Description of Historic Place

149 John Street consists of a rectangular 2-story Art Deco commercial structure in stretcher bond brown brick with storefront bulkheads and a crenellated gable parapet. It is located in the Victoria Park area on the northeast corner of John Street and High Street in Moncton.

Heritage Value

149 John Street is designated a Local Historic Place for being a good example of the commercial Art Deco architectural style and represents the commercial development in the Victoria Park area.

Built for John R. Sullivan in 1930, on land he owned since 1914, this building’s first floor store interior and second floor apartment space has not been extensively altered since its construction. The use of a geometrically inspired parapet design, soldier bond brick stringcourses and headers, lozenge transom windows and overall stripped down details of the building all denote the Art Deco style of the 1930’s.

The interior has been moderately altered by the different commercial tenants on the first floor. Originally, the two front entrances led to separate businesses. The current occupants use both store areas, as well as the second floor apartments, as one antiques shop. The original interior elements that remain are not distinctively Art Deco, but rather of a more traditional design.

149 John Street also represents the commercial development in the Victoria Park area. Between 1909 and 1930, Victoria Park went from being a field to a well-manicured civic green space. The residential area surrounding the park began to flourish, creating a need for commercial development closer than Mountain Road or Main Street. The intersection of John Street and High Street became the home of several small businesses as the City of Moncton continued to grow to the north and to the west. Zoel Belliveau’s barbershop occupied one of the stores for several years, eventually becoming Camille’s Barber Shop for more than 30 years following. The North End News Stand was an original occupant in 1930 and remained there for more than 45 years.

Source: Moncton Museum, Moncton, New Brunswick - historic places file – “149 John St”.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements relating to the architecture of 149 John Street include:
- rectangular 2-story massing;
- stretcher bond brown brick;
- continuous parapet with moulded trim;
- moulded cornice;
- brick corbel chimney through cornice;
- date stone: “1930”;
- storefront with entablature, brick pilasters, 3-light rectangular transoms, coffered bulkhead, recessed and flush doorways with round support pillars;
- full length concrete steps;
- double and triple 1 over 1 windows;
- single and continuous soldier bond window headers;
- canted bull header bond lug sills;
- soldier bond door header;
- lozenge window transoms;
- original window casings;
- fixed vertical 3-light windows with lozenge transom.

The character-defining elements relating to the interior of 149 John Street include:
- original bulkheads;
- lath ceilings;
- lath wainscoting;
- moulded trim 2 ½ feet from ceiling;
- original hardwood flooring;
- panel doors;
- moulded window aprons;
- plain door and window trim and moulded entablatures;
- wide plain baseboards;
- original door hardware;
- corbel brick fireplace with tile hearth;
- rectangular door transom windows.