"Seaview Cottage", 90 Church Street, c. 1876

This 2 1/2 storey Gothic Revival house, screened by a cloak of trees from the gaze of passersby, was built in c. 1876 for James F. Robb, an Antigonish merchant, trader and tinsmith. He originally bought the large property from Adam Kirk, another leading Antigonish merchant. Positioned on a height of land which afforded a view of Antigonish Harbour, "Seaview Cottage" befitted a member of the wealthy mercantile class. In 1892, Robb sold the house to Dr. J.J. Cameron, a prominent local physician who was the owner of a Hupmobile, one of the first automobiles in Antigonish. In 1901, the Cameron household consisted of eight people, including a servant and stable boy.

Although this house retains a classical symmetry, it is also accentuated by many gothic features: a sharply pitched central gable, large bay windows and a one-storey porch with pointed Gothic arches. The house is also elaborately ornamented with drip mouldings, pilasters flanking the bay windows, elaborate eave trimming and machine-worked decorative treillage at the top corner of each verandah post. These Gothic Revival touches soften the classical proportions of the house. "Seaview Cottage" exemplifies the increasing visual and spatial complexity of late 19th-century domestic architecture. It also represents a perfect marriage of architectural form and naturalistic setting. The choice of the picturesque Gothic formula for "Seaview Cottage" was no accident, for this style captured the essence of Victorian whimsy and the fondness for charming rural or semi-rural landscapes. Conversely the term "cottage" is a commentary on the romanticism of the times. It also harks back to A. J. Downing's popular primer on Gothic Revival, The Architecture of Country Houses which noted that the distinction between "house" and "cottage" hinged on the number of household servants--anything less than three servants rated as a "cottage".

Robyn Veinotte

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