Place Description
On the east side of lower Central Street stands the large Colonial Revival style white house that was for many years the local Presbyterian Manse. It was designed by Charlottetown architect C.B. Chappell in 1911 in the wake of the Summerside's Great Fire of 1906. The registration includes the building and its lot.
Why is this place important?
The house at 75 Central Street was the home of numerous Presbyterian Church ministers for a span of almost seven decades. For that reason it has significant historical interest. It has further heritage value as a building designed by prominent architect Charles Benjamin Chappell and for its contribution to the historic streetscape.
In 1911, the congregation of the Summerside Presbyterian Church appointed a building committee to oversee the construction of a new manse or residence for its minister. The site selected was a lot on Central Street left vacant after A.C. Rogers lost his home in the Great Fire of 1906. It was situated in a very desirable location just around the corner from the Presbyterian Church on North Market Street.
The committee engaged the services of Charlottetown architect Charles B. Chappell to draw up the plans for a two-and-one-half storey house. The building contract was awarded to local firm M.F. Schurman Company Limited and work began in July of 1911. The handsome manse was considered to be very modern with the latest conveniences of plumbing and hot water heating and was enhanced with open fireplaces and a ground floor study for the minister. The structure became strongly associated in the minds of generations of Summerside citizens as The Presbyterian Manse. The building was sold in 1979 after the congregation acquired newer premises on Victoria Road in proximity to the new church.
After that date, the house was used for a combination of residential and commercial purposes. It changed owners several times before it was purchased in 1991 by the Central Street Christian Church, which is located on the adjoining lot to the north. It then housed the East Prince Women's Information Centre from 1991 to 2000. In 1995, it also became the home of the Kids R First Family Resource Centre, which was formed under the Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The organization assumed total occupancy of the house in 2001 and changed its name in 2006 to the Family Place Resource Centre.
As an example of the work of one of PEI's historic architects and for its association with the religious heritage of Summerside, the property continues to contribute to its streetscape.
Source: City of Summerside, Heritage Property Profile
Special Characteristics
The heritage value is represented through the following character-defining elements:
- the two-and-one-half storeys
- the hipped roof
- the large chimney rising from the centre of the building
- the central dormer window on the west (front) elevation and a second dormer centred on the south elevation
- the central shed-roofed entrance underneath a bay window extending to the substantial eave overhang
- the palladian style window in central dormer
- the row of fine dentils around the entablature of the front porch
- the symmetrical window placement on the west elevation
- the stacked bays of the south façade
- the second floor windows extending to the soffit
- its continuing contribution to the historic Central Street streetscape for almost a century
