Description of Historic Place

186 Prince Street is a wood framed, Colonial Revival influenced, former home that was converted into a restaurant in the mid 20th Century. It features a decorative bracketted eave, projecting bracketted window hood mouldings, and stacked canted bay windows. It stands among a number of heritage homes and businesses. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 186 Prince Street lies in its association with various Charlottetown residents; its Colonial Revival influenced architecture; and its role in supporting the Prince Street streetscape.

186 Prince Street was constructed in 1894 by builders, Thomas and Benjamin Seller for Rev. Dr. Richard Johnson (1830-1903). He was a prominent Methodist minister in Charlottetown and also a medical doctor, educated at Harvard Medical School from which he graduated in 1865. He later served as the influential health officer for the City. Dr. Johnson's son, Arthur S. Johnson, was a pharmacist who worked with his father and lived in the home early in its history. Arthur would later go on to establish a drug store with his brother, Richard MacKay Johnson, called Johnson and Johnson. It was located next door on the corner of Kent and Prince. Although it is not clear when Arthur S. Johnson moved out of 186 Prince Street, according to the 1900 Prince Edward Island Directory, his mother was then residing in the home.

In the 20th Century, Allison MacLeod and later, Roy Strang owned the home. Strang lived upstairs and operated a successful restaurant on the main floor, called the Windmill, for many years. A later restaurant to occupy the space was the Casa Mia.

The former home is a good example of a Colonial Revival style home in the City. 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, 186 Prince Street's Colonial Revival influenced features include the stacked bay window, the bracketed cornice, the pedimented gable roofed porch and the projecting hood mouldings above the windows of the facade.

Due to its architectural style and its historical associations, the building continues to contribute 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 Colonial Revival influenced character-defining elements contribute to the heritage value of 186 Prince Street:

- The overall massing of the building with its two and one half storeys
- The asymmetrical façade
- The wood exterior with mouldings painted in a contrasting colour, including the window surrounds, the brackets at the top of the windows supporting the projecting window hood mouldings, the corner boards, and the pediment atop the porch
- The gable roof with gable end facing the street with its bracketted eaves
- The style and placement of the windows, particularly the stacked canted bay windows, the sash window of the second floor and the small window within the apex of the gable
- The size and off centre placement of the door leading into the gable roofed porch

Other character-defining elements include:

- The location of the building on Prince Street and its physical and visual relationship to its streetscape