Talk on Isaac Smith

A lecture to celebrate the achievement of a famed Island builder will be held on Monday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m., in the newly refurbished Carriage House at Beaconsfield. Admission is $5.

While Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary, it is also the year to mark the arrival of the Yorkshire builder, Isaac Smith, to Charlottetown on June 25, 1817. In the next 31 years, he would become the Island’s most prominent architect and builder, changing the face of Charlottetown with a new style of building called the Greek Revival and providing churches, courthouses, houses and even a lighthouse in other settlements such as Saint Eleanor’s, South Winsloe, Rustico, Georgetown and Point Prim.

To celebrate this bicentennial and the achievement of Smith, art historian Reg Porter will give an illustrated lecture that will explore the possible origins of Smith’s inspiration and examine some of Smith’s buildings.

At least five structures which Smith designed, or in which he had a hand, are still standing .The two greatest of these, Government House and Province House, still serve their purpose and are the finest public buildings constructed on the Island.