An Architectural Look at OldYarmouth
"The Western Gateway of Nova Scotia"

Yarmouth Homes
Bank Of Montreal House
The Bank of Montreal house, Forest Street.

Built in 1903 for Thomas Van Buskirk Bingay. He was a manager at the Bank of Montreal. He sold the house to the bank after living there for ten days. For 81 years the house was the Bank of Montreal's residence for the managers. This house is a classic example of Queen Ann Revival. The house has a large spacious vernanda, and has two story bay windows. The mansard roof style gives the upstairs lots of room. This house is now a private home.

The Bishops House

The Bishop's Palace, Park and Cliff Street.

A magnificent example of Queen Anne Revival architecture, it stands on imposing grounds.  It began life as the home of Levi Wyman, a blacksmith born in Yarmouth in 1847.  In 1868 he joined the California Gold Rush and returned to his home town six years later to establish his first grocery business and to build this opulent home.  In the first half of the twentieth century the house was owned and occupied by Seymour Baker, son of the Hon. L. E. Baker, his wife, Mildred Farish, and their four children.  In 1954 it was purchased by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation to use as the "Bishop's Palace" and it continues to fulfill this role.

Rock Cottage

Rock Cottage,  47 Forest Street.

Rock Cottage was built in 1844 for Dr. James Bond on the site of an old fort. Famous for its vast gardens and particularly the masses of mature rhododendrons, the name belied its spacious size.  In the Modified Gothic style, it had gingerbread trim on the eaves and arched caps over the windows.  The sunporch foundation was of white quartz.  Sadly, in the 1970s, an apartment building was added to the front, blocking the view of the house from Forest Street.   After years of neglect, the house was destroyed by fire on Hallowe'en Night, 1997.
 

Lakelawn Motel
Lakelawn Motel, Milton.

This house was built in 1864, for William Dodge Lovitt. The house is built in the Gothic Revival style. The house features a central tower with rounded top windows. The tower has fish scales covering the roof and walls. The windows have arched caps and the eaves have brackets. The house was moved back from the road, and now is part of the Lakelawn Motel. The house has been altered, the front porch was expanded and a piece was added on the south side of the house.

Captain Corning's House

This house, built in the mid-1800s by Capt. Bowman Corning, still stands today on Vancouver Street, although it is not easily recognized.  It has lost all of its gingerbread, the summer kitchen, and the carriage house  This photo shows the captain standing at the gate, his wife,
Mahalah Cann, and daughter, Mary Edna, are seated on the front steps. Corning was a well known commander in the mercantile navy and was for years associated with the Temperance cause. In 1860 a deadly epidemic took three of the Corning children within four days of one another. Mary Edna survived to wed Samuel A. Crowell, one of Yarmouth's wealthiest self-made merchants.


 

Nov 4 2001