Doak House
386 Main Street, Doaktown, New Brunswick, E9C, Canada
Formally Recognized:
2008/02/13
Other Name(s)
n/a
Links and documents
Construction Date(s)
Listed on the Canadian Register:
2008/07/16
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Doak House consists of an early 19th-century vernacular residence with a period barn set on a former farm property. The house, barn and grounds are located on the south side of Main Street in the lower part of the Village of Doaktown.
Heritage Value
The Doak House, including the barn and grounds, is valued for its association with Squire Robert Doak, a Scottish immigrant farmer and innkeeper who lived in several areas along the Miramichi before settling in the Parish of Ludlow in 1821, later to be known as Doakton, and then Doaktown, his namesake. Robert Doak established a sawmill, a carding mill and a gristmill and soon became a prominent and influential figure within the parish. He served in many appointed positions including Justice of the Peace, town clerk and school trustee.
Doak House is also valued for its vernacular architecture with modest Classical influence. In its form, massing and details, it is architecturally reminiscent of cottages from the owner's homeland of Scotland. This place was constructed circa 1825. A later east-end addition was built circa 1860. The barn situated on the grounds is characteristic of 19th-century outbuilding architecture. The Doak House remained within the Doak family for four generations, when it received designation as a Provincial Protected Historic Site and provincial ownership, largely due to the efforts of resident William Russell MacKinnon, who spearheaded the recognition of this historic place. The Doak House and grounds exemplify an excellent example of an efficient operational farm of bygone days that employed village residents and children at harvest time for four generations. Today the property is open to the public on a seasonal basis.
Source: Village of Doaktown, Historic Places Site File #08-10
Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements relating to the exterior of the Doak House include:
- rectangular one-and-a-half storey Scottish cottage form and massing;
- dormer wholly contained within the roofline;
- narrow eaves with returns;
- clad in wooden clapboards;
- corner boards;
- centrally located chimney;
- 6/6 double hung windows;
- wooden shingled roof;
- sandstone foundation.
The character-defining elements relating to the grounds of Doak House include:
- residence situated parallel to roadside offset by narrow front grounds;
- low wooden picket fencing extending across the front grounds and adjacent barn to the west;
- typical rectangular 19th-century barn with clapboards and a gable roof;
- fallow fields situated in the rear of the grounds.
Recognition
Jurisdiction
New Brunswick
Recognition Authority
Local Governments (NB)
Recognition Statute
Local Historic Places Program
Recognition Type
Municipal Register of Local Historic Places
Recognition Date
2008/02/13
Historical Information
Significant Date(s)
1860/01/01 to 1860/01/01
Theme - Category and Type
- Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
- Architecture and Design
- Peopling the Land
- Settlement
Function - Category and Type
Current
- Leisure
- Historic or Interpretive Site
Historic
- Residence
- Single Dwelling
Architect / Designer
n/a
Builder
n/a
Additional Information
Location of Supporting Documentation
Village of Doaktown, Village Office, Historic Place Site File #08-10
Cross-Reference to Collection
Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier
1541
Status
Published
Related Places
n/a