Architectural Plans

Maud Rosinski's book, Architects of Nova Scotia: a biographical dictionary, 1605-1950 [NA 60/ C3/ R68/ 1994] features biographies of prominent architects, identifies their major projects, and offers a good starting point for researching the province's architectural heritage. Very few 18th or 19th century Nova Scotian houses, however, were designed by formally-trained architects; most were instead built by knowledgeable carpenters. In fact, the Nova Scotia Archives holds architectural plans for only twenty residences built prior to 1900, and ten of these date from the 1890s.

Researchers at the Nova Scotia Archives can explore architectural records from several different directions. Searching the Maps and Architectural Plans Card Catalogue under the heading 'Building Type' will yield information for specific categories of buildings — Residence, Church, School, Hospital, etc. — although the index to projects is only partial. Finding aids listing surviving archival records from individual architects and their firms are also available; specific projects are listed in chronological order, with retrieval numbers.

The City of Halifax Collection includes architectural plans for various architects working locally; the projects are listed in six separate finding-aid binders. This collection is being transferred to the Halifax Regional Municipal Archives and researchers should therefore consult with the Nova Scotia Archives staff to determine the current location of the records they are interested in studying.