Description du lieu patrimonial

The house at 146 Central Street is a structure with interesting Queen Anne style features which give it a strong presence on a relatively small lot. These features include its verandah, corner tower, and irregular roofline. Located on the west side of Central Street one house up from Convent Street, it was constructed in 1908 for Leslie Wright whose father had built the house at 140 Central six years earlier. The registration includes the building and its lot.

Valeur patrimoniale

The house at 146 Central Street has heritage value because it was occupied by four generations of the Wright family from its construction in 1908 until the year 1992. It is also historically interesting because its original owner Leslie A. Wright was the son of Sheriff Dugald Wright who had built a similar large home on the lot next door in 1902. It also draws heritage value from its longstanding contribution to the historical streetscape of Central Street which was the main north/south thoroughfare for the first century of the town's existence.

The lot was purchased in May 1908 from Thomas C.P. Yeo, the same person who in 1902 had sold the adjoining lot at 140 Central to Leslie's father, Sheriff Dugald Wright. The lumber for both houses was brought to Summerside from the family's woodlot in Searletown. Leslie Wright was 39 years old when the house was built and was working as a commercial traveller, having earlier been in partnership with William McGougan in the mercantile firm of McGougan & Wright. In 1897, he had married Henrietta Russ, daughter of the proprietors of the Russ Hotel, which operated in Summerside from 1887 until it was lost in the 1906 fire.

Mr. and Mrs. Wright moved into their new home with three young children, John, Ernest and Jean. After her husband's death in 1912, Mrs. Etta Wright remained in the home. In 1934, Ernest married Sylvia Montgomery of Lower Bedeque and the couple lived in the house raising their only child, Marian. Ernest (Ike) Wright was a radio and electrical technician who ran his own business until 1945 when he joined with Ken Bell to form the radio and electrical contracting business of Wright & Bell Limited. His surname initial along with that of Arthur Rogers was used in the call letters of CJRW, the Summerside radio station launched by them in 1948. Mr. Wright died at age 49 in August 1952.

Over the next four decades, the residence was home to many family members as well as boarders. Marian Wright spent two years in the house after her marriage in 1961. She and her husband, who was in the RCAF, returned in 1970 with their four children, before being posted elsewhere in 1974. They returned once again in 1984 and kept the residence until 1990, two years after the death of Ernest Wright's widow Sylvina.

With its well preserved Queen Anne style elements and association with early residents of Summerside, the house continues to contribute to its streetscape.

Source: City of Summerside, Heritage Property Profiles

Éléments caractéristiques

The following character-defining elements illustrate the Queen Anne style heritage value of the house:

- the two-storey elevation
- the complex roof that combines a hipped roof with a gable roof and three sets of stacked bays that result in sloping in several directions
- the brick chimneys
- the asymmetrical arrangement of the features such as bays and doors
- the rounded corner bay with the conical roof
- the original fenestration of the windows and doors
- the veranda featuring doric columns, balusters and dentils
- the veranda roof with a small gable over the porch and modest portico at the east end
- the continuing contribution of the house to the historical Central Street streetscape