The largest Georgian house in Lunenburg, Lennox Tavern is listed both as being built in 1791 and 1804. According to the hand lettered sign affixed to the building, it was built in 1791, possibly as a meeting house and sold, to become a tavern, in 1804. "
During the rebuilding of a collapsed section of the fieldstone cellar wall I found a coin, dated 1791, embedded in the lime mortar on the top course of slate. This coin was situated, date upward, directly under the back door, a traditional German practice of dating a house."
From Lennox Inn
Interestingly, though the building housed a tavern which sold grog to the townspeople for a great many years, the building also served for a time as a temperance hall.
By 1991 the building had been converted to an apartment building for some time and was in a quite rundown condition. In that year it was bought by the present owner,
painstakingly and meticulously restored and opened as the present
LENNOX INN 1791. Open year round with reduced winter rates, the inn offers four rooms, the
Cornwallis Room, the
York Room, the
Temperance Room and the
Fox Room.
Text from the sign follows.
Lennox Tavern
Built By Andreas Jung, wheelwright, joiner and founding member of the Lunenburg Lutheran Church. This structure is the largest Georgian dwelling in Lunenburg and probably built as a meeting house. John Lennox bought it in 1804 and operated a tavern. Later the tavern became a Temperance house. Restored in 1991 and is now the oldest operating Inn in Canada.
Lennox Tavern
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
Lennox Tavern is a wooden clapboard clad Georgian building located on the corner of Fox and Cornwallis Street in Old Town Lunenburg, NS, facing Lunenburg Harbour. Both the building and the land are included in the designation.
HERITAGE VALUE
Lennox Tavern is valued as the only tavern and inn dating from the late eighteenth century in Nova Scotia and for its contribution to the heritage character of Old Town Lunenburg.
The building known as the Lennox Tavern was built circa 1804 by John Lennox who used the building as an inn and tavern. For a time in the late nineteenth century it was used, ironically, as a Temperance House.
Lennox Tavern is a large, two-and-a-half storey wood framed structure with a symmetrical five bay façade. It exhibits many late eighteenth century architectural detailing and techniques including wooden clapboards with quirk beads, original corner boards with a similar edge, and second floor windows flush to the roof eave. Many eighteenth century interior elements remain, including large chimneys that service nine fireplaces, many with simple Georgian mantel designs, and a large beehive oven in the basement that could bake forty loaves of bread at a time, constructed no doubt by Lennox to service his clientele.
The house is a highly important and integral part of historic Lunenburg. It is located on the corner of Fox and Cornwallis Street, in the centre of Old Town Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As a well-maintained Georgian building it is representative of Lunenburg's late eighteenth-century architecture, which includes a large stock of wooden buildings laid out in the original township’s grid pattern.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
Exterior character-defining elements of the Lennox Tavern relate to its Georgian style and relatively unaltered appearance and include:
- two-and-a-half storeys;
- wood clapboard cladding with quirk beads;
- symmetrical five bay façade;
- original corner boards with quirk beads similar to clapboard siding;
- second floor windows flush to eave;
- six-over-six windows;
- transom window over front entrance;
- stone foundation;
- gable roof with wooden shingles;
- two chimneys;
- fan light windows in attic;
- post and beam construction.
Interior character-defining elements of the Lennox Tavern include:
- nine fireplaces with original or historic Georgian style mantels;
- cooking stove in basement including beehive oven;
- original cornices and chair rails;
- visible corner posts.
From Historic Places Canada