How to Research Historic Houses

What Makes a House Significant?

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Among the most common reasons for designating a building are that it is:

• A landmark,
• Old, one-of-a-kind or rare,
• Especially well-constructed or designed,
• A fine representation of a particular architectural style, or,
• Associated with important events or individuals.

Although each of these reasons is important, a combination of several, or all of them, will help make designation of a building more likely.

These factors are important indicators of a building’s significance, but in the case of houses, they are often hard to apply. In comparison to other historic buildings, houses have special characteristics. The great majority were not designed by architects, and were built and used by ordinary people. Most houses do not exhibit a particular architectural style, and many have been remodelled extensively over the years. Moreover, while their yards and physical surroundings are central to their appearance and function, in many cases these too have been radically altered.

In spite of these difficulties, the preservation of houses is important. As the most common type of building that relates directly to day-to-day life, they reflect people’s aspirations, taste and quality of life as do no other structures.

Ordinary houses, built in the thousands in cities, towns and on farms, express clearly the social thought of the time and the assumptions of average people. They can illustrate society from the bottom (or the middle) upwards, instead of only from the top down. If only the mansions of the rich or the houses of the famous are preserved, an opportunity to understand the whole of society is missed. The homes of working people, farmers, and the urban middle class reveal the way that houses contributed to the texture of daily life. The layout and fixtures of their rooms as well as their outside appearance reflected popularly held views about the family, social life and the place of the individual in society. Their appearance was also influenced by existing building technology and available methods of heating, lighting and sanitation. Fore example, by 190 plumbers began using a "single stack system," which meant that the bathroom was placed above, or adjacent to the kitchen so that all the plumbing would be connected in a single system. Thus, the technological history of the province as well as social conditions such as class and occupation, ethnicity and gender can all have a bearing on the way houses look. And given the diversity of climate and landscape found in different parts o the province, further variation sin design emerged over time, resulting in the variety of house design that we find in this province.

As a result, the significance of a particular house cannot be judged by applying a rigid formula. It depends on when, where, how, and by whom it was built and how these factors influenced its appearance. Consequently, a single important attribute would rarely be sufficient to define a house as significant to the built environment of the whole province, although it might be significant at a local level. The greater the combination of attributes in a single house, the more likely is its wider significance, and the possibility of designation.

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