Description of Historic Place

93 Pownal Street is a three storey brick office building that was originally built as a private residence. The Georgian inspired facade has a symmetrical arrangement of windows. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.

Heritage Value

93 Pownal Street is valued as a well preserved example of a former brick house with Georgian and Italianate influences in the City; for its association with former residents of the City; and for its role in supporting the Pownal Street streetscape.

Patrick Cadden built a brick house at the 93 Pownal Street address in 1855. The house was sold in 1866 to tobacconist, Philip Coyle. A local newspaper, the Islander, reported on a fire that destroyed Philip Coyle's house on Pownal Street and an adjoining house owned by Michael Treanor in 1868. The newspaper did not identify Coyle's house as brick constructed, but it was likely the same home at 93 Pownal Street which had burned. The 1878 Topographical Map of Charlottetown shows the present brick house at the 93 Pownal Street location so if indeed the home was completely destroyed in 1868, then it had been rebuilt by the late 1870s.

Eventually, the house was inherited by Coyle's daughter, Bridget Coyle and her husband Michael Duffy. The Duffy family would own it until at least the early 1980s. At some point, the building was converted into an office building. A well maintained building that looks much as it did when it was a private home, it helps support the Pownal Street streetscape.

93 Pownal Street is Georgian influenced in style but also shows some Italianate inspiration. The Georgian style is one of the most common architectural styles on Prince Edward Island. It emerged from 18th Century Britain and was intent on expressing confidence, order and balance. Combined with the brick exterior of this building, the result was intended to impress. 93 Pownal Street's Georgian features include the symmetrical facade with five bays, a central doorway with and transom light. The Italianate style was a more decorative style reminiscent of the Venetian arcades of the Renaissance period. Italianate influences can be seen in the slightly arched windows of the main floor, the low sloping roof and the stone band design near the roof.

Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2
#1579

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements contribute to the Georgian and Italianate influenced heritage value of 93 Pownal Street:

- The overall square massing of the building and its symmetrical facade
- The three storeys
- The flat roof
- The brick construction
- The stone mouldings including the decorative door surround with columns, the slightly curved lintels of the main floor and the flat stone lintels of the second floor, the sills, the beltcourse and the banding across the top of the building
- The size and placement of the sash windows which get progressively smaller from the bottom to the top of the building
- The size and central placement of the door

Other character-defining elements include:

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