Description
Loder Homestead comprises a wood-framed, gable-roofed house with rear porch and covered verandahs and the sites of several former structures between the water of the Bay of Islands and Main Street in Summerside, NL. The designation comprises the house and footprints of former structures on the immediate property.
Statement of Significance
Formal Recognition Type
Registered Heritage Structure
Heritage Value
Loder Homestead was designated a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2021 due to its historic and aesthetic value.
Loder Homestead was first settled by John and Mary Ann Loder around 1850 when the couple moved their growing family from the area of Gilliams/Meadows to become Summerside’s first permanent residents. John Loder had arrived in Newfoundland in the 1830s as apprentice or servant to Ralph Brake of Humbermouth while Mary Ann was a native of Meadows. The Loder family is believed to have first lived in a smaller house near a rock ledge where John kept a stage. After some success in fishing, sawing, and boatbuilding the family built the present house in the 1860s or 1870s. Following the deaths of John and Mary Ann the homestead was divided among the Loder boys, Jeremiah (the owner of the house), George, and Albert, who continued to build the family business. By the 1930s and Jeremiah’s death in 1933 the Loders acted as general merchants for the area and employed a number of household servants. The house continued in the Loder family and was continuously occupied until the mid-1990s.
Loder Homestead exhibits several Classical design elements including a strong sense of symmetry, a mid-pitch roof, and cornerboard pilaster details. These, along with an ornate entry with sidelights and transom, would have elevated it above earlier settler structures in the area and are symbolic of the family’s growth and success. The house once boasted a substantial rear kitchen addition later removed and repurposed on the property circa 1940. The smaller rear porch and verandahs were added around this time. The house retains its original 6/6 wood windows and sits atop a dry stone foundation.
Loder Homestead retains a sole surviving structure however the property, now divided, was once the site of a collection of buildings related to the Loder family and its business ventures. The house’s relationship to the footprints of these structures, the rock ledge, and the water constitute a cohesive cultural landscape.
Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador property file “Summerside – Loder Homestead – FPT NL-5330”
Character Defining Elements
All original features of Loder Homestead which relate to its age and style including:
-6/6 wood windows on the ground floor;
-2/2 wood windows on the rear and and second storey;
-wood window trim with sills and raincaps;
-wide wood cornerboards with pilaster details;
-narrow wood clapboard and wood trim;
-dry stone foundation;
-one-and-a-half-storey massing;
-rear centre porch and flanking covered verandahs;
-original locations of ridge chimneys;
-overall symmetry of the structure;
-interior window trim including panels; and
-the location of the house with respect to the sites of former structures on the property, the water, and the rock ledge.
Location and History
Community
Summerside
Municipality
Town of Irishtown-Summerside
Civic Address
441 Main Street
Construction (circa)
1860 - 1870
Builder
Loder Family
Style
Rectangular Long Facade
Location
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