Description of Historic Place

James Holland House is a hip-roof, wooden residence situated on Pelham Street in the Old Town Heritage Conservation District in Lunenburg, NS. It is northfacing, backing onto a steep slope, and it is one-and-a-half storeys on the front elevation and two-and-a-half storeys on the rear, with no setback from the street. Designation extends to the building and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

The James Holland House is valued as an example of homes built in Lunenburg at the end of the nineteenth century, and for its contribution to the surrounding streetscape. The house was considered quite fashionable when it was built in the 1890s for James Holland, a wealthy local fisherman. It is one of a number of large homes built at the east end of Pelham Street in the late nineteenth century. This streetscape differs from the centre of the Old Town in that the houses are larger than older Lunenburg homes, and reflect styles that were common across the continent at the time. The cubic design of the house is elaborated with three full bays and an open roofed veranda with a full view of the harbour, all of which have a number of ornamental details. The veranda was originally intended to be a focal point of the house, as the level of detail implies.

Source: Heritage Designation File 66400-40-46, Town of Lunenburg.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the James Holland House relate to its late nineteenth century design and contribution to the streetscape and include:

- location immediately at the streetline, which provides continuity with the surrounding streetscape;
- an open, roofed veranda extending the length of the eastern side of the house, with the veranda roof supported by paired Tuscan columns on modern plinths;
- two two-storey, five-sided, bays on the front façade, and one two-storey bay in the same design on the western side; each with dentilled and bracketted cornices and intermediate shingled sections;
- upper storey bracketted cornices of bays and the main roof eaves that form a continuous line, and beneath the bracketted eaves, the dentil course also forms a continuous band around the house;
- main entrance, located on the main floor of the western front bay, with a small rectangular transom window;
- hip roof of medium pitch, with a centrally located chimney, adding to the sense of practicality and cubic form;
- two-over-two windows on all facades, with dentilled lintels;
- wide cornerboards, meeting with the dentil course at the eaves, also adding to the solid cubic form of the house.