Place Description
208 Dorchester is a wood framed, Colonial Revival style influenced home located in an early settled section of Charlottetown that contains a number of heritage homes of various ages. It features a cantilevered and pedimented gable roof with a window set inside a projecting pointed arch. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.
Why is this place important?
The heritage value of 208 Dorchester Street lies in its Colonial Revival influenced architecture, its association with various Charlottetown residents, and its role in supporting the streetscape.
Although it is not clear when 208 Dorchester Street was constructed, it is likely that it was built around 1900. It is believed that prominent Island architect, Charles Benjamin Chappell designed the house. Ballingall's Directory for 1914 lists Edward Hogan, a lumber merchant, as residing at 208 Dorchester Street. Only six years later, the 3 November 1920 edition of the Guardian newspaper carried a for sale notice indicating that A.E. Hogan was selling his seven room cottage at 208 Dorchester Street. It is unclear when the home sold because it was soon back on the auction block. The 28 August 1923 edition of the Guardian listed the home in an auction notice which listed the owner of the home as Aubrey Brown. According to the notice, features of the home included all modern improvements, a frost-free cellar and a large garage.
208 Dorchester Street is Colonial Revival influenced in style. The Colonial Revival style came to Prince Edward Island as a result of the Island's familial and economic connections with New England, where the style emerged in the 1880s. It was based on North American models and was an effort to simplify and adapt the forms of earlier architectural styles to contemporary needs. A popular style in Charlottetown from approximately 1890 until 1940, 208 Dorchester Street's Colonial Revival influenced features include the pedimented cantilevered gable with bracketing, stacked bay windows and a verandah spanning the entire first floor facade. A well preserved home among a number of heritage homes, 208 Dorchester Street helps support the Dorchester Street streetscape.
Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
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Special Characteristics
The following Colonial Revival inspired character-defining elements contribute to the heritage value of 208 Dorchester Street:
- The overall massing of the building with its two and one half storeys
- The wooden shingle cladding
- The cross gabled roof
- The projecting gothic arch of the pedimented cantilevered gable
- The style and placement of the windows, including the grouped sash windows of the first floor facade, the symmetrically placed sash windows of the facade and the large stacked bay windows of the west side of the home
- The style and placement of the doors, including the off centre door
- The verandah that spans the entire facade of the house with its attractive bracketing, treillage, turned posts and balustrade
- The mouldings painted in a contrasting colour, including the cornice, the bracketing along the bottom of the cantilevered gable, the plain bargeboards and corner boards, the decorative detailing of the verandah and the door and window surrounds
- The size and placement of the chimney
Other character-defining elements include:
- The location of the building and its physical and visual relationship to its streetscape
