Description of Historic Place

57 Queen Street is located in the historically commercial area of Queen Street. The Hyndman building is a four storey, brick, Italianate influenced, commercial building built after the Great Fire of 1866. The designation encompasses the building’s exterior and parcel; it does not include the building’s interior.

Heritage Value

57 Queen Street’s historic value resides in its association with the commercial activity of Queen Street, its association with prominent citizen F.W. Hyndman and its contribution to a nineteenth century streetscape.

In the wake of the Great Fire of 1866, property owners were encouraged to rebuild using brick. W.R. Watson, druggist, and Alexander Mackenzie, confectioner, were two who obliged. Designed by prominent Halifax architect, David Stirling, the resulting Victoria Building was Charlottetown's first four-story brick structure. Silas Bernard was the project foreman and Charles Heartz was the mason. Mackenzie sold his part of the building in the 1870s but remained as a tenant until 1889 when the premises he rented were sold to Robert Angus of the Telephone Company of Prince Edward Island. Watson's drugstore sold its portion of the building to the telephone company in the same year.

In 1895, Frederick W. Hyndman (1841-1943), founder of the insurance firm Hyndman and Company, purchased the property and renamed it the Hyndman Building. A fascinating man, Hyndman joined the Admiralty Survey of the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence when he was 15, where he acted as assistant to Captain John Orlebar. Hyndman was then accepted to the Royal Navy at age 17 but was returned to the survey. On his various tours, he visited the Mediterranean and the West Indies, however in 1869, he contracted malaria and returned to Charlottetown. Hyndman retired from the Navy in 1870 due to ill health, however he remained active and went on to serve as Marshall of the Vice-Admiralty Court, Secretary to the Board of Commissioners of the PEI Railway (1871-1873) and Provincial Auditor (1876-1879). On August 16, 1872, he established the insurance company, St Lawrence Marine Underwriters, which would later become Hyndman and Company Limited. The company still operates successfully to this day.

The Hyndman Building helps to anchor a streetscape featuring a range of 19th century commercial architecture. Queen Street has been a centre of business activity since the community's founding.

Location of the Supporting Documentation: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown PE, C1A 7K2. Heritage Database Record # 1361

Character-Defining Elements

The following character defining elements contribute to the Italianate influenced heritage value of the building:

- the large storefront windows with transom lights
- the position, size, and configuration of the paired round-headed windows on the second, third, and fourth floors
- the decorative bracket detailing and the size and shape of the brickwork
- the flat roof and the size and shape of the two chimneys on the north side of the building
- the building's presence as part of a 19th Century commercial streetscape