Place Description
This renovated Georgian style house features a stuccoed exterior with symmetrical facade with central entrance, transom and sidelights, bay windows, and a gable roof. Substantial additions have been made to the original structure.
Why is this place important?
The house is valued for its Georgian architectural style elements and for its association with John B. Stewart.
The original section of this large house was constructed in 1852 by John B. Stewart from brick made in the kilns of his property. The house was part of what was known as Balahan Farm and was established in 1808. The farm was named after Ballechin in Perthshire, Scotland, where the Stewarts had ancestors. John B. Stewart's great-grandfather was Chief Justice Peter Stewart (1725-1805), who had settled in Lot 48 in 1775.
John B. Stewart married Elizabeth Dewar in 1885 and renamed the property "Montrose Farm". It remained in the Stewart family until 1929, when it was purchased by Dr. J.P. Lantz, a Charlottetown physician, who used it as his summer residence. It was the Lantz family who first stuccoed the brick exterior in 1940. They also added a small addition to the side of the main house.
The property was then owned by Jack and Joan Brown in 1966. They sold it to the current owner in 1984. Substantial additions were added in 1998 giving the home its current appearance.
It remains an important reminder of one of the earliest residents of Stratford and is important as a house originally constructed of locally made brick.
Source: Culture and Heritage Division, PEI Department of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
File #: 4310-20/S16
Special Characteristics
The heritage value of the house is shown in the following character-defining elements:
- the two-and-one-half storey brick construction
- the symmetrical facade
- the central entrance with transom and sidelights
- the gable roof
- the brick chimneys
- the bay windows
- the stuccoed exterior
- the extensive additions to the side and back of the original house
