1. The windows of most of these houses while undecorated.
2. The roof was
steep-pitched like Gothic houses of the past but with symmetry reminiscent of
the classic periods.
3. These homes were small, straightforward in form
but even the more modest examples tried to gain an air of country
gentrification with embayments, sometimes added after the original
structure had been in place for a number of years. There
were box-like
versions of this plain jane structure as well as more complex T-forms.
The chimneys were usually internal and the rooms small and
cramped in layout.
4. The only decoration was a
little moulding around the doors. This simplicity and lack of
decoration was not always restricted to small houses. Some better
placed citizens created huge homes which were just as austere and here
it must be supposed that this was in reaction to the excesses shown by
neighbours or simply because they wanted a less cluttered look.
5. The doorway was often assymetrically placed but was invariably treated with a little better trim than the windows.
|
Two examples of these modest
structures which continued to be built in the first quarter of the
twentieth century, They are located on South Main Street and the view
is looking east from Fairmont Street. In this period of time no
distinction was made between buildings erected as residences or stores.
The ground floor of the one at left has a modified front
elevation.There is more than a little bot of the wild west in the
structure at left. The return to shallow roofs was unwise but a
cost-saving measure.
These fattened roofs are endemic in homes at St. John's, Newfoundland
and St. John, New Brunswick and they are also seen in Halifax. Small
panes windows faded from the scene in preference for four-panes as
glass manufacture became aautomated. Another factor was improvements in
transportation which allowed glass large panes to be shipped without
much danger of damage.
There was a need for housing for the industrial work force and their
families and small homes were a good solution, the mortgages sometimes
being held by employers. Elsewhere in Nova Scotia these houses were
built on the back of the coal and steel industries but here it was
shipbuilding and the fisheries.
Decoration was limited for obvious reasons but quite often the
doorways were given some attention to make the building more
attractive to residents and storekeepers.
|
This building, also on Main Street,
is very similar and was obviously a part of the working-waterfront in
Victorian times. The low pitched roof and that veranda evoke images of
rocking chairs.
While there were quite a few of these buildings put in place, steeper
pitched roofs were also common. Some of these buildings made a
departure in having large exposed chimneys attached to a face of the
building, another cost-cutting measure.
Porches were a common feature whether built parallel to the street, as above, on on the gable side facing a small yard.
The basic plan was sometimes altered by the addition of an ell creating a T-shaped floor plan.
Another occasional extravagance was the addition of a stained-glass
window, usually some years after construction. These are usually
recognized for their use of primary colours is less than sophisticated
patterns. Quite often there was a square central pane which was
textured making it opaque. This was surrounded by small pains of
various colours, red and blue being reserved for the four corners.
|
|
