Description of Historic Place

112-118 Lincoln Street is a commercial property located on a triangular lot where Pelham and Lincoln Streets meet on the edge of Old Town Lunenburg, a Heritage Conservation District in Lunenburg, NS. Built at the turn of the twentieth century, 112-118 Lincoln Street is a wooden building with access from both façades that are two storeys high on the Lincoln Street side and three storeys on the Pelham Street side. Designation covers the building and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

112-118 Lincoln Street is valued as an example of commercial architecture in Old Town Lunenburg and as an integral addition to the Lincoln Street streetscape. Built in 1907, this building was first owned by Lemuel Wamboldt, a Lunenburg tinsmith who had developed a large clientele on the south shore of Nova Scotia over the previous twenty years. It has been used for a variety of businesses since that time, including a general store and a drycleaner. The building retains many original features, including large storefront windows, the doors on the Lincoln Street façade, and the larger service doors on Pelham Street. The interior retains its pressed tin ceilings that were installed by Wamboldt, and are in excellent condition.

The building derives its unusual shape from the acute angle at the lot's west end where Pelham and Lincoln Streets meet. The builder made use of this angle and the steep slope to put in a full blind bay at this end of the building, where Wamboldt's business sign was originally placed. This intersection is a major crossroads in Lunenburg, and 112-118 Lincoln Street acts as an introduction to the Lincoln and Pelham Streets commercial district.

Souce: Heritage Designation File 66400-40-28, Town of Lunenburg.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of 112-118 Lincoln Street relate to its role as a commercial building and as an anchor of the Lincoln Street commercial streetscape, and include:
- the location of the building on a steep and narrow lot at the junction of Lincoln and Pelham Streets, with a large two-storey bay facing the intersection;
- original windows designed for commercial use, including large shopfront windows with heavy moulded trim on the first floor on Lincoln Street, symmetrically placed second and third storey windows, large windows in the bay ends, and multi-paned transom windows on the Lincoln Street shop windows and doors;
- original doors designed for commercial use, including central double-hung doors on the Lincoln Street façade and a large service bay door with multi-paned windows;- access from both Lincoln Street and Pelham Street, which are Lunenburg's busiest commercial streets;
- clapboard cladding, with cornerboards and endboards that follow the slope of the western end of the building, accentuating the large western end bay; - interior details, especially the pressed tin ceiling installed by the original owner.