26 Chester Street

STREET ADDRESS: 26 Chester Street

CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE: Yarmouth

MUNICIPALITY: Yarmouth

COUNTY: Yarmouth

YEAR BUILT: circa 1850

ARCHITECTURAL COMMENT:

Vernacular in style, this is a one and a half storey home of wood construction. The symmetrical four bay facade has an off-center doorway. The steeply pitched gable roof has non-return eaves with plain brackets under the eaveline. There is one large, central chimney at the peak. A large shed roof dormer with three square windows is found at the rear. The small gable roof dormer at the front was added in the 1940's. The main windows have been replaced but the original narrow casings still remain. Narrow, flat labels are found on the back windows and back door. The house is clad in wooden shingles with narrow cornerboards. It sits on a concrete foundation with a dirt cellar underneath.

HISTORICAL COMMENT:

Family tradition of the Eldridge's, who have owned this house since 1879, claims this house was not built on this site but was moved here from elsewhere. This claim seems very probable as the architecture of the building (i.e. the wooden pegs and hand hewn beams in the attic) would date the house near the early 1800's. This house is not shown on this site on A.F. Church's map of 1870 but appears to be on an 1878 B.E.V. Map of Yarmouth. It is therefore, assumed to have been built elsewhere in the Yarmouth area and moved onto this site between 1870 and 1878.

The earliestrecord for this property is a deed in 1879 when Alfred Eldridge purchased this house from Trustees of the Yarmouth Building and Loan Society. Alfred Eldridge was a Tinsmith by profession and was employed for a time with Lincoln and Williams Co.

CONTEXTUAL COMMENT:

The original site of this house is unknown. It is now situated on the north side of Chester Street approximately two feet away from the house to the east. There is a yard at the rear and a shed with saltbox roof.

PRESENT OWNER: Viola I. White

ADDRESS: P.O. Box 791, Yarmouth, N.S., B5A 4K4

ORIGINAL OWNER: Unknown

OCCUPATION: Unknown

BUILDER: Unknown

ORIGINAL USE: Unknown

PRESENT USE: Residential (Single family)

COMMENTS ON HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS:

Alfred Eldridge and his wife Ellen had three children, Florence, Clara and Harry. Florence died in 1894 at the age of 15 years. In 1909 Alfred conveyed this house to Harry, a bachelor at the time. He later moved to the U.S. and died in Beverly, Mass. on Sept. 9, 1922 at the age of 63. Harry Eldridge had learned the trade of plumber from Mr. G. J. Morton of Yarmouth and had worked in different parts of the Maritime Provinces. He was in Charlottetown, P.E.I. when he enlisted in the army. In September of 1918 he was killed at the front.

In 1911, Harry Eldridge had sold this house to his sister Clara who leased it to her mother Ellen and continued to live here. In 1974 Clara sold the house to her brother's son, Harry B. Eldridge.

The present owner, Harry B. Eldridge, has lived in this house since 1912. An auto mechanic for many years he was later a cotton mill employee and is now retired. Mr. Eldridge had his family home registered as a municipal heritage property in 1992.

SOURCES: Interview with Mr. Harry Eldridge; Death Dates from Eldridge family bible in possession of Harry Eldridge; Registry of Deeds/Probate (Yarmouth); A. F. Church Map (1870); 1878 B.E.V. Map of Yarmouth; The Yarmouth Telegram (Sept. 1918)