Description du lieu patrimonial

45 Lewis Point Road is a two storey wood framed farmhouse with Gothic Revival style influences. The home was originally part of a large farm, with a spectacular view of the North River. In recent years, the land around the home has been developed into residential housing. The designation encompasses the building's exterior and parcel; it does not include the building's interior.

Valeur patrimoniale

The heritage value of 45 Lewis Point Road lies in its role as one of the early farms of the Charlottetown Royalty; its Gothic Revival style influences; and its association with various prominent Islanders.

George Mabey, was a Loyalist who came to PEI in 1784 via Shelburne, Nova Scotia. In the Revolutionary War, he served as a sergeant in the Seventeenth Regiment of Light Dragoons - the "Death or Glory Boys". He received 200 acres of land in Bedeque, PEI for his service - but later moved his family to Charlottetown in 1799. His son, Paul, would find his future in the Island's capital.

Paul Mabey (1786-1863) became a prominent merchant, politician and militia officer. He owned the land on which 45 Lewis Point Road was built, as well as a number of properties in and around Charlottetown. The December 1899 issue of the Prince Edward Island Magazine indicates that he inherited this property from his former employer, Charlottetown merchant and shipbuilder, Benjamin Evans (1750-1825). Another former clerk of Evans, Robert Hodgson, also inherited property. Both Mabey and Hodgson were active in promoting reform of the Island's land tenure system when they served in the Legislative Assembly and they resisted the obstructionist and paranoid tactics of the unpopular Governor Charles Douglas Smith.

When Paul Mabey died on 21 March 1863 at the Pownal Point home of his favourite niece, Bethia (Wood) Tweedy, Bethia and her husband, farmer, George Wood inherited a number of his lots in the Charlottetown Royalty. The couple built 45 Lewis Point Road and moved to the area in approximately 1870. The Tweedy family ran a successful farm from the property well into the twentieth century.

Located in a primarily late twentieth century residential area, 45 Lewis Point Road stands out among its more modern neighbours. Originally, it was one of a few homes built in what was referred to as the Charlottetown Royalty. The Royalty had been set-aside in the 1770s to provide farmland for the early citizens of Charlottetown. In time, a number of families of some wealth and prestige established estates there, the properties serving either as their principal residences or as semi-rural retreats.

A well kept example of a farmhouse in the former Charlottetown Royalty; 45 Lewis Point Road is influenced by the Gothic Revival style. The style was popular from the 1840s until the 1870s on Prince Edward Island. Architects like A.J. Downing popularized the Gothic Revival movement through their pattern books. The centre gable form of the Gothic Revival influenced home is seen most often in rural areas on Prince Edward Island. The Gothic Revival house is generally a wood framed, rectangular home with a large front centre gable. The homes are usually symmetrical with decorative bargeboard, although 45 Lewis Point Road is a cleaner design and does not have bargeboard decoration. Although a modern addition has been built on to the west side of the 1870s home, the older section has retained many of its original attributes.

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

The following Gothic Revival influenced character-defining elements contribute to the heritage value of 45 Lewis Point Road:

- The overall massing of the 1870s era home with its two storeys
- The wood shingle cladding
- The centre gable roof design
- The style and placement of the windows, particularly the symmetrically placed tall sash windows of the main floor and the paired windows located in the centre gable
- The style and placement of the doors, particularly the centrally placed door of the facade that leads into a gable roof porch
- The size and placement of the brick chimney

Other character-defining elements include:

- The location of the home facing the North River