Description of Historic Place

Flynn-Cutler-Robichaud House is a one-and-one-half storey, house with a symmetrical façade located in Arichat, NS. The house, which is a combination of Gothic and New England Colonial styles, is dominated by a central, two-storey covered entry and two flanking bay windows. Both the house and the surrounding property are included in the designation.

Heritage Value

Flynn-Cutler-Robichaud House is valued for its close association with Edmund Power Flynn, a Member of the Provincial Legislative Assembly and Member of Parliament. Flynn was a prominent fish merchant and had the house built in the 1860’s. The house is one of the very few pre-1914 buildings of architectural merit left in Arichat, a community that was first permanently settled in the first half of the eighteenth century. Flynn was also the first coroner for Richmond County. In 1888 he married and sold the house, and died in 1910, leaving a large family.

Flynn-Cutler-Robichaud House is also valued for its association with the Cutler family, who for most of the twentieth century used the house as a residence, hotel and telephone exchange. D’Auvergne Cutler first operated a livery stable and then turned the house into an inn, known as the Commercial House. The livery stable was discontinued in the early 1930’s; however the hotel remained in operation until the late 1950’s. From the house, his wife Elizabeth and then their daughter Laura operated the town’s telephone exchange beginning in 1911. The exchange remained in operation until 1971 when a dial system was introduced in Arichat.

Source: Provincial Property Heritage File no. 108.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Gothic style of the Flynn-Cutler-Robichaud House include:

- angular front bay windows, two-over-two and one-over-one;
- full two-storey front porch with a similar construction on the rear;
- brackets under the eaves of the second storey of the front porch;
- decorative window caps.

Character-defining elements of the New England Colonial style of the Flynn-Cutler-Robichaud House include:

- steeply pitched gable roof;
- symmetrical façade;
- returning eaves and corner trim with decorative cap.