Caverhill Hall

For about the cost of a nice condominium in Toronto or Vancouver you can have a castle that once hosted royalty in downtown Saint John. Canada's first prime minister attended the official opening of the home.  Caverhill Hall has been for sale for some time, with a current asking price of less than $469,000.  The details of the real estate listing, by DeCourcey and Company give some hint of the grand history of this historic property. Built in the period 1879-1884 the structure is made of local limestone and granite pillars.  It is located in central Saint John at 134 Sydney St.

The house is grand by any measure. It has a 29 foot long dining room, and a 35 foot long living room as well as a library.  Deep in the heart of Saint John, the Bay of Fundy is visible from the master bedroom.  Even though the house has gone through a number of uses over the years, it has remained largely true to its historical origins. This image below of the dining area gives a sense of the inside of the house which includes many decorative wall and ceiling covers, and extensive use of stained glass.


The former servant quarters are now separate apartments, and for the past number of years it has served as a private residence along with rental apartments.  It has also, at various times, served as a military headquarters, an officer's club, and a night club.

There are several histories of the property online.  It was built, some accounts starting in 1879 (other accounts say 1881), for Mr. Simeon Jones.  His original house had been burnt to the ground in the the Great Fire of 1877.  The house was based on a similar structure in Montreal, and the architect for that house was hired to consult on this property. Mr. Jones at first worked in the brewery business eventually becoming an owner (in 2010 a Maritime beer was named in his honour).  He (with associates) started a bank in 1874, and his three sons took over the brewery business in 1879.  He was elected as an alderman in 1879 and subsequently became the mayor of Saint John.

While a number of public buildings constructed in that era used limestone, it was relatively rare in New Brunswick in private homes.  The integration of polished granite with the limestone, on short exterior pillars, and several places on the entrance (shown below) add significantly to the architectural feel.

There are conflicting reports (some attribute it to the name of a daughter in law) of the naming of the hall, but the most definitive accounts attribute it to Simeon Jones grandmother Jane Elizabeth Caverhill.  Caverhill Hall is listed in the Saint John Tourism Walking Tours Guide available on the web. Part of the account written there says "Caverhill Hall in its heyday hosted a King, a Queen and a Prime Minister. It was built by a brewer, Simeon Jones and took its name from his grandmother, Jane Elizabeth Caverhill... Simeon Jones was mayor of Saint John throughout the construction period. Upon its completion, the Jones’ hosted a reception for Sir. John A. and Lady MacDonald and 250 guests. In 1901, the Duke and Duchess of York, who became KingGeorge V and Queen Mary, used the house."  As noted the house was loaned for use by the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York during their October 1901visit to Saint John. The house was re-decorated in grand style in the months leading up to this royal visit, and this event was widely reported in local and national media. A reprinting of a book about the royal tour is available on Amazon.

While a number of grand properties with interesting histories are for sale in Atlantic Canada currently,  this could arguably claim to be the finest private home on the market.

Photo credits:  The opening photo is from the current real estate listing for the property by DeCourcey and Company.  The other two  photos are modified forms of several provided on an archived site about Caverhill by Katherine Bacon, Fine Home Specialist. 

The text of this article is ©R.L. Hawkes, 2012.  To seek publication permission, or to inquire about custom writing,  please contact rhawkes@chignecto.ca. 

Historic Properties Information

Whether on vacation or close to home, it is rewarding to research and visit historical properties in your area.  Fortunately, due to the hard work of dedicated community volunteers, professional historians, and those in government there are great resources to do this in your community.  A good starting place is to the Canada's Historic Places website.  To start your search use the Search tab at the top of the page, and then on the subsequent page just enter a province and town/city on the right and press the search button (there are other options including type of building/activity or entering the first three characters of the Canadian postal code, for example).  For Sackville, NB when I searched on Jan. 2, 2012 this generated a listing of 51 places.  Each has a link with detailed information.  When you click on an item in the list a red icon will appear on the map (e.g. in the accompanying image I selected Tonge's Island National Historic site. A useful book, available as a free pdf written by Environment Canada Parks Service, is The Buildings of Canada.  This provides sketches of different architectural styles for houses, churches, barns and more, and will help you to spot historically important structures not yet in the website (coverage across the country is quite variable). The good folks at the Tantramar Heritage Trust have made the job even easier for those in the Sackville, NB area.  From their website a selection of Tantramar Historic Sites will show them on a map, along with images and detailed descriptions of each.  One feature I particularly like is that they provide a list that is divided by century, which makes it easy, for example, to find 19th century architecture.  While a number of the entries are naturally enough historic locations, churches and institutional buildings, and commercial buildings, there are a large number of residential homes in the list as well.  In the next posting of this blog I will tell you about a historic Sackville house that is for sale right now.