Description of Historic Place

This home is located on a quiet street in Alberton surrounded by hardwood trees. It is a variation of the Island Ell style, having a steeply pitched gable roof, a bay window, and two wall dormers with round arch windows in the ell.

Heritage Value

The house is valued for its Island Ell architectural style and for its association with the family of sea captain, William Larkin.

Captain William Larkin (1843-1922) and his wife, Barbara Profit (1842-1894), a sister of John T. Profit, had this residence constructed in 1873. They had four children: Wellington, Hammon (who was disabled from childhood), Annie, and Ella. Captain Larkin remarried after the death of Barbara. His second wife was Mary Anne Compton of Belle River, PEI.

Larkin was a sea captain and he once rescued a young man from Caraquet, New Brunswick, from a shipwreck. Bobby Gionet, returned home with Captain Larkin and remained with the family, taking care of Hammon Larkin. The oldest brother, Wellington, went to the Klondike Gold Rush at the turn of the 20th century. In gratitude for all that Bobby Gionet had done for his adopted family, Wellington sent home to him a custom-made suit with two pairs of pants as well as a watch and chain of Klondike gold. When Wellington returned to PEI in 1914, he added a kitchen and dining room to the house and rented it out.

His stepmother, Mrs. Mary Anne Larkin, kept boarders in this house. Tragically, two of them, Howard Hill and James Harris, both theology students, died in a tragic drowning accident on the Dunk River on July 18, 1928.

In 1943, the home was sold to Carl and Marion (Campbell) Weeks. They operated tourist cabins across the street from the home. The current owner purchased it in 1988 from the estate of Mrs. Carl Weeks.

Source: Culture and Heritage Division, PEI Department of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
File #: 4310-20/A35

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the house is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the wood-frame construction
- the one-and-one-half storey massing
- the modified Gable Ell style creating a cruciform footprint
- the steeply pitched gable roof
- the brick chimney
- the bay window
- the round arch windows, especially in the two wall dormers of the facade and in the peak of the front gable
- the location of the house on landscaped grounds with mature trees