in this house, sometimes sporadically, until 2001. After the passing of the artist’s great grandson at 100, the house was given to the Queens County Historical Society and Museum Inc. for preservation. The reason for its preservation and restoration is because of the reputation of Anthony Flower as a proficient and prolific pre-Confederation artist who painted what he saw around him. The house was moved from its original site in September 2003 because otherwise it would have been destroyed. It was moved 4km to its present location where it sits on a small knoll with a background of pines, maintaining its original orientation to Washademoak Lake. It was restored and refurbished by the Queens County Historical Society and Museum and was opened to the public as a house museum and art gallery for the 2009 season.

This is a very modest functional little house which grew over its life including doubling in size in the 1850’s when Flower’s younger son James brought a wife into the household. The woodwork throughout is plain with little decoration, the whole house being an example of local country housing at the time. The basic construction is of hand-split lathe, green-sawn lumber and hand-hewed beams. Some of the pine floor boards are over half a metre wide. About 40% of the plaster has stood the test of time. Some interesting features inside the house include a tiny bedroom supposedly of the same dimensions as Flower’s cabin on the Trent, his father’s ship on which he came to British North America. One of the closet doors is painted with a checker board, and the pantry is delightful with its narrow painted shelves. Also most of the doors are early and original, custom made on site.

The grounds are part of the designation and include the “summer kitchen” which, during Flower’s later years, served as his studio. It is a small shingled building with a low-pitched gable roof and some design elements of the 1818 house included in its construction. The landscaping includes heritage flora and a commemorative cairn to Eric

Source: Queens County Heritage Archives – Cambridge-Narrows Historic Places files

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Anthony Flower House include:

Exterior and construction
- typical one-and-a-half storey cottage construction;
- hand-split lathe;
- green-sawn lumber and hand-hewed beams;
- visual evidence of pieces added over several decades;
- original white painted cedar clapboards;
- cedar-shingled saltbox roof;
- central door;
- field stone foundation;
- dormers added in the early 20th century.

Interior
- modest, plain woodwork;
- original floors with some pine boards measuring more than half a metre;
- small bedroom reflecting the size of Flower’s cabin on the Trent;
- plaster 40% preserved;
- closet door decoration;
- pantry shelves;
- original doors.

Grounds
- nice background of pines;
- shingled summer kitchen/studio;
- low impact landscaping including heritage apple trees, heritage flowers and a memorial cairn.