145 Germain Street was known as the Bonnell Dental Infirmary. It is a 3 storey, brick, Second Empire building with large pediment, Roman arched, gabled dormers against the mansard roof. It is located on Germain Street within the Trinity Royal Preservation Area of the City of Saint John.
The Bonnell Dental Infirmary is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture and for its association with physicians and dentists.
Many of the buildings in the residential district of Germain Street were constructed in the latter part of the 19th Century or early 20th Century as all the older buildings were destroyed in the Great Saint John Fire of 1877. Built in 1888, the Bonnell Dental Infirmary building is a good example of Second Empire architecture. Among its many Second Empire features are the rectangular 3-storey brick massing, the dormers and the mansard roof.
The heritage value of the Bonnell Dental Infirmary is also recognized through its long association with various physicians and dentists of the Saint John Area. It first became a doctor’s office under the direction of Doctors Stewart and Sherwood Skinner from 1903 to 1911. From 1912 until 1938, Dr. Harry Spangler, general physician, had his medical clinic in the building. Dr. Percival Bonnell practiced and operated the Bonnell Dental Infirmary on Germain Street from 1939 to 1970. Many other local dentists practiced at this infirmary as well. Dentists including Gordon Knight, Frederick Scott, Selby Wetmore, and several others operated alongside Bonnell, making this site an historic landmark of local medical practice and skill.
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