Description of Historic Place

The Johnstone Chittick House is a one-and-a-half storey wood frame Second Empire style house. It is located on a hill across from Lake Banook on Prince Albert Road in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Johnstone Chittick House is compatible with the scale and image of the neighbouring residences The heritage designation applies to the building and the surrounding land it occupies.

Heritage Value

The Johnstone Chittick House is valued for its age and association with its original occupant. Built in 1880, the house is named for Johnstone Chittick who operated an ice business centered on First Dartmouth Lake, which today is known as Lake Banook, located across from his home. Prior to modern refrigeration, households needed ice to store their perishable food items and Dartmouth was well-known for its clean and clear ice. The ice harvest lasted several months beginning after Christmas and employed as many as two hundred men, working eighteen hour days. The annual ice harvest lasted for almost one hundred and twenty years until the majority of homes obtained electrical service and affordable refrigerators.

Architecturally, Johnstone Chittick House is valued as a good example of the Second Empire style. The main feature of Second Empire style mansard roof. The shape of the roof provides full head room on the top storey and light is permitted through the use of dormers. Johnstone Chittick House is very ornate with a second cornice halfway up the slope. The two projecting, three-paned bays at the ground floor level and the use of heavy brackets and wood detailing throughout the façade further illustrate the Second Empire style.

Source: HRM Heritage Property File: 149 Prince Albert Road, Johnstone Chittick House, found at 6960 Mumford Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Johnstone Chittick House relate to its Second Empire style and include:

- one-and-a-half storey wood frame building;
- mansard roof with two dormers;
- bracketed eave;
- second cornice halfway up slope of roof;
- two projecting three-paned bay windows at the ground floor level ;
- heavy brackets and wood detailing throughout the façade;
- wood clapboard siding;
- stone foundation.