Former Summerside Post Office National Historic Site of Canada
Summerside, Prince Edward Island
General view
(© Parks Canada Agency/ Agence Parcs Canada, 1982.)
Address :
57 Summer Street, Summerside, Prince Edward Island
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1983-06-13
Dates:
-
1883 to 1887
(Construction)
Event, Person, Organization:
-
Thomas Fuller, Ottawa
(Architect)
Other Name(s):
-
Former Summerside Post Office
(Designation Name)
Research Report Number:
Fuller Post Office
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: On wall of Post Office 57 Summer Street, Summerside, Prince Edward Island
This structure, built 1883-1887, was designed under the direction of Thomas Fuller who served as Chief Architect of the Department of Public Works from 1881 to 1896. This basic design with a double entrance, steep roof, high central gable, medieval detail and colourful blend of brick and stone, was adapted to many smail post offices across the country. Each was unique but they shared a strong family resemblance that came to symbolize the federal presence throughout Canada. The Summerside Post Office shows the high quality of design maintained under Fuller's tenure.
Description of Historic Place
The Former Summerside Post Office is a two-and-a-half-storey, brick building constructed between 1883 and 1887. The formal recognition consists of the building on the legal property on which it sat at the time of recognition.
Heritage Value
The Former Summerside Post Office was designated a national historic site because: it is representative of small urban post offices designed by Thomas Fuller; it possesses architectural merit, this is to say it has not undergone major exterior alteration; and it possesses integrity, that is to say that its siting is sympathetic.
The Former Summerside Post Office is a good example of the post offices erected by the Department of Public Works in smaller urban centres during Thomas Fuller's term as Chief Architect (1881-1886). It is representative of Fuller post offices in its two-and-a-half-storey height, its use of high-quality materials, its blend of Gothic and Romanesque elements, and its prominent siting on a corner lot.
Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minute, 1983; Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Plaque Text, 1988.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements which define the heritage character of the Summerside Post Office include:
its blend of Gothic and Romanesque elements, evident in: the steep roof; high central gable; and round-arched voussoirs over door openings, features typical of Fuller-designed buildings, including its: two-and-a-half-storey height; steep roof; round-arched double entrances; and the underlying symmetry of its facade, its three-bay façade with two flanking entrances, its steeply pitched roof and lively roofline, consisting of a hip roof with adjoining hips over adjoining wings, intersected by a large cross-gable, and punctuated by hip-roofed dormers, its picturesque silhouette created by the interplay between the elevations, frontispiece, gables and roof lines, the strong, vertical emphasis created by the chimney, the steeply pitched roof and the central façade gable, the patterning of red-brick cladding with sandstone accents, its high-quality exterior materials, consisting of red brick with sandstone trim, its clock tower and four-dial clock, its prominent siting on a corner lot.