Description of Historic Place

The Adam Smith Residence is a wooden one-and-a-half storey, Regency residence with a side-gabled roof equipped with elongated shed dormer and central entranceway flanked by large multi-pane windows. It is located on Carleton Street in St. Andrews.

Heritage Value

The Adam Smith Residence is designated as a Local Historic Place for its architecture, for its association with its past occupants and for being part of a collection of summer properties that have been well maintained and have attracted wealthy and successful members of society from locales throughout North America.

The Adam Smith Residence is recognized for being an example of Regency residential architecture from the first half of the 19th century. Possibly built sometime between 1839 and 1844, this residence exhibits characteristics of this style such as a low side gabled roof that extends in the front to form the roof of the full-width front veranda. Typical to the style, the property has a central entranceway flanked by single large windows with multiple panes. Possibly not part of the original construction, this residence has an elongated shed dormer interrupted at the centre by a gabled semi-octagonal upper-storey bay window. The eaves are wide for this era of architecture and the property has an distinctly country feel in its style and contextual surroundings, being surrounded by a large hedge.

The Adam Smith Residence is also recognized for its association with long time owner Adam Smith and with notable banker and avid golfer, David R. Forgan. Irish immigrant Adam W. Smith obtained the lot in 1844, and it is believed that the home was standing prior to this. Smith lived at this location until his death in 1896. Adam Smith was a veteran newspaper editor and known locally as “Father of the Press”. Adam took charge of the St. Andrews Standard upon his father's death and was editor of this paper for 47 years. He was a hard worker for the development of St. Andrews. His obituary read, in part: "It may almost be said that he laid down his life for his beloved town.”

The home remained in Mr. Smith’s family until 1919 when it was sold to banker David R. Forgan. At the age of 19 David Forgan was a ledger keeper for the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) in Halifax when he and a branch accountant were sent to Winnipeg to open the first Bank of Nova Scotia outside of Atlantic Canada in the early 1880’s. By 1887, David and his brother James were lured away by the Northwestern National Bank of Minnesota, eventually becoming two of the most noted bankers in the USA. David was president of the National City Bank of Chicago when Chicago was the hub of Midwestern American commerce. When San Francisco was devastated by a massive earthquake in 1906, “Help San Francisco” was organized by Mr. Forgan. The golf course may have attracted Mr. Forgan to St. Andrews, as he was an avid golfer. A popular golfers’ creed was written by him. His heirs sold the home in 1945.

The Adam Smith Residence is also recognized as a contributing factor to the large array of summer residences in St. Andrews. This group of heritage buildings has housed many celebrities in their distinguished artistic fields. Most of these summer residents hailed from Montreal and the eastern seaboard of the United States of America. St. Andrews role as a summer resort began in the 1870’s when Sir Leonard Tilley and Sir Charles Tupper obtained summer homes here. In the late 1880’s and early 1890’s the elite of Montreal, headed by William Van Horne, built and obtained vacation homes here.

Source: Charlotte County Archives - Old Gaol, St. Andrews, New brunswick - St. Andrews Historic Places File, “Adam Smith Residence”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Adam Smith Residence include:
- one-and-a-half storey rectangular plan;
- side-gable plan with wide eaves;
- low roof extending over the front veranda;
- shed dormer interrupted by a gabled semi-octagonal bay window;
- large multi-paned windows flanking the central entranceway;
- central entranceway with multi paned sidelights;
- full width single-storey front veranda;
- triangular bay window on the east façade;
- window placement and proportions;
- wood cladding;
- hedge surrounding most of the property.