Description of Historic Place

Heritage Hall is located on John Street, close to downtown Shelburne, Nova Scotia. This one-and-a-half storey wooden building was built around 1888. The building and property are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

Heritage Hall is valued for its age, architecture, historical associations and its continued use as a community building.

Heritage Hall was built around 1888 during the ministry of Reverend Thomas Howland White, an Anglican minister in Shelburne for sixty-two years. Reverend White was the son of Gideon White, one of the original Loyalists in the area. Heritage Hall served as the Church Hall for the Anglican congregation until the Anglican Hall on Ann Street was built in the 1960s.

In 1968, a local group was formed called the Library Association, now known as the Shelburne Library Building Association. This group was responsible for having the building transformed into a library, which opened in February, 1970.

Heritage Hall is currently used as a community workshop building for mentally challenged persons. From this location, the group provides laundry services, shoe repair, the engraving of plaques and trophies and from time to time, home made muffins and tea to the general public.

This one-and-a-half storey wooden building, with a steeply pitched gable roof, is set on a granite block foundation. A few exterior alterations were made to accommodate its present use as a workshop facility but the building remains largely unaltered from its original state.

Heritage Hall is set very close to the sidewalk and flush with the corner streetline, close to downtown Shelburne, and in a predominantly residential setting.

Source: Town of Shelburne, Heritage file, no. 15, Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of Heritage Hall include:

- one-and-a-half storey wood structure;
- steeply pitched gable roof;
- granite block foundation;
- narrow cornerboards;
- moulded frieze boards;
- very narrow eave overhang;
- wood shingle cladding;
- one bay front façade capped by a gabled portico supported by decorative brackets;
- rear offset chimney.