Description of Historic Place

93 Weymouth Street is a wood framed, Second Empire style home built by James W. Butcher. The home is one of two very similar homes located side by side on Weymouth Street. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 93 Weymouth Street lies in its Second Empire influenced architecture and its importance to the Weymouth Street streetscape.

In 1878, James W. Butcher, a local builder built two Second Empire style companion houses on Weymouth Street. Unfortunately, Butcher ran into financial difficulty soon after he constructed the homes. By November 1878, 93 and its companion 101 Weymouth Street were assigned to a trustee to secure the loans of creditors. It was not long before Premier W.W. Sullivan purchased the homes, however he did not keep them in his possession for long and they were soon sold. Margaret H. Walker McCormack and Henry Pope Welsh were two of the owners until 1915. The homes were rented out to various tenants throughout the years.

93 Weymouth Street was used both as an apartment building and an office throughout its history. The Prince Edward Island Telephone Directory of 1928 reveals that M.P. Hogan, a local builder and merchant, had his office located in the building. A later occupant, according to the 1935 Telephone Directory, was D.J. Macdonald.

Butcher had chosen the Second Empire style for his homes. The style is readily identified through its Mansard roof, which was named after François Mansart (1598-1666), and popularized by his son, Jules Hardoin Mansart, an architect who worked for Louis XIV around 1700. The Mansard roof is almost flat on the top section and has deeply sloping, often curved, lower sections that generally contain dormers. The Second Empire referred to in the style is that of Napoleon III (1852-1870). The style reached Canada through Britain and the United States and was used extensively throughout Charlottetown from approximately 1860 until 1880. 93 Weymouth is a good example of the Second Empire style in Charlottetown.

93 Weymouth Street, along with its companion house 101 Weymouth Street, has been well kept and together they make a strong visual impact on a street that has lost much of its heritage character. The building plays a large role in supporting the streetscape.

Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
#1635

Character-Defining Elements

The following Second Empire influenced character-defining elements contribute to the heritage value of 93 Weymouth Street:
- The overall massing of the building
- The wooden cladding
- The mouldings painted in a contrasting colour, particularly the door and window surrounds, the brackets along the eaves, the corner boards, as well as the pendant details and brackets, on the projecting roof over the front door
- The Mansard roof with its gabled dormers on the Weymouth Street side and the shed dormer on the south side
- The size and placement of the windows, particularly the bay window, the paired windows and the arched windows of the dormers
- The size and off centre placement of the door with its transom light above
- The interesting shingles of the roof
Other character-defining elements of 93 Weymouth Street include:
- The location of the home set close to the street next to its companion home at 101 Weymouth Street