Description of Historic Place

1991 Prince Arthur Street is a large, two-and-one-half-storey wooden building located on Prince Arthur Street, a residential side-street off of Quinpool Road in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The home is situated on a large, treed property on the edge of a steep incline, overlooking the CN rail road. The house and the property are included in the municipal registration.

Heritage Value

1991 Prince Arthur Street is valued for its associations with Robert Laird Borden and Robert Pickford; and for its Late Victorian Eclectic architecture, which includes elements of Classic Revival and Italianate architecture.

The property was originally owned by a carriage manufacturer, John DeWolf, who likely built the house around 1873. Later owners included shipping entrepreneur Robert Pickford (from 1889-1893 and from 1908-1911) and politician and prime minister Robert Laird Borden (1893-1908).

Robert Pickford was partner in the Halifax shipping firm Pickford & Black. He established the company in 1876 with William Anderson Black. Ship chandlers in the port of Halifax, the firm purchased Seeton's Wharf at 51 Water Street in 1877 and in the same year expanded into the steamship business, purchasing the Cunard ships the "Alpha" and the "Beta." In 1889, the firm started a shipping service between Halifax, Cuba and Bermuda. The firm also acted as agents for several leading marine insurance underwriters, including Lloyd's of London.

Robert Laird Borden was born and educated in Grande Pre, Nova Scotia. He went on to become a wealthy lawyer in Halifax, and was named president of the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society in 1896. Borden also helped to organize the founding meetings of the Canadian Bar Association.

Borden was first elected to the House of Commons in 1896, representing the riding of Halifax. Elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1901, he was leader of the opposition from 1901 to 1911. Serving as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, Borden was the third Nova Scotian to hold this position. His tenure was during the First World War and much of his policy related to Canada's role in the war. Borden transformed his government to a wartime administration and passed the War Measures Act in 1914. Following his retirement from Parliament in 1920, Borden served as Chancellor of Queens University and as President of the Canadian Historical Society. He died in Ottawa in 1937, where he is buried.

Architecturally, 1991 Prince Arthur Street displays a mix of Late Victorian Eclectic with Classical Revival and Italianate features. The main feature of Late Victorian Eclectic houses is the complex and expressive references to other styles. Its Classical Revival references include the pedimented and classically detailed entrance bay, the mouldings and fluted pilasters of the south-facing bay window, and the columns of the second-storey verandah. Italianate details include brackets along the cornice and the verandah, and the ornate arcade of the second-storey verandah.

Source: HRM Community Development Department, Heritage Property Program, 1991 Prince Arthur Street file.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 1991 Prince Arthur Street relate to its Late Victorian Eclectic style and include:

- two-and-one-half storeys;
- wood frame;
- medium-slope gable roof ;
- rear ell;
- asymmetrical façade with cornice, wide unadorned frieze and brackets;
- two corner towers with conical roofs, faceted bay windows, bracketed cornices, simple window surrounds, and wraparound verandahs;
- large faceted south-facing bay window with Classical mouldings, fluted pilasters; frieze, dentils, and scalloped wood shingles;
- simple window surrounds;
- pedimented entrance bay;
- main entrance with transom windows and sidelights, fluted pilasters, mullions and matching corner twin brackets
- small Gothic-style window below frieze on gable end;
- first and second-storey verandahs with brackets;
- second-storey verandah with arcade, decorative fretwork, Classical-style columns, balustrade and dentils.