Description of Historic Place

The Alexander McRae House is a centre gable, maritime vernacular ell house, with a symmetrical façade featuring a centred entrance with transom and sidelights. The house has double arched sash windows in the gable peak and is clad in wood clapboard. The McRae House is located in the rural community of Waterside, Prince Edward Island.

Heritage Value

The Alexander McRae House is an early residence which has been in the McRae family for close to 200 years. It is valued for its connections with the early history of the community of Waterside, its ties to the Scottish immigrant McRae family and as a fine example of lasting rural maritime vernacular architecture.

Donald and Mary McRae and their sons Alexander and Malcolm arrived at Alexandra Bay, Prince Edward Island in 1805 from Glenelg, Scotland. Several McRaes worked as carpenters and were involved in shipbuilding in nearby Pownal.

A section of this centre gable, maritime vernacular ell house dates from 1823 while the front section was built circa 1845-1850. Built by or for, Alexander McRae (ca 1789-1869) and his wife Sarah MacGregor (1789-1848) who married in 1823, they raised their family of 11 children here. The house has been in the McRae family for close to 200 years.

The home and farm passed to Alexander's son, Alexander "Mac" McRae (1836-1913) and wife Ann Mellish who lived here with their family of nine children and continued farming here. McRae farmed cattle, potatoes and apples. The front centre gable was added during their time in the house. Mac was captain of the Island Militia 2nd Queens County Regiment, was wharfinger of Pownal Pier and a Justice of the Peace.

The farm passed to Robert McRae, donor of the family archives to the Public Archives and Records Office of PEI, and he and his brother Alec continued to operate the farm together.

The property is now owned by Alec's daughter and her family and it continues to be a working farm. The house was updated in 2001 to be operated as a vacation rental.

The McRae House continues to be valued for its role in the rural landscape of Waterside and as an early example of a maritime vernacular house in excellent condition, for its associations with early Scottish settlers and its connections with agricultural history.

Heritage Places files, Dept. of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Charlottetown, PE
File # : 4310-20/M55

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the McRae House is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the scale and massing of the house
- the pitch and slope of the roofline
- the wood clapboard cladding
- the size and placement of the sash windows
- the double arched sash windows in the gable peak
- the window lintels
- the cornerboards
- the front door with transom and sidelights

Further heritage character-defining element:

- its picturesque location within sight of farm fields and Pownal Bay
- the extant original interior features