Description of Historic Place

The Howard House, built in 1872, is located on a rural road in Middleboro, near the town of Wallace, N.S. The large, two-storey farmhouse sits on its original location on an open lawn but concealed from the road by the many trees growing along the edge of the property. The building and the property are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Howard House lies in the important role the original owner had on the industrial, economic and political development of this part of Cumberland County. Ephraim Howard was a successful blacksmith, farmer, lumberman, businessman, industrialist and politician. He owned a grist mill and a lumber mill on the Wallace River and the material for this house was cut at his mill. Howard also served as a Justice of the Peace, County Warden and County Councilor for the Wallace district for many years.

The house, one of the oldest homes in the area, is in excellent condition, and is also valued as a good example of the style of house built by successful farmers in this area during the Victorian era. The large, T-shaped house displays architectural elements from the popular Gothic Revival and Classic Revival styles. Of particular note are the distinctive front and the side, box bay windows topped with decorative brackets and dentils and a heavy cornice. The shape and ornamentation of the windows is echoed in the front entry, which is a double door framed by a transom, sidelights and pilasters. The side bay window on the second floor has the very unusual decoration of crenellation along the eave of the window hood. Also of note are the steeply-pitched, cross-gable roofs, and the bargeboard decorating the edge of the side verandah.

Source: “Heritage Properties County, Howard House” File, Cumberland County Museum

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Howard House include:

- original site, form and massing;
- t-shape floor plan with cross-gable roof;
- asymmetrical;
- box bay windows and entry;
- protruding lintels over windows;
- exterior clapboard.

Character-defining Gothic Revival elements of the Howard House include:

- steeply-pitched roof;
- dormers with steeply-pitched roof;
- crenellation decorating the second-floor window hood;
- simple but decorative bargeboard on verandah roof edge.

Character-defining Classic Revival elements of the Howard House include:

- front entry with pilasters, double door, and rectangular, multi-pane transom and sidelights;
- dentils and brackets decorating the eaves at roof and above bay windows.