The listing: 105 Carmarthen St., Saint John
Asking Price: $749,000
Taxes: $7,256 (2025)
Lot Size: 6,308 square feet
Agents: Bob McVicar, Sutton Group Aurora Realty
The backstory
When Tom Gribbons and his wife, Lisa, first toured the home at 105 Carmarthen St. in Saint John’s historic Uptown neighbourhood, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. The 1914 semi-detached Craftsman had previously been owned by art dealers, and the house was dark, cramped, and crowded with oversized paintings. But when the Gribbons’ realtor Bob McVicar flung open the curtains, light flooded in, illuminating the home’s architectural details, such as 12-foot coffered ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace and expansive bay windows.
It was 2017, and even though the home had been listed for six months in a slow market, the couple put in an offer almost immediately.
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“The light streaming in was just stunning,” says Mr. Gribbons. “We went home that night, and my wife said, ‘We better put a bid in on this house because somebody’s going to steal it on us.’”
Mr. Gribbons and his wife are only the fourth owners of the home, although he doesn’t like to use that term. “We like to think of ourselves more as the fourth stewards,” he says. The home was originally owned by Frederick G. Spencer, who worked in the entertainment industry and operated one of Saint John’s earliest theatres. Since moving in, Mr. Gribbons and his wife have undertaken some upgrades, with a careful eye to maintaining as many original features of the four-bedroom home as possible.
The house today
Like many from that era, the house had a “maid’s quarters” upstairs connected to the downstairs kitchen by a separate staircase. The kitchen was entirely closed off from the dining room. The couple opted to keep the staircase, but took out a wall to open up the cooking and entertaining spaces. A spacious island now connects the two. “We made the dining room a little less formal because Maritimers entertain in the kitchen,” says Mr. Gibbons.
In the primary bedroom’s ensuite, even as they updated the vanity and added a modern soaker tub and walk-in shower, they kept much of the bathroom’s original mint green tile. “You can see some small cracks in it here and there, but we did our best to maintain it. You can’t find that tile anywhere in the world.”
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The couple also had the home’s original knob-and-tube wiring replaced. The home is heated by hot water radiators, which Mr. Gribbons says gives a “beautiful,” and steady heat throughout the long New Brunswick winters.
“Hot water is a gentle, calming warmth” he says. “The thing that I love about it the most is when you come in during the winter and your mitts or your tuque are wet from the snow, you just put it on the hot water radiator and in about 20 minutes, they’re dried out.”
The couple also put in a heated two-car garage designed to mirror the main home’s architectural style, a bonus feature in a neighbourhood with limited off-street parking.
Part of a wave of Craftsman development following a devastating fire in 1887, the home features many elements that the couple couldn’t bear to replace, including French doors that separate many of the rooms, stained glass and built-in bookshelves that flank the fireplace.
The best feature
Back in 2017 with a newly empty nest, Mr. Gribbons and his wife were looking to trade in their suburban lifestyle for a smaller home where Mr. Gribbons could walk to his office and the couple could stroll to the theatre district. The home at 105 Carmarthen was perfect. Now retired and spending winters abroad, the couple is downsizing once again, having purchased a penthouse condo nearby. Though they have enjoyed working with the developer to customize finishes in their new unit, Mr. Gribbons admits there’s a warmth and comfortable ease to the home at 105 Carmarthen that a new building simply can’t replicate.
“I tell you, they knew how to build a house back then. You walk in the front door and there’s a there’s a little mud room in the front, and then you come through another beautiful heavy, authentic wooden door,” he says. “I’ll miss that part of it – and that it has the ability to entertain really well with the old classic craftsman architecture from the 19-teens, but with modern amenities.”