Description of Historic Place

100-102 Queen Street is a large, Italianate-Commercial influenced, stone and brick building located on Queen Street in a traditionally commercial part of Charlottetown. The designation encompasses the building’s exterior and parcel; it does not include the building’s interior.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 100-102 Queen Street lies in its Italianate-Commercial architecture, its association with the Full family businesses, its association with the Prowse Bros. business and its importance to the Queen Street streetscape.

Merchant, George Full had the building constructed in 1874. The choice of the Italianate influenced commercial building style was a popular one at the time. It was considered more fireproof than the wooden structures it invariably replaced. The design was also more decorative, its round arch windows and recessed storefronts evocative of the Venetian arcades of the Renaissance period. Today, the building remains one of the City's best preserved examples of the style.

George Full occupied one shop and his brother, Charles, occupied the other. George Full sold various items including clothing and boots. An 1888 advertisement for George Full’s business indicated that he could be found on Queen Street “at the sign of the lion”.

The building later changed hands and the Hon. Lemuel E. Prowse, merchant and politician (1858-1925) purchased the building. He began his dry goods business here in the 1880s. His brother Hon. Benjamin C. Prowse (1862-1930) became a junior partner. Prowse Bros. sold a variety of items including mens' wear, carpets, boots and shoes. The store would later grow and expand to dominate this section of the block until it closed its doors in the 1960s.

Both active in politics, the Prowse brothers served in public office on a number of occasions. Lemuel E. Prowse was elected twice to the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly. His brother, Benjamin C. Prowse was Mayor of Charlottetown from 1908-1910. He was later appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier on 5 May 1911 and remained there until his death in 1930.

100-102 Queen Street is still commercial in nature, housing both a restaurant and a store. The building is located within a line of brick and stone Italianate-commercial buildings on Queen Street, one of the most important and well-preserved historic streets in Charlottetown. Extremely well preserved, 100-102 Queen Street compliments and helps support the Queen Street streetscape.

Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
#1533

Character-Defining Elements

The following Italianate-Commercial character-defining elements illustrate the heritage value of 100-102 Queen Street:
- The overall massing of the building and its symmetrical facade
- The style and placement of the brick and stone throughout the facade, including the various brick and freestone decorative mouldings and detailing. The decorative parapet on the roof, as well as the label surround with corbels and keystones are particularly striking details.
- The placement and style of the windows, including the large plate glass storefront windows with transom lights and the arched two over two windows of the second and third floors
- The placement and style of the doors, particularly the doors of the storefronts
- The two storefronts with sign bands, large plate glass windows, recessed doorways with transom lights and large awnings.
- The flat roof with decorative parapet
Other character-defining elements of the 100-102 Queen are:
- The location of the building on Queen Street