Description of Historic Place

25 Hillsborough Street is a wood framed Colonial Revival inspired house located on the corner of Hillsborough and King Streets. The building is one of a number of historic homes in the area, including a very similar home next door at 31 Hillsborough Street. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 25 Hillsborough Street lies in its Colonial Revival architecture, its association with the local Council of the Knights of Columbus, and its role in supporting the King and Hillsborough Street streetscapes.

25 Hillsborough Street was constructed in approximately 1909 for woodworker and foreman, Samuel Albert McDonald. A local newspaper described the home as a "neat cottage residence, well finished and comfortable". The same article named John Power as the builder of the residence. McDonald remained a resident of 25 Hillsborough Street for many years after its construction as the 1922, 1928 and 1935 telephone directories list him at the address.

According to an article in the 8 February 1989 edition of the Patriot newspaper, the Knights of Columbus used 25 Hillsborough Street as their meeting place for a time. Established in December 1903, the Charlottetown Council no. 824 of the Knights of Columbus was the first in the Maritimes. The fraternal service organization, which was incorporated in 1882 by Father Michael J. McGivney and a small group of his Connecticut parishioners, would grow to become the largest Roman Catholic fraternal service organization in the world.

25 Hillsborough Street is Colonial Revival influenced in style. The Colonial Revival style came to Prince Edward Island as a result of the Island's familial and economic connections with New England, where the Colonial Revival style emerged in the 1880s. The style was based on North American models and was an effort to simplify and adapt the forms of earlier architectural styles to contemporary needs. A popular style in Charlottetown from approximately 1890 until 1940, 25 Hillsborough Street's Colonial Revival influenced features include restrained Classical detailing, such as the Palladian windows and cornice, bay windows and two over one sash windows as well as a gabled roof.

A well maintained building among a number of well preserved heritage homes, 25 Hillsborough Street helps support the King and Hillsborough Street streetscapes.

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

The following Colonial Revival influenced character-defining elements contribute to the heritage value of 25 Hillsborough Street:

- The overall massing of the building with its two storeys
- The gable roof and gable roof dormer of the home's north side
- The style and symmetrical placement of the windows, including the centrally placed Palladian window in the gable, the large bay windows, the sash windows and the two over one sash windows of the porch
- The style and placement of the doors
- The simple mouldings painted in a contrasting colour, particularly the window and door surrounds
- The cornice and bracketing along the second storey roofline
- The belt courses and the simple bargeboards of the gable roof that together with the projecting roofline of the second storey form a pediment
- The enclosed porch that extends the length of the entire facade
- The size and placement of the chimney

Other character-defining elements include:

- The location of the home on the corner of Hillsborough Street and King Street