The "Prefab" was usually built high above the ground
and the land around built up about it after a foundation had been
installed. Foundation plantings were used to help cut the
height and these were often retained after the need for them had
disappeared. When siding was replaced it was sometimes extended
downward to cover the foundation.
The window arrangement reflects the internal
placement of rooms rather than any design considerations. Economy of
materials in wartime meant that the overhang at the eaves was minimized
and decoration non-existent. Doors were plain and simple but paneled
rather than flush, so this one has a replacement. Surprisingly, windows were small-paned.
Porticoes like this, were often added
later, and were the only means of self expression. Some were
mere platforms and others full enclosures. Most were placed on concrete
cellars in the post war years and a few had the roof removed to create
a full second storey often enclosed by a modern Mansard. Many
remain small but some have had horizontal additions.
It was necessary to provide
for married workers from Quebec and Newfoundland who came to Mahone Bay
to support the marine shipbuilding which took place during World War
II. Single men were installed in barracks but others took possession of
homes like this.
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In New Glasgow, Nova Scotia,
whole neighbourhoods appeared in support of the steel industry in that
town. Although intended to have a limited life expentancy most of these
places remain in use today. Nests of these simple houses were built in
the shipbuilding centers of Pictou and Halifax, and in the metal
fabrication town of Amherst
Tidewater
Construction was created by Donald and James Mackay of New
Glasgow to clear sites for such homes.Their sister Eunice was married
into the Torey clan and they were part of a group which financed this rapid-fire house-building.
That business eventually became Eastern Woodworkers. After the war,
these two brothers focused their attention on building roads in
Postwar Nova Scotia. They called their firm Tidewater
Construction because their home town of New Glasgow was situated at the
head of tidal waters on the East River,
Not many of these prefabs found a place in Mahone Bay, but that
may be a good thing since they tended to be jammed in on one another in
strict rows, lined up with no view to future privacy or individuality.
They were difficult to expand horizontally on their small lots so some
of them took on a top-heavy appearance with the addition of a second
storey. A few of them had roofs removed to create a hipped-roof or even
a Mansard look.
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HALIFAX,
N.S., Sept. 19. 1889.--The Halifax graving dock, the largest on this
side of the Atlantic, will be formally opened to-morrow by the entrance
of the warship Canada. The dock cost $1,000,000 and has been three
years building.
Clifford Torey (1882-1962) was born in Guysborough County, N.S
"...my
father was deeply involved with the Halifax Graving Dock Company,which
was owned by Brookfield Construction Co. the Company my father worked
for. The Graving Dock Company was expropriated by the government and my
father was sent to London as Brookfield's accountant to come (up) with
a fair value. I understand he nearly went blind converting the books
from pounds,shillings and pence to dollars."
Donald Clifford Torey e-mail to my daughter Allsion
The MacLean Shipyard in Mahone Bay was founded by John MacLean in 1865.
His sons built a major number of ships here during World War I, When
World War II dawned the firm's resources were rented by the Halifax-based
Brookfield Construction since it held contracts with the British to
manufacture tugs, invasion barges. The arrival of 250 workers to supplement the local work force caused
Brookfield to branch into the construction of barracks on the landward
side of the road.
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