Description of Historic Place
14 Upper Prince Street is a wood framed one-and-one-half storey house. Its features include a large verandah, symmetrical facade and centre dormer. Located among a number of heritage houses, it was part of an exclusive neighbourhood in Charlottetown. Once named Haviland Lane for the prominent Haviland family who owned a great deal of property in the area, the name of the street was later changed to Upper Prince Street. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of 14 Upper Prince Street lies in its association with prominent members of Charlottetown society and its role in supporting the Upper Prince Street streetscape.
Although it is unclear when 14 Upper Prince Street was constructed, it is known that well-known Islander, Thomas Heath Haviland sold the land to George R. Goodman in 1853. Whether the house was on the property at this point is unknown, but it appears as early as 1869 on the Newbery Plan of Charlottetown.
George R. Goodman was a Member of the Legislative Council and Assembly, a merchant, Justice of the Peace, the Collector of Customs and the Surveyor of Shipping. He died in 1870, however the house appears to have remained in the family until 1900, when it was sold to Joseph Theodore Lantz for $1300.00.
Lantz was born in 1859 in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. He was involved in a lobster packing business in Eldon, and later became a partner in the firm of Gill and Lantz, manufacturing agents. In 1925, Lantz passed away while working in the garden at 14 Upper Prince Street. Later in 1939, his widow, Elizabeth "Bessie" (Murchison) Lantz sold two plots of land on the property to Roderick Gillis and to Charles Newsom respectively.
Bessie Lantz died in approximately July of 1950. She left the house and contents to her son, Joseph Pulsifer Lantz, who sold it to his twin sister, Florence Lantz Conrad for $4000.00 in 1951. After Florence's death, the deed for 14 Upper Prince Street went to her husband, Major Frank Benjamin Conrad. He would sell the house to William and Pearle Tomilson in 1969.
Located among a number of heritage buildings of a variety of ages, 14 Upper Prince Street helps to support the streetscape.
Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
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Character-Defining Elements
The heritage value of the house is shown in the following character-defining elements:
- the overall one-and-one-half storey massing of the building
- the wood shingle cladding
- the gable roof with hipped dormer
- the style, size and shape of the doors particularly the front wood panel door with its sidelights
- the hipped roof portico over the main entrance
- the style, size and shape of the wooden windows
- the style and shape of the brick chimneys
- the size and shape of the verandah with decorative columns
