Description of Historic Place

Wood Block is a three-storey stone commercial building. It dominates the commercial core of Sackville, occupying half of a block along Bridge Street near the principal intersection of the town.

Heritage Value

Wood Block is designated a Provincial Historic Site for its architecture, for its role in the community and for its association with Josiah Wood.
Wood Block was built in 1914-1915 to replace a similar 1883 wooden structure which was destroyed by fire in 1914. This three-storey Romanesque Revival building constructed of local sandstone is an excellent example of an early 20th century integrated commercial block. It contains a full basement, street level retail space, offices, meeting space, and an upper floor 800-seat theatre. Known as “the Imperial”, this theatre operated until 1947. Although there are a handful of similar three-storey commercial block buildings across Canada, Wood Block is the only one containing a theatre. It was likely designed by Amherst architect J. Leander Allen in the late Romanesque Revival, a style popular between the 1880’s and the 1910’s.
Wood Block is illustrative of Sackville’s rapid growth and its commercial and cultural life at the beginning of the 20th century.
Wood Block is named for Josiah Wood, a prominent Westmorland County businessman, Member of Parliament, Senator and Lieutenant-Governor who built the original 1883 building, as well as the present structure.

Source: Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport - Heritage Branch - Historic Places site file

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe the location of Wood Block include:
- sitting of the building in the epicenter of the commercial core of the town, tight to the sidewalk and street;
- highly visible civic presence;

The character-defining elements that describe the architecture of Wood Block include:
- exterior three-storey front facade constructed with two colours of local sandstone from the Rockport and Wood Point quarries, with the side and rear façades made of red brick with sandstone buttresses and doors and window sills and lintels.
- upper two floors of the front façade divided into a tripartite arrangement of a central pedimented section with tall arch-top recesses with polychrome keystoned surrounds, bounded by a section with two-storey vertical rectangular recesses on the left, and a section with two levels of single storey windows on the right;
- stone recesses expressing the exterior architectural scale and the height of the two stories;
- smaller punched window openings in diverse areas within the recesses are located at spots functional to the interior use;
- side entrance to the upper theatre and a row of glazed storefronts with original cast iron posts at the ground floor;
- upper two floors possessing a series of pilasters supporting a central pediment and a deep Florentine cornice;
- original coved tin ceiling in one of the stores, featuring stamped tin panels;
- extant steel safe in one of the ground level shops from a former bank;
- floor structure throughout, comprised of vertical 2”x6” wood decking on heavy-timber beams, supported by brick and stone piers;
- mansard-roofed fly tower above the stage with single window dormers on the front and rear façades.

The character-defining elements that describe the theatre include:
- overall interior layout, typical of an early 20th century music hall, with a raised stage, proscenium arch, stage wings, slightly raked orchestra and curved balcony;
- wide stairs leading from the street to the upper foyer, with multiple intermediate railing posts along the stair run;
- upper foyer ticket booth featuring a curved wall and glass panes with typical pass-through apertures;
- wood balcony stair and railing with its square newel post with rich top carving;
- original window, door, and surface wood trim throughout, darkly stained in a simple decorative pattern;
- stained wood half-wall at the rear of the theatre, separating the orchestra from the foyer;
- original tin ceiling and ceiling medallions, which once held large lighting fixtures;
- balcony’s pair of steel posts supports, capped with plaster Corinthian capitals;
- early 20th century performer’s graffiti backstage;
- several original wood and cast iron theatre seats stored on stage.