Description of Historic Place

166 Weymouth Street is a wood framed house with Classical Revival style influences located near historic King Square. The building is one of a series of well maintained heritage homes on 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 166 Weymouth Street lies in its Classical Revival influenced architecture and its role in supporting the Weymouth Street streetscape.

It is unclear when the home was built, but it appears on its site on the map of Charlottetown in Meacham's Illustrated Historical Atlas of Prince Edward Island for 1880. According to local directories, J.F. McAleer lived at the home for a time.

166 Weymouth Street is influenced by the Classical Revival style of architecture. The Classical Revival style was the result of further study of Greek original forms. Pattern books, such as those by architect and writer, Asher Benjamin, made the architectural vocabulary available to all builders. The style influenced Canadian architecture the most of any of the architectural styles and is often found in public buildings but was also used in private dwellings in a more subdued fashion. Features of the style include symmetrical massing, simple trim, wide entablatures and a gable end that often faces the street. Together, the gable end and strong corner boards combined, form a temple front effect evocative of Greek temples. On a street with a number of heritage homes, 166 Weymouth helps support the streetscape.

The home faces onto historic King Square. King Square was one of four public squares laid out in the 1771 plan of Charlottetown by Governor Walter Patterson and Surveyor Thomas Wright. The area nearby remains residential and originally included light industry and a manufacturing community.

Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
#0003k

Character-Defining Elements

The following Classical Revival style influenced character-defining elements illustrate the heritage value of 166 Weymouth Street:
- The massing of the home
- The wooden siding and the decorative fish scale shingles in the pediment of the verandah's hipped roof
- The mouldings painted in a contrasting colour, particularly the window and door surrounds, the belt course, the corner boards, the plain entablatures and the columns and pediment of the verandah
- The gable roofline with gable end facing the street
- The style and placement of the windows, particularly the tall windows of the main and second floors and the grouped palladian derivative windows in the gable
- The size and placement of the doors, particularly the off centre paneled door
- The size and shape of the verandah that spans the width of the facade with its columns and pediment clad in fish scale shingles
Other character-defining elements of 166 Weymouth Street include:
- The location of the home on Weymouth Street near King Square with large, very old trees out front