Description of Historic Place

The Bertram Home is a two-storey wood shingled house with a hipped roof. It was originally built as a bank. The large entabulature moulding extending across the facade of the building above the symmetrical entrance door hints at its early commercial purpose.

Heritage Value

The building is valued as a link to the commercial and political history of Hunter River and for its commercial style architecture.

The Royal Bank of Canada established a branch in Hunter River in September 1913, operating from the home of Hedley Spence. By 1918, the current building was completed and the bank operated from this location until 1976, when they moved to a rectangular building across the street.

As was customary in this type of architecture, an apartment was provided on the second storey for the bank manager. The last manager to reside in the building was Charles Goodwin, who was remembered for keeping horses in his backyard!

After 1976, the building was used for other commercial activity in the village, including as a craft shop. Realtor, Robert Storey, purchased the building and rented it to politician, Mel Gass, MP for Malpeque (1979-1988).

In 1988, Catherine Callbeck purchased the building as her constituency office. She would serve as MP for Malpeque (1988-1993); Premier of PEI (1993-1996); and Senator (1997-present).

Pharmacist, Ewen Taylor, began renting the building from 1988-1991 for his business. Since 2006, the entire building has been used for rental housing.

With its long history as a centre for commercial and political history in the Village of Hunter River, it remains an important landmark.

Source: Culture and Heritage Division, PEI Department of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
File #: 4310-20/H8

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the building is represented in the following character-defining elements:

- the two-storey wood frame construction
- the square shaped configuration
- the wood shingle cladding
- the hipped roof with wide eaves
- the brick chimney
- the symmetrical placement of windows on the facade
- the large white entabulature extending above the entrance the full length of the facade
- the second storey sunporch at the back of the building