The Legacy of Architect James Harris - New Exhibit

A slice of his life

Gallery director Kevin Rice and attendant Natalie Woodburn-Heron study some of the buildings that architect James Harris designed, including, from left, Moore and MacLeod Ltd. and the Currie Block extension, corner of Kent and Queen streets in Charlottetown.  Works of the Heart: The Architectural Legacy of James Harris in P.E.I. continues at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery until Jan. 22.  It consists of photos and sketchbooks from Harris’ own collection with narrative by Darin MacKinnon, guest curator.

The Guardian Newspaper

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Arts/Entertainment/2011-11-09/article-2800527/A-slice-of-his-life/1

by Sally Cole

Published on November 9, 2011

     When Darin MacKinnon started researching Historic Places of Prince Edward Island, an online resource for the Department of Tourism and Culture, he discovered a number of references to buildings designed by James Harris (1886-1954), the nephew of iconic P.E.I.  architect William Critchlow Harris and painter Robert Harris.

     Whether it was designs for the Tweel Building, which is located on the corner of University Avenue and Kent Street in Charlottetown (now the home of Starbucks) or the Moore and McLeod Limited Building on Queen Street in Charlottetown or Clark Brothers Store and and the Fire Hall (home of the Eastern Graphic) in Montague, Harris left his mark on the P.E.I. business skyline as well as many Island residences and churches,

     “I decided to learn more about what he did. It struck me that every day I was driving by his buildings, but I had never thought of the life that created them,” says MacKinnon, whose research forms the basis of the narrative of an exhibition currently underway in Charlottetown.

     Works of the Heart: The Architectural Legacy of James Harris in P.E.I. continues at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery until Jan. 22.

     The exhibition features his collection of sketchbooks and photograph albums, loaned to the gallery by his daughter, Mary Beth Harris.

     “When I started making the connections to the buildings that James Harris designed, I noticed the sketchbooks, so I got more of a sense of him — how he loved to draw like his Uncle Robert, the artist. It was a very pen-and-ink kind of culture.

     “And James seemed to like to record things while he was on vacation when he saw a building or piece of Island scenery,” says MacKinnon.

     From a family enjoying a relaxing day at the beach to a 1922 Queen Street scene filled with bustling Islanders complete with a Model A Ford next to a horse and buggy, he gives viewers a taste of what Island life was like.

     Harris also knew the importance of recording places that are important in Island history. For example, his 1930 watercolour sketch of the iconic Green Gables House predates the opening of the P.E.I. National Park in 1937.

     At the gallery, director Kevin Rice points out some of his favourite sketchbook pages.

     “In Weekend at Holland Cove, the place where he summered, he’s got prehistoric creatures appearing in this beach scene. He also wanted to show people, so he entertained himself by creating humorous sketches in the outdoors,” says Rice.

     Another thing that pleases him is the interior of the house where Harris lived with his family on Greenfield Avenue in Charlottetown.

     “You can see the little inset panels in the mantle piece decorated for Christmas. Then above the fireplace is a painting by his uncle (Robert Harris). And just by chance we have it curated in an exhibition upstairs.

     “So if people come and see the original painting, they might see the home where it was displayed for many years,” says Rice, who is impressed with the variety of images in the exhibition.

     “It’s an interesting assortment of daily life, but also you see his interest in architecture ... It’s like a slice of his life,” he says.

AT A GLANCE

     A snapshot of James Harris.



     Born in Charlottetown on July 2, 1886, James came from an artistic family. His uncle, who was architect William Critchlow Harris, gave him great inspiration and encouragement.

     James attended West Kent School in Charlottetown.

     In 1906, at the age of 20, he moved to Halifax to train as an architect in the office of his uncle, William, who was working there with the architect, William T. Horton.

     William encouraged his nephew to gain professional credentials by enrolling in McGill University’s architectural studies program. After spending several years studying in Montreal, James graduated from McGill in 1912 with degrees in architecture and mechanical engineering.

     The following year, after William died suddenly, James took his place in the firm with Horton. Like his uncle, who had created a legacy of church buildings in the 19th century, James would also become noted for his ecclesiastical architecture as the 20th century unfolded.

     With the outbreak of the First World War, Halifax became a major naval centre. James enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1917.

     After the war he moved back to the Island to operate the Prince Edward Island branch of the Horton and Harris firm.

