Description of Historic Place

290 Fitzroy Street is a one storey, wood framed, Second Empire style home. Donald MacLeod, an employee of the PEI Railway, built it around 1878. The designation encompasses the building’s exterior and parcel; it does not include the building’s interior.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 290 Fitzroy Street lies in its Second Empire style architecture; its association with employees of the PEI Railway; and its importance to the Fitzroy Street streetscape.

Donald MacLeod was a joiner, or what is now known as a carpenter, for the Prince Edward Island Railway. He had lived in the home next door at 286-288 Fitzroy Street since the 1850s. Tax assessment records indicate that 290 Fitzroy was being constructed in 1878.

According to Provincial directories, it is clear that another railway man, Charles McGregor, lived in the home from at least as early as 1914 until the late 1920s. He worked as a checker for the railway. According to Might’s Directory of 1929-1930, James Carmody and his wife, Eileen lived at 290 Fitzroy Street. Carmody worked as a boilermaker. The home had a new tenant by the mid 1930s. T.G. Murphy, a “painter and decorator” lived in the home. Although there have been various owners throughout the years, the home remains a residence to this day.

The attractive home is Second Empire in its style. The style, which is identified through its Mansard roof, was named after François Mansart (1598-1666), and popularized by his son, Jules Hardoin Mansart, an architect who worked for France's King Louis XIV around 1700. The Mansard roof is almost flat on the top section and has deeply sloping, often curved, lower sections that generally contain dormers. The Second Empire referred to in the style is that of Napoleon III (1852-1870) of France. The style reached Canada through Britain and the United States and was used extensively throughout Charlottetown from approximately 1860 until 1880. 290 Fitzroy Street is a good example of the style in the City. Although renovated, it has retained some of its original details such as the dormers with their high gable roofs as well as the decorative dentils and hood mouldings over the door and windows. As a modest example of the Second Empire style, it helps support the Fitzroy Street 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 Second Empire influenced character-defining elements illustrate the heritage value of 290 Fitzroy Street:
- The massing of the building
- The symmetry of the facade
- The contrasting trim throughout the facade, including the decorative hoods with dentil detailing over the windows and doors
- The size and placement of the windows including the tall first floor windows and the smaller dormer windows
- The style and placement of the dormers with their high gable roofs
- The Mansard roof
- The size and placement of the chimney
Other character-defining elements include:
- The location of the building on Fitzroy Street
- The size and placement of the doors