Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 24

Second Empire Style in Canadian Architecture

by Christina Cameron and Janet Wright

Houses in the Atlantic Provinces

In the Atlantic provinces, Second Empire seems to have been welcomed with enthusiasm, judging from the houses recorded by the Canadian Inventory of Historic Building. In contrast to the solid massive dwellings in Ontario, builders in the Atlantic provinces instinctively grasped the picturesque quality of the style and interpreted it with a whimsy that one rarely finds elsewhere in Canada.

From the beginning of settlement in the Atlantic provinces there had been a marked preference for wooden structures: the Second Empire phase is no exception. Most houses are built of frame, with an exterior covering of clapboarding. More significant for the particular character of the buildings is the wealth of surface detail, so familiar to Maritime carpenters who grew up in a vernacular tradition that favoured abundant carved woodwork. Hence door and window surrounds teem with well-turned ornamentation; cornices are rarely left undecorated, with eaves enlivened by finely worked consoles, often grouped in pairs. The resultant play of light and shadow approximates the plastic effect achieved in carved stone on more formal Second Empire buildings (Figs. 81-82).

While wood was undoubtedly the prevalent building material in the Atlantic provinces, brick was used on rare occasions (Fig. 83). In the rebuilding after the great tire in Saint John, New Brunswick, there appeared a marked concentration of brick structures of Second Empire design. These residences, built of dark red brick, are distinguished by their elaborate details and by an angularity of form (Figs. 84-85).

What is distinctive about the interpretation of Second Empire details in the Atlantic provinces? One of the most obvious features is the well-ornamented three-sided or bay dormer window. These unusually large triple-paned dormers often borrow the round-headed windows and even the special oval windows from the Second Empire repertoire of forms. Used in conjunction with bay windows below, these bay dormers create an effect similar to the projecting pavilions of high-style Second Empire and contribute to the plasticity of the overall design (Figs. 86-89).

Another variation on the dormer window can also be isolated to the Maritimes. This is a window that cuts through the roof and reaches down to the wall. The resultant deep-set opening provides an opportunity to amass additional carved decoration in the form of giant consoles (Figs. 90-91).

True to Second Empire prototypes, the Atlantic provinces have their share of mansarded towers atop projecting central pavilions. While some examples occur on substantial sprawling villas (Figs. 92-93), others appear in a simplified form, especially in rural Newfoundland (Fig. 94). In the case of this modest vernacular version, the suggestion of a tower is reduced to an angular form akin to the cross-gable commonly found in the earlier classicizing tradition in the Atlantic provinces. With such a simplification of forms, one may well debate to what extent the flattened tower and central projecting section depend on Second Empire sources.

An examination of data from the Canadian Inventory of Historic Building reveals patterns of regional and local characteristics for the Atlantic provinces. In Saint John's, Newfoundland, for example, one frequently finds rows of two-storey clapboarded houses with almost flat front mansard roofs and gable dormers with inset round-headed windows (Fig. 95). Another popular Newfoundland feature is the semicircular dormer with a tidy eared moulding over the upper portion (Fig. 96). In Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, a number of houses have identical towers in which the projecting central pavilions display a variety of semicircular motifs for the door, sidelights, paired windows and slender windows on the side walls of the projection (Fig. 97). In Truro, Nova Scotia, on the other hand, all reference to round-headed forms is avoided in the shallow flattened bay windows two storeys high (Fig. 98).

As interpreted by builders of the Atlantic provinces, the Second Empire style assumes a lightness of form and distinctive decorative qualities not found in other parts of the country.