While not large nor extravagant, these townhouses have, fortunately, been spared from the wrecking ball as representatives of of a great many similar residences which no longer exist. Built in 1859, the building may be properly described as Scottish Georgian in style, their most prominent features are the five sided Scottish dormers on the truncated gable roofs, providing light for the upper half storey.
With a large stone chimney in the centre of the building, each townhouse is a mirror image of the other. Entrance doors are placed at the extreme corners of the front elevation, each with a small double four panel wood door with glass in the two upper panels. Sidelights flank the doors, with flat Doric pilasters outside of each one, while above is a glass transom with eight lights. Above each transom is a large header with a very small portico roof above. Two six over six windows complete the front elevation, with smaller basement windows below each one. Both sides of the townhouse remain covered with wood shingles.
Though attached, as townhouses normally are, these two Early Victorian townhouses have been entered in the Halifax Municipal Heritage Register individually.
5476 Clyde Street
Architectural Comments:
This double house is an important example of two attached Scottish Georgian-style townhouses. All too few of this once prevalent type of Halifax dwelling now exist. With main doorways at opposite ends of the structure, the two townhouses are attached in a mirror-image configuration. Many fine details of the Scottish Georgian style, which began in 1815 and continued until the 1860s, can be viewed in these townhouses. The typical truncated, pitched roof topped with four distinctive five-sided Scottish dormers constitutes the most prominent aspect of the style. The symmetrical placement of the doors and windows add to the Georgian character as do the sedate pilasters supporting the molded entablatures over the doorways. The double-paneled doors surrounded by sidelights and transoms also add classical detail. The house is an outstanding example of 3 bay vernacular houses.
Historical Comments:
This double house was built by Patrick Kelly for Margaret English nee Carroll the widow of John English and sister of the first Canadian Mother Superior or the Sisters of Charity Mary Josephine Carroll. John English was at one time the Editor and joint owner of the Acadian Recorder newspaper. Later, Isaac H. Mathers, a prominent West Indies Commissions merchant of national importance lived in the house with his wife and child. After Mathers and his family moved in 1876, his son Robert Evatt’s in-laws resided in the house from 1877-79.
William Hudson Creighton, another prominent West Indies Commission merchant from a very old Halifax mercantile family lived in the house from 1881-82. His great grandfather, James Creighton, was an early resident of Halifax.
Contextual Building Comments:
The mirror-image townhouses on Clyde street are not only compatible in the setting of the historic block bounded by Queen, Morris, Birmingham and Clyde, but they are the northern anchor of the block. The double townhouse or terrace structure in similar in scale and proportion with its immediate neighbours and is the eye catching architectural centerpiece of Clyde street between Queen and Birmingham.
From Shape Your City Halifax