Thursday, February 12, 2015

Dunvegan Mansion, near Cardross

     I was reading the community history of Cardigan called, "Highlights of Cardigan Area" by Beth Brehaut, undated (probably late 1970's).  Page 82-83. Printed on P.E.I. by Island Offset.
     "Mary Docherty, of Cardross, married a wealthy American named Paige.  They planned to build a house near Mary's former home, however, before their plan could be carried out, Mr. Paige died.  After her husband's death, Mrs. Paige, with the help of her late husband's secretary, had the house built.  Construction occurred in 1910.  Materials were brought by rail to Cardigan from the United States and hauled to the site.  This very large four-storey building had 72 rooms.  On the first floor the doors, window casings and walls (to a height of five feet) were made of black walnut.  The large fireplaces and the basement were built with bricks from the United States.  Water was pumped from a well and stored in a large tank.  The water was then piped to the different parts of the house.  Gas provided lighting.  A large pool table, brought from the United States on a flat car, was raised by a derrick to the third floor and taken in through a window opening.
     Sometime after Mrs. Paige's death Allan Cameron bought the house - named Dunvegan - and very shortly after sold it to Sandy of Sandy's Restaurant.  The house was taken apart and hauled to York Lane in Charlottetown, where it was rebuilt into 10 apartments."

     Below is the rebuilt Dunvegan Mansion at 47 York Lane in Charlottetown - this photo comes from Mallard Painting's Facebook page...

1 comment:

  1. Nice that it was preserved somehow, although it's too bad it wasn't at its original locale. Hard to find old houses like that in PEI in the country.

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