Architect Isaac Smith, of Prince Edward Island

Isaac Smith (1795-1871)

We share a family connection to Isaac Smith (my wife's great-great-great grandfather) and thus over the years various family items and the interest of descendants has been of assistance to others who are researching the work and life of an important Island architect. Included is a link to genealogical resources related to Smith through my family history website Homeport. 




Parks Canada undertook the research and writing of a history of Province House in 1977 through Island-born, staff historian Mary Cullen. Published as a report it is now available online in .pdf format. Server connections can be slow but patience produces the full 450 pages of this valuable research. It was great to see that Dr. Alan MacEachern and the team at ParksCanadaHistory.com created a site where older reports such as this are now widely available.

The full title is: A history of the structure and use of Province House, Prince Edward Island, 1837-1977 / by Mary K. Cullen.

Province House at centre - from 1880 Meacham's Atlas

Daphne's aunt, Marianne (Rogers) Morrow researched Isaac Smith in the 1970's and 1980's. Marianne's research  produced the excellent magazine article published in the Island Magazine. It is entitled:  The Builder: Isaac Smith and Early Island Architecture, The Island Magazine, No. 18, Fall/Winter 1985: 17-23. The digital form of the article is available thanks to the Robertson Library at UPEI.

Isaac Smith (1795-1871)
Daguerreotype original photographed by Ian Scott

Marianne and her siblings decided to donate Isaac Smith's day books and other original documents in family hands to the PEI Public Archives and Records Office where they formed part of the Smith, Alley Collection Acc2702, which includes over 1168 textual items, plus 235 images collected by Judge George Alley and Henry Smith pertaining largely to the early history of Prince Edward Island.

The Biographical  Dictionary of Architects in Canada's entry on Isaac Smith includes a listing of 16 known building that he designed, and the website Historic Places Prince Edward Island has an illustrated biography of Smith. The website Canada's Historic Places has entries for both Province House, Government House, Barton Lodge, and Point Prim Lighthouse. A house associated with the family on land Isaac had owned at
92-94 Hillsborough Street, Charlottetown is also included in their listing.

In 2001 Maplewood Books, Charlottetown published Isaac Smith and the Building of Province House by C.W.J. Eliot as part of a series called Prince Edward Island Architects: A series from the Institute of Island Architectural Studies and Conservation. The eight page illustrated document is an excellent introduction to Smith and his work.

Isaac Smith (1795-1871)
Ambrotype original photographed by Ian Scott

Daphne and I have some original Isaac Smith items including, a previously unknown image of Isaac taken when he was younger (above). The image is damaged but still is recognizable  and was an exciting discovery when it was located in 2009.  The original ambrotype (on glass) that all previously known images of him were derived from remains in its original case and the younger image is a daugerrotype (on a silver plate).

Family Firm -- Smith Brothers & Wright

Also located in 2009 were originals of Isaac's brother and business partner Henry Smith and an unidentified image next to it with a similar case which we speculate to be Henry's bride Ann "Nancy" Bovyer. That branch of the family moved as an almost intact family unit in 1858 to Auckland, New Zealand on the Prince Edward, a ship built in Summerside for the voyage. That voyage and the emigration of Islanders to New Zealand is told in an article called, The Prince Edward Settlers,  the passenger list is also available.

Henry Smith (1797-1880)
Daguerreotype original photographed by Ian Scott.

Presumed to be Ann "Nancy" (Bovyer) Smith (1802-1862).
Found next to a matching image of her husband in 2009.
Daguerreotype original photographed by Ian Scott.

The two Smith brothers and Nathan Wright (of the firm Smith Brothers & Wright) lived close to the job site when working on Province House as all three families lived on the Prince Street block across from St. Paul's Hall. Isaac in a wooden house on the Richmond corner (where the current brick, Houle House now stands) with brother Henry next door at 100 Prince St. in the blue wooden house, and Nathan Wright up the street at 112-114 Prince.

Isaac Smith's house at left - located at 98 Prince St. Charlottetown, PEI

Government House

Government House  - from 1880 Meacham's Atlas

As the architect for Government House as well as Province House, Isaac Smith's role is documented in the collection of known source records related to Government House and related visual material that was produced as a two volumes set available in pdf format. The books were digitially published in 2015.

• Government House Research Manual Volume I -Historical Images: 1839 to 1967- Compiled & Annotated for the Friends of the Gatehouse Cooperative by Dr. Richard Campanaro,
• Government Houseand the Fanningbank Estate:A Guidebook by Reginald Porter for the Friends of the Gatehouse Cooperative

The two documents are an invaluable resource to current and future researchers as well as those making decisions about Fanningbank.