Description of Historic Place

31 Hillsborough Street is a wood framed, Colonial Revival inspired dwelling located close to the street on a treed lot. The building is one of a number of historic homes in the area, including a very similar home next door at 25 Hillsborough Street. It helps support 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 31 Hillsborough Street lies in its Colonial Revival architecture and its role in supporting the streetscape.

31 Hillsborough Street is one of a number of Colonial Revival influenced homes in Charlottetown. 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 style emerged in the 1880s. It 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, 31 Hillsborough Street's Colonial Revival influenced features include restrained Classical detailing, such as the Palladian window and cornice, the bay windows and pedimented gable roof.

It is unclear who built 31 Hillsborough Street, but directories reveal that an employee of the Prince Edward Island Railway, Ernest McLaren, lived at the address from as early as 1914 until at least 1928. The exterior of the home has been well maintained and according to an article from the 8 February 1989 Patriot newspaper, the interior layout was largely intact. An attractive and well preserved home among a number of heritage homes, 31 Hillsborough Street helps support the Hillsborough Street streetscape.

Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
#1415

Character-Defining Elements

The following Colonial Revival influenced character-defining elements contribute to the heritage value of 31 Hillsborough Street:

- The overall massing of the building with its two storeys
- The gable roof
- The wood shingle cladding which changes at the peak above the Palladian window
- The style and symmetrical placement of the windows, including the centrally placed Palladian window in the gable, the bay windows and the sash windows
- 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 verandah 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 among several heritage buildings in its streetscape