Description of Historic Place

The Ellery Scott House, built around 1884, is a one-and-a-half storey Classic Revival style house of wood construction with a unique combination of Italianate influenced embellishments. It is located near the southern boundary of the town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, on a raised lot which overlooks Yarmouth Harbour. Municipal heritage designation applies to the house and its modest sized residential lot.

Heritage Value

The Ellery Scott House is valued for its historical associations with Capt. Jacob Kelley Hatfield, the original owner, and with Capt. Ellery Scott within whose family it remained for over seventy years. It is also valued for its Classic Revival architecture with Italianate embellishments.

Capt. Jacob Kelley Hatfield was the eldest of seven brothers who all became successful ship masters. For a number of years he was Master of a clipper ship carrying passengers between England and Australia. He was also very active in political matters and in 1887 was a candidate for a seat in the House of Commons, though he was not successful in his bid for election. He had purchased this property in 1884 and apparently demolished an older house, which had been built around 1805 and built this house over the old cellar. He resided here until 1892 when he sold the property to Capt. Ellery Scott.

Capt. Ellery Scott was born in 1854 in the nearby rural community of Chebogue. He went to sea at a very young age and became an officer while still a teenager. In his early twenties, he earned his Master’s certificate and for a number of years sailed for various Yarmouth shipping concerns. He temporarily retired from the sea around the same time he purchased this property in 1892 and established himself as a farmer with a milk business. Seven of his eight surviving children were born in this house, which may have accounted for his choice of employment ashore. By 1901 he had returned to the sea in the employment of the Quebec Steamship Company out of New York. At the time of the Mount Pelee eruption and the destruction of the city of St. Pierre on the island of Martinique on May 8, 1902, he was first officer on the steamer "Roraima", located nearby at the time, and one of the few who escaped alive from the disaster. Capt. Ellery Scott passed away at home in 1923, but the property remained in his family until 1965.

The Classic Revival architecture of the Ellery Scott House is exemplified by its rectangular massing, one-and-a-half storey wood frame construction, medium pitched gable roof and double hung sash windows. The Italianate embellishments are evident in the front projection and tower with its round-headed windows, attached dormers, balustraded “widow’s walk”, and bracketed eaves.

Source: Registered Heritage Property files, Town of Yarmouth, NS.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Ellery Scott House include its:

- location near the south boundary of the Town of Yarmouth;
- proximity to the waterfront;
- narrow setback from road;
- modest sized residential lot.

The character-defining elements of the Italianate embellished Classic Revival architecture of the Ellery Scott House include:

- rectangular massing;
- wood frame construction and wood cladding;
- one-and-a-half storeys;
- lower one-and-a-half storey back ell;
- medium pitched gable roof with inset chimneys;
- double hung sash windows with bracketed crowns;
- symmetrical five bay facade;
- centred front projecting tower with attached side dormers and bracketed eaves;
- “widow’s walk” with full balustrade crowning the tower;
- round-headed windows with bracketed window crowns in dormers and tower projection.