Town of Lunenburg

49 Cornwallis Street

Registered deeds suggest that this house, which is now known as the Finck Holder house, was built about 1829. Stephen Finck, a native of Scotland, was a well respected citizen of Lunenburg. He was a bank agent and a magistrate and became high sheriff of the county for a period in the early 1880s. Until this time the house most probably had a typical late Georgian face and the renovations, no doubt, consisted of replacing the smaller windows typical of that style with the larger windows that we still see today, along with introducing the two large Scottish dormers into the roof.

Also, the large windows and door were also added at that time. Wide cornerboards, clapboard siding, a deep transom window over the door and two massive chimneys complete the character of this remarkably well-preserved early house.

An interesting aspect of this house is a result of its ownership by the Finck family. At the turn of the century, the Fincks had a number of children — all girls. There was a tenement house occupying the lot to the north of the house that seems to have been inhabited by a number of peeping Toms. Consequently, Mr. Finck boarded up all of the windows on the north side of the house and they remained boarded up for many years.