That designer was architect William Critchlow Harris, one of the best known Island architects of his time and a master of Queen Anne Victorian Revival architecture. This building is somewhat rare, being built of wood in the late 19th century, when the materials of choice, or necessity, for multiple unit dwellings were brick and stone.
The building was built by the estate of Irish immigrant Owen Connolly in 1889-1890. Connolly, after a successful life of hard work, died without heirs in 1870, his fortune going to a trust - the Owen Connolly Trust. That trust was responsible for the construction of many buildings, this being a notable one, and for the education of Irish children through scholarships.
When the building achieved Canadian National Historic Site status, The Guardian, of Charlottetown, attended the award ceremony and reported on it on September 28, 2009. The story is reproduced in part below.
Dundas Terrace
declared nationally historic house
Brian McInnis
Published on September 28, 2009
It could be said that Dundas Terrace on the historic Charlottetown waterfront, declared a house of national historic significance Saturday, began life as a keg of molasses.
The house, which was designed by William Critchlow Harris and built by the estate of Owen Connolly in 1889-1890, received the designation by federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice, minister responsible for Parks Canada, during a ceremony at the house Saturday.
Boyd Beck, curator of history at the P.E.I. Museum, said the story of Owen Connolly's fortune "has always been that he came off the boat from Ireland just a penniless immigrant who worked hard and was known around town as a hard worker.
"In that era when merchants were stocking up their stores and a vessel with, say molasses, came from the Caribbean you would go down to the auction at the wharf and bid on what you are willing to pay for a keg and when that is established you could buy as many of the kegs as you wanted at that price. When you were done the others bid on the cargo that was left.
"The story went that one morning when they were opening the bidding on a cargo of molasses, Owen Connolly was there and they opened the bidding. The other merchants assumed he just wanted one keg for himself or to peddle it so they let him bid on it, but to their surprise he bought the whole lot at the price he bid and that was seen as the start of his fortune."
Norton said the building, which was originally built as an apartment building as it still is today, is a prime example of the Queen Anne Revival Style and was the home of some very distinguished tenants such as Father of Confederation, Senator and Lieutenant-Governor Andrew A. Macdonald as well as Lawrence W. Watson, the composer of the music to Lucy Maud Montgomery's Island Hymn.
The building currently has nine apartments and almost all of its original look has been retained, he said. Norton, who grew up in Charlottetown, used to ride his bicycle past the house, but probably never thought that someday he would co-own it let alone receive honours for its restoration.
Norton and Prentice unveiled a Historic Sites and Monuments Board plaque commemorating the historical significance of
Dundas Terrace during the ceremony.
"Dundas Terrace is being celebrated today because it is a fine example of the Queen Anne Revival apartment building," Prentice said during the unveiling.
"This style of architecture popular in the late Victorian period shaped the character of many of the heritage buildings in beautiful downtown Charlottetown..."
Read on at The Guardian