     During the 1920s, James designed churches for several denominations in each of the Island’s three counties. These included a new United Church in Dunstaffnage in Queens County, which he completed in 1927. He also designed and built many residences and commercial buildings.

     For more information on James, go to http://peihistoricplaces.ca/index.php3?number=1029174&lang=E

Source: http://peihistoricplaces.ca/

The following images are all from the website:  http://peihistoricplaces.ca/index.php3?number=1029174&lang=E

1929 St. Peter's Anglican Church, Alberton

1930 St. Alexis R.C. Church, Rollo Bay

1930 Harris Library, Charlottetown

BeBlois House, West St., Charlottetown

1932 St. Michael's R.C. Church, Corran Ban

1927-36 Tweel Building, Charlottetown

1948 Chandler House, North River Rd., Charlottetown

Sketch of MacCallum Stone House, Brackley

Sketch of Aitken Stone House, Lower Montague

Sketch of Block House Lighthouse, Rocky Point

Sketch of Harris Cottage

Sketch of Green Gables, Cavendish

Sketch of Souris & French River Lighthouses

Sketch of Presbyterian Church, Canoe Cove

Trip to the South Shore area...

I was down to the south shore area today for meetings.  Here's a few photos.

Above:  The former Hampton United Church located on the Trans-Canada Highway (Rte.1.) in Hampton, P.E.I.  The church has been renovated and painted - now used as a dental office.  Back in February 2011 CBC's Maritime Noon program had a phone-in show on the topic of what to do with our old, decommissioned churches?  The owner of this church, Dr. Peter Bevan-Baker, was one of the guests on answering questions, etc.  I took meticulous notes and someday hope to do a presentation on the topic along with information gathered from a symposium in Halifax I attended in April 2010.  The symposium was on "The Conservation of Religious Buildings and their Settings" - it was held at the Atlantic School of Theology and sponsored by the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.  It was a full day of speakers on a variety of topics - one things that was stressed was that poor restoration methods will eventually be the demise of any heritage building.  They held another symposium in April 2011 but we were unable to attend- check out their website:  http://www.htns.ca/

Above:  A little further up the road is the former Flood Homestead.  This is located in South Melville on the corner of the South Melville Road (Rte. 246) and the Sandy Point Road.  Back years ago this farm often appeared in Island tourism literature.  It's not far from Mac Dixon's Grist Mill (featured on June 8th in this blog).  Back in the early 1990's we visited here often as we made our way to Victoria-by-the-Sea.  The farm was sold out of the family about 15 years ago.

It was typical practice to build a new barn onto/over the old barns - my father did the same to his old barn.

Below:  Just across the road from the Floods on the South Melville Road is this old schoolhouse.  For many, many years it was abandoned and surely to fall in to the ground but in recent years someone has restored/renovated the school complete with the sign.  Excellent!!!

Below.  I went further on to see clients along the Desable Road (Rte.19) and spotted this house.  Hum, I would have done a few things different in renovating this house - ie. no house looks good with basement windows on the front; it has new vinyl siding and all the windows have been changed to casement - the casement windows here don't take away from the look as these are very wide for casements - often they're narrower.  It's an interesting style in that the front has two equal gables.  It's age? maybe 1870's.

The Desable-Argyle Shore area of the Island was settled by Scottish immigrants from the Isles in the 1820's.  I visited a client today about a new house to be built along Rte.19, the shore road.  Following we got talking about the area and I told him that my grandmother's family, the MacNevin's, were amoung the earlier settlers here and that in the 1880's my great-great-grandfather Neil "Tidy" MacNevin moved to the Brae (near O'Leary, PEI) with his family.  He said that his great-great-grandfather bought Neil's 33-acres over there, adjacent to his farm.  Wow!!!  I never knew where that farm was.  He said his family has been in the area since the 1820's and likely came over with the MacNevins - his family was from the Isle of Colonsay - mine were from the Isles of Mull and Coll. 

Above:  a few miles west up the road in Canoe Cove, where Rte. 19 turns to Rte.19A (Canoe Cove Road), is the Canoe Cove School, Est.1820.  I believe there's been a school here since 1820 but this school dates back to about 1850.  Below is a painting by Robert Harris, titled "School House at Canoe Cove".  Robert's sister married into the Stretch family and lived in the area.  The Painting cf. Historic Places website - for more information see http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=1773

Above:  On my way back to Hunter River, I photographed this barn on the Colville Road (Rte. 9)  As they'd say - nice old barn!