James Edward Gordon Boulton built this home in 1898. Boulton was born in Liverpool, England in 1868. He married Elizabeth Hamilton Allison of Windsor, Nova Scotia.

 

Boulton became Vice-President of Nova Scotia Furnishing Co. Ltd. at what is now 1668 Barrington Street (now a sales centre for The Roy condominium complex across the street, and is itself, a heritage building) after having been with Gordon & Keith furniture manufacturers.

 

Besides being a member of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Boulton participated in yachting races, excelled in track and field, and was a member of the Wanderers Amateur Athletic Club.

 

The Boultons didn't live in the mansion long, for this was also home for a short time, to William George Squares deCarteret - captain of the cable ship Minia. The Minia was involved in the RMS Titanic aftermath searching for bodies. He is listed in the 1903-04 City Directory. By 1913, Michael and Mary (Harrington) Dwyer lived in the house. Michael Dwyer was a senior official of the John Tobin & Company tea purveyors. In the 1980s Shambhala founder Chögyam Trungpa moved his headquarters to Nova Scotia, where hundreds of his students had already settled. He lived in the mansion until his death in 1987.

 

Boulton hired one of the Maritimes most prolific architects, James Charles Philip Dumaresq. Born in 1844, J.C. practised throughout the region. He designed seven of the original homes on Young Avenue. He died in 1906 and his practice was taken over by his son Sydney Perry Dumaresq who had joined him in the practice in 1899 and did a few projects on Young Avenue as well.

 

By the late 1890s, architect J. C. Dumaresq slowly moved away from the asymmetrical nature of the Queen Anne Revival style in domestic designs, to incorporate more symmetrical and balanced classical elements.

 

This home is a large three-storey wood house with Classical Revival details and hipped roof line. From the exterior one can see a second-storey fanlight with web-patterned and diamond-patterned mullions, as well as a lunette above the third-storey window. There's a massive front doorway with large sidelights flanking each side in an intricate flower pattern. The upper and lower floor end-windows are curved. The ground floor plans originally called for a wrap-around verandah. On September 20, 1898, City Council approved the plans, provided the verandah on the north side not be constructed. Today there is still a verandah, but extending the width of the front of the home.

The interior had a front entrance hall with grand staircase and seat, sitting room, two unlabelled rooms joined (probably drawing room and library), dining room, side hall, lumber room, rear bath room, kitchen, pass pantry, shelving, lavatory, and servants' stairs. The second floor had a sewing room with balcony, linen room, main stairway, four bedrooms (two with closets and dressing rooms, one with drawing room and closet), bath room and closet, wardrobe, and rear servants' stairs. The attic had one large room and servants' stairs. The basement had a vegetable room, large open room with boiler, store room, two rooms for hard and soft coal, shelving, laundry room, an unlabelled room, rear basement entrance, and servants' stairs.

 

The stables for the home, built in 1906 for Michael Dwyer, and designed by architect Harris Stuart Tremaine, were demolished and a house now stands in its place around the back.