Description of Historic Place

243 Richmond Street is a wood framed Georgian inspired home located on the corner of Richmond and Hillsborough Street. It features a large wall dormer and a symmetrical arrangement of windows in the facade. The house is in a residential area with a number of heritage homes and overlooks the historic Hillsborough Square. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 243 Richmond Street lies in its association with various Charlottetown residents; its Georgian influenced architecture; and its role in supporting the streetscape.

243 Richmond Street was built at some point in the mid 19th Century. Little is known about the house, but it appears on the 1863 Lake Map of the City. The 28 January 1944 edition of the Guardian newspaper carried an auction notice for 243 Richmond Street and the neighbouring house at 237 Richmond Street. Both properties had belonged to the late Margaret and Catherine Ross, and Harriet I. Wheatley was the administrator of the estate. By 3 February of the same year, the Guardian reported that both homes and all their contents were sold for 3000 dollars to the Wheatley Bros. of East Royalty.

Although the house has been added to on its west side altering its shape, it appears to have originally been Georgian inspired. 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. The home's Georgian features include a gable roof, symmetrical massing and simple mouldings. One of the earliest homes in the area, 243 Richmond Street helps support both the Richmond Street and Hillsborough Street streetscapes.

243 Richmond Street was built in a fashionable area of the 1860s and 1870s near the Hillsborough Square. The Square is one of five located within the City of Charlottetown laid out in 1771. Residents of the area took pride in the appearance of their square and in the 1860s, asked City Council for permission to enclose it with a fence and plant ornamental trees. It was often used for band concerts and contained a flagpole. Interestingly, residents sometimes allowed their cows or horses to graze within its borders. Although the days when it was used as a pasture are long over, the Hillsborough Square is still a green space and contains playground equipment and paths.

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

The following character-defining elements contribute to the heritage value of 243 Richmond Street:

- The overall rectangular massing of the building
- The wood shingle exterior, particularly the decorative fishscale shingles in the gable facing Hillsborough Street
- The simple wood mouldings painted in a contrasting colour, including the window and door surrounds, the cornerboards and the scrolled brackets that support the small canopy roof over the front door
- The gable roof with a central gabled wall dormer on the facade
- The size and symmetrical placement of the sash windows, including the four sash windows of the main floor, the five windows of the second floor, the window of the central wall dormer, and the grouped windows of the Hillsborough Street or east side
- The size and centre placement of the door with its transom light and hipped canopy roof above
- The size and placement of the brick chimney
- The large addition on the west side of the house

Other character-defining elements include:

- The location of the home on the corner of Richmond Street and Hillsborough Street and its physical and visual relationship to its streetscape