Description of Historic Place

The James Jenkins Jr. House is a simple one-and-a-half storey Vernacular style house with historic ties to the shipping industry in Yarmouth, NS. The building and its residential lot are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

The James Jenkins Jr. House is valued for its historic associations with James Jenkins, Jr. and Herbert D. MacLeod and for its simple, intact Vernacular architecture.

James Jenkins, Jr. was a noted shipwright in Yarmouth from around 1830 until a few years before he passed away in 1881. He built this house circa 1832, not far from his shipyard on the Yarmouth waterfront, and lived here with his family for the rest of his life. The property was owned by his descendants until 1922 when it was sold out of the family.

Herbert D. MacLeod lived here from 1922 until 1948, although the property was owned by his father for the first sixteen years of his occupancy. At the time MacLeod moved into this house he was an editor and publisher for the Lawson Publishing Company, but later founded the MacLeod Travel Agency which operated in Yarmouth until recently.

The James Jenkins Jr. House is also valued for its simple Vernacular architecture, which has remained structurally intact throughout its existence. Its simplicity is in contrast to many of Yarmouth’s ship captains’ and shipbuilders’ homes, which are often large and ornate. The house is located on a high embankment overlooking the northern end of Yarmouth Harbour and the former location of Jenkins’ shipyard. It is a relatively unadorned one-and-a-half storey house with a symmetrical façade, double hung sash windows and a one storey, off-centre back ell which was added later.

Source: Registered heritage property files, Town of Yarmouth, James Jenkins Jr. House file.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the James Jenkins, Jr. House include:

- location on the main street close to waterfront;
- modest sized lot;
- single family dwelling.

The character-defining elements of the Vernacular style of the James Jenkins Jr. house include:

- one-and-a-half stories and a one storey, off-centre back ell;
- medium pitched gable roof with return eaves and an off-centre chimney;
- symmetrical five bay façade with a centred entrance;
- double hung sash windows with two-over-one glazing pattern;
- simple moulded crowns on windows and doors;
- decorative shutters on facade and south gable end windows;
- wood construction with shingle cladding;
- corner pilasters with capitals at front;
- corner-boards at back and on ell;
- frieze- and verge-board trim.