How do you feel about half-timbered houses? When well done it is a style that conjures up a sense of warmth, and coziness, and gentility. Half-timbering can also suggest playfulness and whimsy, and inhabit the realm of kitsch. It’s a style where you get to choose your own adventure. That’s why it’s a delight to notice; examples are everywhere and if you take a moment and open your heart, they may even make you smile.
Well done!
Let’s start with the “best,” a successful and favourite example of half-timbering on Jubilee Road in Halifax. It exhibits some of the qualities that make the style so popular. A bit of asymmetry (love those long sloping roofs that cover the sunporches). Timbering only in the gables is a common feature. The small paned, casement windows suggest antiquity.
The “timbering” is not structural, just applied decoration, but visually it makes sense. Angle frames “brace” the roof, and the long beams over the big windows swell in the middle to visually support the large opening.
Jubilee Road
On nearby streets are other picturesque examples of half-timbering. Sort of a quaint medieval village with all the modern conveniences and no pigs in the street. This district was being developed early in the last century and some of these houses date from that time. Many neighbouring houses are colonial revival styles that pay homage to buildings of 18th century New England. So many stories.
Connaught Avenue
Armview Avenue
What’s the other half?
“Modern” half-timbering is created by applying something that looks like a heavy wooden timber frame to a conventional structure. The idea is to suggest a timber frame that has been left exposed. Traditionally the spaces between the timbers were filled with brick or stone, or perhaps sticks and clay (wattle and daub). This infill was often plastered or limewashed, and combined with dark stained timbers, created the black and white half-timbered look. For centuries this was a traditional style of building in Britain and Europe, and often the effect was quite decorative.
At Louisbourg you can see authentic reconstructions of this style of building from the early 18th century. Here the timbers are actually the structural fame of the building.
The infill is stone that has been covered with a lime wash. Rodrique House, Fortress Louisbourg National Historic Site. Street View May 2013
The brick infill is particularly decorative. Fortress Louisbourg National Historic Site. Street View May 2013
Hydrostone District
The Hydrostone district, built after the 1917 Halifax Explosion, is the earliest and most sustained use of the half-timber vocabulary in Halifax. The “timbers” are just a design in the “stucco” surface on the second floor. The ground floor is the concrete block, called hydrostone, that gave the district its name.
The commercial block for the Hydrostone has a charm that we have never been able to replicate since. After the trauma of the explosion the half-timbered design must have felt comforting and traditional and safe. Building of explosion and fireproof concrete added an extra sense of security.
A couple of new commercial buildings in the Hydrostone District make use of the half-timbered vocabulary. Thanks for trying.
It’s even better
Half-timbering in one form or another never goes away. When Clayton Park was built in the 1970s and 80s, mid century modern houses had neighbours with pretend timber framing from the Middle Ages.
The garage door wants to get into the game too! Woodbank Terrace. Street View, August 2014
A particularly delightful example of modern half-timbering is on the corner of Young Avenue and Atlantic Street. This house was built on a lot hived off the “Oland Castle” property in the 1980s(?). When new it felt a bit raw, but a “medieval hall” next to a castle made a good story.
Atlantic Street. Street View, April 2009
Surprise! About ten years ago the timbering received a delightful design upgrade! Somebody had a lot of fun. Cotswolds or the Black Forest? What do you think? Also the landscape planting has matured nicely.
Atlantic Street. Street View, August 2014
Character building
Once upon a time many restaurants and bars sported a bit of half-timbering. Hogie’s on Quinpool was a representative example. Kind of says “draft beer and steaks”, don’t you think?
Last fall I was surprised to come upon the massive dining room at the Old Orchard Inn in Wolfville. The hotel was built in 1972. I wonder if this decorating scheme dates from that period? Suggesting Acadian buildings, do you suppose?
It’s everywhere
Once you start noticing half-timbering you’ll see it everywhere. Does this tiny shed lift your spirits?
Back of the Peasant’s Panty in New Ross
On an early morning walk in Shelburne what fun to come upon a 17th century market building. Really a movie set from the 1995 production of The Scarlet Letter that was so good it just had to stay around.
The Mills
No one loved half-timbering more than the folks at Mills, the clothing and homewares store that was the doyenne of Spring Garden Road for much of the last century. Gradually they re-clad several nineteenth century buildings in half-timbering with the idea that it was reminiscent of Liberty, the department store in London.
Street View, April 2009
The name lives on. The Mills is a huge, new commercial and residential development that spans the original site. Clever branding by Adam MacKenzie of Sperry Designs uses an element of the Mills half-timbering to generate the logo for the project. Enjoy his little animation.
