Place Description
The pale yellow Wyatt House is located on Spring Street in the midst of the heritage district of the City of Summerside, PEI. Built in the year of Confederation, this house was home to one of Prince Edward Island's most distinguished citizens, Miss Wanda Lefurgey Wyatt. The designation includes the building and the surrounding property.
Why is this place important?
The Wyatt House is valued in the community of Summerside because of its connection to a number of significant local people. It was built in 1867 for Robert Alder Strong, a local merchant who later became Assistant Commissioner of Public Lands. The Hon. John Lefurgey, a shipbuilder, eventually purchased the property. The house later became home to Lefurgey's daughter, Cecelia, and her husband, J.E. (Ned) Wyatt around 1890. Ned Wyatt was a prominent local lawyer, Conservative MLA and Speaker of the House from 1912 to 1916. Three prime ministers of Canada were also guests of the family in this house - the Right Honourable Robert L. Borden, Arthur Meighan and R.B. Bennett. The house was eventually deeded to the Wyatt's daughters, Dorothy, an accomplished singer, and Wanda. Miss Wanda Wyatt was a graduate of McGill University, the first woman in PEI to study law, and an astute businesswoman. Ever dedicated to Prince Edward Island and its people, Miss Wyatt established the Wyatt Foundation in 1966, a charitable organisation that supports non-profit institutions across the Island. She died in her childhood home in 1998 at 102 years old.
The heritage value of the house is continued through its new life as an historic house museum that interprets the history of Summerside and Prince Edward Island through the life of Miss Wyatt and her family.
The house is also valued because of its construction. The earliest part of the house was typical of the gable-fronted Georgian style popular in the 1860's but features both Georgian and Classical Revival elements. Additions were made to the house in 1928 by noted Island architect, James Harris. These included the palladian style windows of the gables, the sunporch on the east elevation, and the decorative entrance porch or vestibule on the west elevation. These changes add to the heritage value of the home, as they reflect the family's taste and needs over the years.
Wanda Wyatt's diary describes the encounter with James Harris on April 4, 1928: "Mr. Harris the architect from Ch'town came up on the morning train and returned at 3:15 pm. He had lunch with us and talked over the plans for our renovations. He seems very pleasant and grasps our ideas readily, adding many suggestions. We went from the cellar to the attic. We were worn out when he left and had a little rest."
Source: City of Summerside Heritage Property Profile
Special Characteristics
This house is architecturally significant because it is a combination of styles, including:
- Original elements of Georgian style comprised of the shape of the main section and the layout of its windows on the second floor and their trim
- Original elements of Greek Revival style, namely the returned eaves
- Gothic Revival style dormer on the second floor ell section
- Queen Anne Revival features such as the paired bay windows on the main floor and the fan-shaped windows in the kitchen wing
- 1928 additions in keeping with the original Georgian and Greek Revival styles, including the Palladian windows in the attic gables, the six-panelled front door, the functional louvered shutters, and the front porch entrance with its Doric columns, fanlight and sidelights
- Wooden clapboard siding on all elevations of the house with the exception of the north, which has wooden shingles
