Description of Historic Place
The Taylor House in North Bedeque is a modified wood frame Victorian farmhouse with Italianate features built in 1889 in the Carpenter Gothic, or Gothic Revival style, and which incorporates the original dwelling house on the site, built circa 1841.
Heritage Value
The Taylor House is valued for its age, its fine architectural detailing, its very good condition, and for its long association with the Taylor family of Prince Edward Island.
The original dwelling house on this site was built circa 1841 for Donald Taylor on a road now named for his family. He established a 178 acre farm in 1838 with money earned working as a foreman in the New Brunswick lumber industry, and as a government lumber surveyor.
In 1889, the Taylor family had a larger residence built on the same site by Allan Sharpe of St. Eleanors. As part of the construction, the 1841 dwelling was modified and expanded so as to seamlessly form the back ell on the north elevation of this new house.
While the acreage of the farm was reduced over the years, the Taylor family continued to occupy their homestead into the 2000s, when it was sold to new owners with plans for sensitive renovations to the structure. In 2007, wood clapboard was installed, and new windows were fitted into original openings. A chimney was removed, and windows were added to north or back elevation. Sometime before this, the wood shingles on the bay roofs were replaced with asphalt as a preventative measure against moisture.
The Taylor house has long been a noted structure. As early as 1900, it was featured in an illustrated edition of "Canadian Trade Review" as a typical farmhouse indicative of the Island's flourishing trade and commerce; today, it continues to stand as a symbol of the Island's agricultural industry, and fine architectural design.
Heritage Places files, Department of Education, Early Learning and Culture, Charlottetown, PEI
File #: 4310-20/T3
Character-Defining Elements
The heritage value of the Taylor House is shown in the following character-defining elements:
- the steeply pitched roofs
- the double, round-headed Italianate windows in the gable of the central projection
- the curved hood moulding with medallion trim and applied wood gingerbread lace above the central projection windows
- the two matching square bay windows on the front or south elevation
- the unique concave roofs of the bay windows
- the single brackets topping the bay windows, with double brackets at the corners
- the inset lower panels with tongue-and-groove boards
- the single brackets above the door on a trim board, with double brackets at each end
- the pierced gingerbread triangle trim (with scroll design) at the peak of the centre gable
- the pilasters on either side of the front door, with medallion trim and topped by a single bracket
- the round-headed attic windows on the side (east and west) elevations, with medallion trim and pendants on the hood moulding covers ("Dog Ear" trim)
- the pierced gingerbread triangle trim at the peaks of the gables on the side elevations
- the regular rhythm to the windows on all elevations of the house
- the open verandah on the ell section with turned posts and an enclosed porch
- the location of the house on its original footprint
