Description du lieu patrimonial

The Edmund Ellis House is a simple one-and-a-half storey Vernacular style house, probably built around 1832 for Edmund Ellis, a farmer and fisherman. It is located on the main road and close to the harbour in the village of Port Maitland, Nova Scotia. The municipal heritage designation applies to the house and the land on which it is located.

Valeur patrimoniale

The Edmund Ellis House is valued for its ties to the working class people in the rural village of Port Maitland, NS. It is also valued for the simple Vernacular style of its original architecture, common to small rural communities.

This house was probably built around 1832 for Edmund Ellis, who was a farmer and a fisherman. It has always been the home of working class people, having been owned and occupied at various times during its history by four fishermen and the widows of three of them, a house painter, a plumber, a janitor and a labourer.

The Vernacular style is typified by its simple, one-and-a-half storey rectangular massing and relatively unadorned exterior. The structure of the original portion of this particular house indicates that it was a “raised” house; that is, its sections were constructed on the ground and then raised and pegged to join the sections, possibly as a community effort.

Source: Municipal Heritage Property files: Edmund Ellis House, Municipality of the District of Yarmouth.

Éléments caractéristiques

The character defining elements of the Edmund Ellis House include:

- location close to the main road and the harbour
- pegged wood frame construction
- rectangular massing
- one-and-a-half storeys
- single family dwelling

The character defining elements of the Vernacular style of the Edmund Ellis House include;

- low pitched gable roof with central chimney
- return eaves on north end
- asymmetrical facade
- one storey parallel ell on south end
- recessed main entrance in ell
- double hung sash windows with six-over-six glazing
- shingle cladding
- simple corner-board trim