One morning we set out to see the opposite side of town from the area in which we were staying. We started downtown, then made a large counter-clockwise loop around
Victoria Park, coming back along the harbor. Downtown presents a bit of a catch-all in terms of development and architecture. While Queen Street contains a number of relatively well cared-for historic buildings, the commercial center is harder to describe.
Around the corner from Brits a hotel/shopping mall ties together most of a block.
While it may not appear so from this view, the hotel tower has a large atrium/mall space at its base that connects into the backs of the smaller retail buildings.
Given Charlottetown’s winter climate, a gathering space like this can be a valuable resource for a community; but I would think that given that climate, more daylighting would also be desirable.
A half a block away a more contemporary office building anchors another block.
This one had three personalities;
but I like the architect’s willingness to deal directly with the climate,
even though Charlottetown’s non-ordinal street grid made that a challenge.
From here it was a fairly quick transition to smaller retail and residential. This particular example maintains a nice mix and balance of the two; and the brick helps to anchor the more major street as a defining element for the residential area behind.
Many of these homes, being so close to downtown, are now apartments, or, as in this case, Bed and Breakfast hotels.
There were a number of stone churches in Charlottetown – and in most of the towns we visited, even the small ones like Caraquet.
Another block or so brought us to a hospital complex.
It felt heavy for this residential area but at least it stepped back from the street and was reasonably landscaped. Beyond it an obviously wealthier residential zone came back;
and the reason was obvious – across the street Victoria Park opened up a view. We walked down through the park, consisting in this area of sports fields and then a kids play area closer to the outer harbor.
The area along the water felt very English to us – neat and cared for – and beyond it,
a more suburban type of housing, in both size and spaciousness. The rocks used for shoreline reinforcement were the distinctive PEI red rock, whereas on the other side
of the drive, the hand of man was clearly evident.
Rounding the corner back towards downtown, we got a good overview.
Given that we were having summer in October, it was hard to visualize all this water frozen solid as it would be in January. A little farther along, another sign of civilization,
leading to the Lieutenant Governor’s House.
I thought the arms of Canada made a nice addition to the story.
I shot this picture of a map of the settlement city to give a sense of scale. We’re at the red dot on the left side of the map, across an inlet from town.
Here’s an early view, with a bridge across the inlet in the foreground.
And here, the current view.
The symmetrical entrance facade faces formally out to the harbor,
though that formality does not carry around to the side facing the garden, which is clearly comfortable, informal, and domestic in scale.
The house is very much in use and not open to the public; but the grounds, including a lovely garden, are available.
This garden had a kind of informal formality that seemed appropriate to this part of the world. The designer had fun adding points of interest;
but there was a nice mix of sculpture and plantings as focal points. Neither one overwhelmed the other; and the paths were all grass with soft edges.
There was, of course, the occasional indulgence with exotica;
but when all was said and done, it was easy to see how accommodating the garden and this side of the mansion were to each other.
We headed back past the house, down the drive, through the gate, and across the inlet for a look at how the merchant class lived by comparison.
James and Edith Peake had Beaconsfield built based on James’ wealth from building classic, fast merchant sailing ships. Unfortunately he didn’t foresee the impact that steam driven shipping would have; nor could he anticipate the disaster of shipyard fire.
As a result, the Peakes lived only a short time in the house before having to sell it. It passed through several owners, including a girls’ school, before becoming part of the PEI Museums’ collection. We took a tour, starting with then entrance hall where we waited for one of the staff to guide us around. This period of the 19th century was very much into decoration and pattern-making; and the tile entry floor was no exception.
On the other hand, there often was only casual concern for how various patterned surfaces should be designed in relation to each other. Here’s the entry wallpaper,
and the glass in the front door.
Each element shows the craft skills available; but the hand of an overall designer seems to me to be missing. Here’s a tour of some of the other rooms.
Beaconsfield – Living Room
Some of the technology, such as radiators, was new, and probably appreciated in Charlottetown’s winters; but electricity was brought in later in the history of the house.
Beaconsfield – Dining Room
It goes almost without saying that each room was considered to have its own character. The carved cove moulding and chandelier fan were clearly done together.
Beaconsfield – Dining Room Chandelier
The kitchen and pantries occupied a significant amount of space.
Beaconsfield – Kitchen Prep Area
Beaconsfield – Cast Iron Stove
This comfortable family room, with its south-facing bay windows, looks as if it was the indoor center of gravity of the house.
Beaconsfield – Upstairs Family Room
Beaconsfield – one of James Peake’s clipper designs
It must have been a total shock to be designing beautiful sailing ships when the disruptive steam-powered merchant vessels showed up and took over.
Beaconsfield – Bed Room
I was pleasantly surprised when our guide made the tower room available.
Beaconsfield – 3rd Floor Tower Room
Through the center window above you’re looking directly out to the outer entrance of the outer harbor – a key point of view for watching shipping traffic.
yellow dot shows the location of Beaconsfield in relation to downtown
This map also shows the four green squares and relatively open civic square in the center of town that give the city its planning framework.
Beaconsfield Porch
The view from the main floor porch also looks over the harbor but in a definitely more domestic scale and treatment. Around the corner, the porch took us to the exit.
From this neighborhood of well-built historic mansions,
we worked our way back downtown, both along the water and inland. I’m not sure why so many of the walkways through the grass were made of wood.
After several jigs and jogs in the walkway route, we came to the convention center, with its ‘wave theme’ roof.
It did have some nice amenities in addition to marina parking, such as this garden.
Right next door was the cruise ship port.
And next door to that, the cruise ship tourist entertainment zone,
with, you guessed it, shopping and food.
There were also boat ride tours and other water-related activities.
We didn’t spend much time here – other than to buy a hat to shade my eyes from the October summer sun – but continued our loop. Just down from the harbor was the remnant of another bygone technology, the old railroad terminal.
There’s still (very modest) train service to Halifax, but not here. Our loop took us back through the park near our B and B,
and a small public art installation – intention not all that clear.
To the west, we discovered another well-to-do neighborhood near downtown.
Once again, may of these former mansions have been converted to apartments or small hotels – not a bad use actually, given their convenient locations.
And keeping them economically viable also enables keeping the physically up to date.
Back in the center of town we spent a little time in an in-town church.
And then walked down one of Charlottetown’s pleasant streets back to our B and B.
Next time – a short visit to the north shore of PEI
Travel Design Impressions 