Description of Historic Place

Catherine Ryan House is a one and one-half storey double house in a simple Gothic Revival style located at 126 Victoria Street in Truro, NS in the urban core of the town. The house is situated in Truro’s Heritage Conservation District I, a neighborhood noted for its concentration of largely intact late Victorian residences. The designation includes the building and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

Historic Value

This house is valued for its association with Catherine Ryan, for whom the house was built in 1878, and founder of one of the locally prominent Ryan families who owned properties in this area.

Architectural Value

Catherine Ryan House is valued as an unusual example of Late Victorian residential buildings, being a double house, designed as a two-family dwelling. The house is in the front-gabled Gothic Revival style, which later became quite common in Truro due to its relatively low construction costs. The large cross gable added to the side wall, however, has no equivalent in Truro.

Source: Planning Department, Town of Truro, file 10MNS0039

Character-Defining Elements

Character-Defining Elements of the Catherine Ryan House include:

- all historic building elements, including: basic Gothic Revival form and massing; open eaves with enclosed rafters; two Late Victorian porches with pediments, supported by pairs of thin turned pillars and brackets.
- all historic window and door elements, including: transomed picture window on the main house’s lower storey; narrow sashed windows; wide door and window surrounds; drip mouldings over the windows and doors.
- all historic building materials, including: wood clapboard cladding and trim;
- all building elements compliant with the municipal Heritage Conservation District By-Law
- consistency with its neighbours in its placement relative to the street.