A very striking Second Empire design, the Renner-Carney House is the most eye catching of the heritage buildings on the block. Termed
in the Heritage Inventory Form, the residence also shows Italianate influences, a little bit of Greek Revival and a little Roman Revival. Very nice brickwork across the front elevation (see attached photos for detail) adds greatly to its appeal.
Built by a liquor merchant and hotel proprietor, the house was later sold to a provincially acclaimed pediatrician and Head of the Halifax Children's Hospital. Over the central entrance, the glass transom is lettered with "Cameron House". This is in reference to the third occupant, Dr. Hugh W. Cameron, an optometrist who purchased the building in the early 1920s.
Renner-Carney House
Civic Address | 1349-51-53 Barrington Street
Building Name | Renner-Carney House
Construction Date | 1891
Original Owner: Thomas Renner
Architectural Comments:
Renner-Carney House is a 1½ storey brick building with a bell-cast mansard roof, slate fish-scale roof shingles with paired dormers with pediments above, a cornice with heavy brackets and a decorative frieze, and four substantial multi-flue brick chimneys. The building has two bay projections on the front facade flanking the central main entrance and a substantial belt course separating the basement from the main floor. Typical of the Victorian Eclectic style, the building has a central entrance and is 3 bays wide. A central tower above the entrance projects through the roof eaves and has a pyramidal roof with a bell cast curve, gothic dormers and bracketed eaves.
The vertically proportioned windows have a Palladian arrangement and are surrounded by pilasters, decorative brackets, and pedimented roofs. The central tower windows and the first storey windows follow the same arrangement and roof style, but have arches with intricate brickwork. The central entrance at the first floor level has a segmented brick arch, transom and sidelights and pilasters. There are two modern entrances, one under each projecting bay, at the basement level.
Renner-Carney House is in good physical condition. There is a 2 storey brick rear addition with a low pitch roof that has windows which are similar in dimensions and style to those on the original house. The open space behind the building is unpaved and used as a parking lot for tenants. Remnants of prior use, perhaps as a garden, or other built structures are not evident.
Renner-Carney House is valued for its historical associations with prominent individuals. The house was built in 1891 for Thomas Renner who was a liquor merchant and proprietor of the Union Hotel. Renner sold the property in 1914 to Michael Carney Sr., West India Merchant and Consul for Haiti, and his son, Dr. Michael J. Carney, who lived there until 1920. Dr. Carney was a provincially acclaimed pediatrician and Head of the Children's Hospital in Halifax. After Dr. Carney’s brief occupancy, the building was sold to Hugh W. Cameron, optometrist. In 1926, the building was known as Cameron House and was used as office space for an optometrist, dentist and a physician.
From Shape Your City Halifax