Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse
Heritage Lighthouse
Victoria, Prince Edward Island
Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse
(© Fisheries and Oceans Canada | Pêches et Océans Canada, 2024)
Address :
Birch Point Road, Victoria, Prince Edward Island
Recognition Statute:
Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act (S.C. 2008, c 16)
Designation Date:
2025-01-29
Dates:
-
1894 to 1894
(Construction)
-
1894 to 1894
(Established)
Description of Historic Place
Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse is a 9.75 metres (32 feet) tapered, wooden tower designed to guide vessels into Victoria Harbour from the Northumberland Strait. The lighthouse is located along the shoreline at the end of Beach Light Road, approximately 1.25 kilometres west-southwest of Victoria, Prince Edward Island.
Heritage Value
The Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse is a heritage lighthouse because of its historical, architectural, and community values.
Historical values
Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse is a very good example of the development of the aids to navigation system in Prince Edward Island. It is one of a pair of Wrights Range lighthouses and one of six range lighthouses near Victoria Harbour, all dating to the mid-to-late 19th century. It stands as an example of the second generation of lighthouses built in PEI in the era after Confederation. The lighthouse is named for its original keeper Charles L. Wright, on whose land it was built. The lighthouse supported Victoria Harbour’s role as a key shipping outlet for the southwestern part of the island. In 1986 the lighthouse was moved a short distance due to shoreline erosion.
Architectural values
Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse is a simple, but well executed, example of a square, tapered wooden tower. In this respect, it represents a modest, utilitarian style typical of the Department of Marine during this time, particularly in PEI. This so-called pepper-pot form was favoured as towers of this kind were economical to construct and easy to maintain. The lack of a separate lantern, with the light instead visible through a sea-facing window, is unusual. It is notable for this distinctive attribute and its use of the traditional red and white Canadian lighthouse colours.
Community values
Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse reinforces the maritime character of its surroundings. Although outside the formal boundaries of the community, the lighthouse is associated with the community of Victoria. Part of a pair of range lights, it is also one of a broader ensemble of range lighthouses and lights associated with Victoria and its maritime history
Related buildings
No related buildings are included in the designation.
Character-Defining Elements
The following character-defining elements of the Wrights Rear Range Lighthouse should be respected:
— its location west-southwest of Victoria, Prince Edward Island;
— its intact, as-built structural wood form, height, square footprint and tapered profile, and balanced proportions;
— its superimposed square platform supported by metal brackets and surrounded by metal railing;
— its traditional red and white exterior colour scheme, consisting of a white tower with a vertical red stripe on its side as well as red window frame, gallery railing, and roof;
— its exterior walls covered with wood shingle;
— its sole entry doorway topped by a pediment;
— its window topped with a shed dormer;
— its unusual lack of a separate lantern with the light visible through a sea-facing window;
— its pyramidal roof;
— the smoke jack (or smoke head) at the apex of the tower;
— its visual prominence in relation to the water and the landscape.