Description of Historic Place

105 Hillsborough Street is a wood framed Bracketted style home built for James Puncher, a local mason, in 1892. The home is located on a street that contains many heritage homes and is a very important part of the streetscape. The designation encompasses the building’s exterior and parcel; it does not include the building’s interior.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 105 Hillsborough Street lies in its association with celebrated triplets, the Puncher triplets; its Bracketted style architecture; and its contribution to the Hillsborough Street streetscape.

James Puncher Jr. and his wife, Hester, had the home built in 1892. The couple had seven children in all, but the most famous of the Puncher family would be the youngest three, a set of triplets. The "Puncher Triplets" would go on to become local celebrities.

Mary, Frank and Winnifred Puncher were born 13 May 1896. The babies were entered in a baby contest for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee year in 1897, where they won first prize. The family was awarded a silver mug and a folding mahogany bathtub. The triplets remained on Prince Edward Island and went on to live long lives. According to newspaper articles from 1976 and 1982, the Punchers were the oldest triplets in Canada and were reported to have appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records as Canada’s oldest triplets.

The Bracketted style emerged in the 1850s from the Italianate style and was reaching its zenith in popularity by 1890. Most homes of this style used paired or single brackets on either side of Italianate cornices above windows, doors, or under eaves and rooflines. In this case, the house also has elements such as bay windows which are common in other styles too such as Gothic Revival or Second Empire. This home is a well preserved example of the Bracketted style in the City and contributes to its streetscape.

Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
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Character-Defining Elements

The following Bracketted style character-defining elements illustrate the heritage value of 105 Hillsborough Street:
- The overall massing of the two storey building with wood shingle cladding
- The front gable plan
- The off centre placement and style of the doors. The door is a replacement door with a modern sidelight, however it may have replaced double doors.
- The pitch of the gable roof with its bracketted gables
- The style and placement of the chimney
- The placement and style of the windows, including the side bay window with its mansard roof and bracketted cornice and the double bay windows on the first and second storeys of the front facade with their bracketted cornice
- The mouldings painted in a contrasting colour, including the mouldings underneath the bay windows, the water board near the bottom of the first floor and the bracketted cornices over the windows and doors.
- The bay projections with Mansard and hipped style rooflines
- The brick foundation
- The location of the building on Hillsborough Street