Wyatt House | History

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Constructed in the year of Canada’s birth 1867, this outstanding old house was the family home of the late Wanda Lefurgey Wyatt until her death in 1998 at the age of 102. It is a remarkable heritage building, which has been faithfully restored to its Edwardian beauty and authenticity. Visitors can see and experience life in Summerside and Prince Edward Island during the early decades of the 20th century. The Wyatts were interesting and involved people who traveled widely, and their home is a very special living museum that will be certain to fascinate and provide a unique learning experience.

Robert Alder Strong, a local merchant, originally owned the house and it is thought that his brother Charles, the Summerside Customs House agent, later lived there. Hon. John E. Lefurgey bought the house in 1887 at public auction from the Allison Estate, securing possession of the whole block around his fine house next door. His daughter Cecelia married a young lawyer from Charlottetown named James Edward "Ned" Wyatt and the house was conveyed to the young couple in 1893. Wyatt served two terms in the provincial legislature as a Conservative MLA, and was Speaker of the House from 1912–1916. His daughters, Wanda and Dorothy, spent their whole lives in the house of their birth and it was their touchstone.

The house was very plain in its early years and was embellished by the Wyatts. The Palladian windows in the attic facing east and west and the classically inspired front porch are early twentieth century additions. Miss Wyatt’s diaries record changes made to the house in 1928. She wrote about the house in a 1973 issue of the I.O.D.E. (Imperial Order Daughter of the Empire) magazine Echoes: "It is a rambling house with many little things to attest to its age. The stone foundation, the steps that carry you from one level to another, the floors, with hard pine boards from ships masts, are interesting. The furnishings are mostly antique and the house itself has an atmosphere of the past. Many outstanding and famous people have been entertained under its roof, among them three Prime Ministers of Canada (Robert L. Borden, Arthur Meighen, and R. B. Bennett). There are many memories over a hundred years."