To date, what remains of the original work is a framed 2ft. by 3ft. section. The walls inside a main-floor closet contain raised stuccowork scroll designs. It is presumed that the stuccowork once adorned the entire first floor of the home. Unfortunately, the artwork has since been sanded down everywhere but the closet, likely sometime in the last decade. Two small sections of the front wall of the main-floor parlour still have the original green paint and yellow flowers that would have once decorated the entire parlour. Lastly, the ceiling in the entryway houses the painted initials of the home's original owner, Rufus Curry. The intertwined letters are fashioned in decorative scrolling. The current owners, The Dunham Family, bought the house in 2005 and spent two years renovating the home to re-open it as a first class inn. The owners preserved much of the historical integrity of the house, leaving the original woodwork untouched and painting around stuccowork and other painted surfaces.
You are here
The Clockmaker's Inn
The Clockmaker's Inn
The house was built by Robert Caravan for Rufus Curry in 1894. Curry bought the land from local farmer Martin Gay Allison for $4,000. There were two small houses already on the property so Curry hired eight teams of oxen to move them to other parts of the town where they still stand today. The new Curry house was built in the Second Empire (French) style at a cost of $29,000. The house displays many characteristics of the style, including the curved or Mansard roof, symmetrical façade with large entrance tower, and cast iron roof cresting, a detail that survives in few places in Nova Scotia. The house was decorated by popular local painter George Lyons of Falmouth. His style was characterized by rich colours such as deep green, and opulent designs, including stucco work scrolls, morning glories and roses along the tops of walls. On the second-floor in the Sam Slick Room (right front bedroom) George Lyons painted a free-hand wall frieze depicting scenes of the countryside in brown tones. In another second-floor bedroom, The Windsor Room, he created a raised stuccowork border depicting ribbons and bows. These stuccowork ribbons were paired with decorative pink roses and green leaves. The wall above the border has been repainted white and the wall below, originally dark green, has been painted yellow. The flowers themselves have been left untouched. In the main-floor dining room the artist painted another free-hand frieze depicting an opulent scroll motif.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Clockmaker's+Inn/@44.9793,-64.1285,19z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4b59a5e239066111:0x5c2e78538197cb8e!8m2!3d44.979759!4d-64.128361
County:
Province:
Property Type:
Herititage Designation:
The property was designated a provincial heritage site on June 16 1996.
Public:
Open to guests year-round
Latitude: 44.9793 Longitude: -64.1285
