Description of Historic Place

The Byron Murphy House is a two-storey house of wood construction located on a medium-sized residential lot in Pubnico, Yarmouth County, NS. This was originally the home a of prominent village merchant and in recent years has been operated as a successful Bed & Breakfast business known as “YesterYears.” The house and surrounding land are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

The Byron R. Murphy House is valued for its architecture and its connection to a prominent local merchant of Pubnico.

The Byron R. Murphy House is Queen Anne Revival in style and like most houses of this style in the Municipality of Argyle is far less elaborate than similar houses in nearby places such as Yarmouth. Queen Anne Revival style houses in Argyle are usually large two-and-a-half storey structures with a large pediment and typically feature corner towers, but seldom sport the wrap-around verandahs usually associated with this style of architecture. This house is a good example of the local interpretation of this style. It is a full two-storey house with a steeply pitched hip roof. There is a two-and-a-half storey bay with a pedimented gable that projects from the eastern side of the house and a tower on the northeast corner.

This house was built around 1897 by Byron R. Murphy when he received the property on which the land sits after the division of his father's estate in 1895. He ran a small store and became a prominent merchant in Pubnico. Byron Murphy died in 1923 and his widow sold the house following year. The house has been operated as both a private home and a Bed & Breakfast since 1993.

Source: Argyle Municipal Heritage Files, file #017

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Byron Murphy House include:

- Queen Anne Revival features such as the two-and-one-half storey bay with pedimented gable and three storey corner tower;
- wood construction;
- hip roof;
- triangular window in the centre of the pediment;
- bay windows at all three levels on corner tower;
- decorative brackets at eave line.