PEIR is the acronym for the Prince Edward Island Regiment, the regiment which last used the building in 1992, the year in which it was taken out of military service. Built in 1911-12, the small armoury was built, for reasons unknown, without a drill hall. This caused considerable consternation in the city as it had lost its drill hall, not to mention about 154 other buildings, to the great fire of 1906. Nevertheless the armoury was used by various regiments from its formal opening on June 22, 1912 to 1992, a span of 80 years.
In 1996 the armoury was sold to the City of Summerside which had offices in the building until 2003. Today the building hosts the
International Fox Museum and Hall of Fame as well as Gallery 33, a seasonal art gallery. Previously housed in the the historic Holman Homestead, the Fox Museum moved into the armoury in 2005.
On the front of the armoury, beside the entrance, is a Canadian National Historic Person plaque honouring
Georgina Fane Pope. Born in Charlottetown, PEI, Georgina was the daughter of William Henry Pope, a Father of Confederation. Georgina Pope was a career nurse who served in that capacity in the Boer War and World War 1, retiring in 1919. She was the first Canadian to receive the Royal Red Cross.
PEIR Armoury
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
The stone and brick building at 33 Summer Street was built from 1911 to 1912 by the Government of Canada as an armoury to replace an earlier military Drill Shed that had been located on Spring Street. The two-storey structure features a hipped roof, a symmetrical facade, and rectangular one-over-one windows. The registration includes the building and its lot.
HERITAGE VALUE
The squarely configured building that was once the Summerside Armoury has heritage value due to its long affiliation with the military history of Prince Edward Island. The structure is also valued for its architectural integrity as an example of the design work of Island architect, C.B. Chappell, and the construction ability of the M.F. Schurman Company. The building maintains these strong historical associations by its continuing presence on the streetscape at the City's administrative heart.
The necessity for an Armoury in Summerside arose after the Drill Shed on Spring Street burned to the ground in the Great Fire of 1906. In 1908, the Dominion government purchased land for a new building but there was considerable consternation by citizens after it was learned that the government planned to build an armoury with no drill hall in connection. A local journalist felt that "an armory without a drill hall is about as valuable as the play of Hamlet would be with Hamlet left out." The government proceeded as planned and the contract was awarded in October 1910 to M.F. Schurman and Company. Excavation for the 38 by 34 foot cellar began in June 1911 and the two-storey structure was completed by the following summer with the formal transfer from the Department of Public Works to the 82nd Regiment taking place on June 22, 1912.
Great Britain and thus Canada entered World War I in August 1914 and members of the newly organized B Squadron of the PEI Light Horse left for Val Cartier, Quebec, en route to England. Recruiting officers used the building for enlisting more men and when the 105th Battalion was created in the spring of 1916, C Company used the grounds, known as Armoury Square, for regular drilling of the recruits. The men constructed trenches complete with dugouts and loopholes and used dummies to practise bayonet fighting. Local women formed a branch of the Patriotic Society for Red Cross Work and began meeting every week at the Armoury to sew and knit articles to be sent to soldiers.
After the war, veterans established a Great War Veterans Association (GWVA) clubroom in the Armoury where rifles, saddles and other military supplies were stored. During the 1930s, C Company of the PEI Highlanders kept uniforms and equipment in the building and held drills in the local curling rink. The building was used during the years of World War II for recruitment purposes, as well as for the headquarters of B Squadron of the 17th (Reserve) Armoured Regiment.
By 1992, the building had reached the end of its life as a military facility. In June of that year, the forty members of B Squadron of the PEI Regiment began to operate out of a building in Slemon Park, the former Canadian Forces Base Summerside. Public Works Canada, acting on behalf of the Department of National Defence, sold the structure to the City of Summerside in 1996. The municipal recreation department had offices in the building until the new City Hall was opened in 2003. The Armoury is still owned by the City and is currently housing the International Fox Museum and Gallery 33.
From the Historic Places Canada