Inside Island Heritage Homes: Two Hundred Years of Domestic Architecture on Prince Edward Island.

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

The desire to peek inside other people’s houses is innate, a hardwired part of our makeup. Macnutt responds to this, plus does much to recognize and record an often overlooked part of our architectural history. The book is a logical extension of the first book in the series, which covered the exteriors of P.E.I. historic homes. This volume takes us inside, not to see furniture and interior decoration, but to share information on interior architectural details and explore stylistic influences.

Macnutt introduces 50 homes. For each there’s one photo of the exterior and several views of interior details, such as windows, mouldings, fireplace surrounds, built-in cupboards, staircases, panelling, door casings, wainscoting, cornices, even doorknobs and other hardware. In total, approximately 350 colour photos turn the work into a lush visual album suitable for browsing as well as systematic study.

The text for each home discusses the home’s date, location, architectural style, and influences (American, Scottish, etc.). The correlation of interior to exterior design is central to the text on each home. As well, there is frequent reference to materials used, especially the identification of the types of wood employed.

The selection of homes includes samples from Georgian, Regency, Adamesque, Italianate, Victorian, ranch, Queen Anne Revival, and many other styles, ranging from simple to opulent. Perhaps most interesting is the lone example of a basic Acadian style and the three examples of the Maritime Vernacular. More elaborate houses of special note include the Gothic Revival Bishop’s Palace built in 1875 and Fanningbank, the vice-regal mansion built in 1834. This regency style residence is one of Canada’s architectural gems. The scope of the book spans over a century, with homes from the 1770s to c. 1950. Newer buildings featured include a Georgian adaptation with Palladian features and an Edwardian neoclassical home built in the 1930s.

Canadian old house fans—of which there are many—will prize this exploration of their favourite topic. By explaining, illustrating, and educating, the work promotes conservation of our complete architectural heritage, interiors as well as exteriors, while contributing to the body of knowledge on architecture available to the general reader. It will also be of interest to those interested in the history of Prince Edward Island.