Nova Scotia

The terrace was erected for waterside workers during the first major expansion of the Cumberland Basin in 1811. By 1889 the proprietors had merged two of the original houses, one formerly trading as the Docks Hotel, into a single establishment.

The Nova Scotia presents a modest three-storey Georgian façade of render-covered rubble stone beneath a slate roof, typical of early nineteenth-century terraces. A mid-19th-century cast-iron lampholder projects some five feet from the first floor over the pavement. Beyond a low arched carriageway lies a courtyard once surrounded by stabling for coach horses. The original hay-loft opening, with its pulley, and small upstairs room for stable hands both survive in the buildings to the right of the yard. Throughout the ground floor, original bench seating is fixed to panelled dados. The maritime theme continues in the choice of old sea-chart reproductions used as wallpaper, gas-light wall…