Description of Historic Place

The Lorne Smith House, built in 1845, is a large, symmetrical, two-and-a-half-storey wooden home located in Southampton, Nova Scotia, on the main rural road midway between Springhill and Parrsboro at the junction of highways 2 and 302. The Georgian style home rests close to the road’s edge with its non-gable entry facing the road and its back toward the Maccan River. Although the surrounding mature trees and bushes create the feeling of rural privacy, there is a service garage across the road and a number of homes nearby. The building and property are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

The Lorne Smith House is valued as a good example of a mid-nineteenth century home, and for its original architectural features. This Georgian style home has a very wide frieze and has sturdy pilasters used as cornerboards to accentuate the outer edges of this boxy house. Also of note are the prominent entablature, pilasters and sidelights framing the front entry. The general appearance and fabric of the home have not changed from the original.

This large, wooden home is a local landmark that was built as the Central Hotel to replace the previous, drafty brick inn, the Furlong House, which originally stood on this site. The wooden kitchen from the first structure, circa 1800, was kept and incorporated into the new inn. The building's location on a well-travelled stagecoach route ensured a steady stream of patrons. The well-known Nova Scotian author and businessman Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton was a frequent guest at the original inn, and referred to it in his most famous work “The Clockmaker.” Sir Charles Tupper, an Amherst doctor, politician, Father of Confederation, and Prime Minister of Canada, also overnighted at the Central Hotel. Between 1949 and 1977, the front room housed the Southampton telephone exchange switchboard.

Source: “Heritage Property County, Lorne Smith House” File, Cumberland County Museum

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Lorne Smith House include:

- original site, form and massing;
- two-and-a-half storeys;
- three-bay façade;
- return eave;
- prominent, decorative pilasters used as cornerboards;
- all remnants of the original ca. 1800 kitchen;
- sidelights outlining front entry.

Character-defining Georgian elements of the Lorne Smith House include:

- boxy, symmetrical shape;
- medium-pitch gable roof;
- very wide frieze;
- entry framed with prominent entablature and pilasters centered in non-gable side.