Little ljmy Willitarns

By Robert Tuck

robably the articles. He made a window frame and finest builder sash when he was 13; his father sold it Pand craftsman in to a neighbour who installed it in a wood the region barn. He later worked as an apprentice ever produced, for George Gard. Earning $2.75 a Little Harry Wil- month, he worked for Gard on Senator liams is a legend in John Yeo's splendid Colonial Revival East Prince coun- house at Port Hill crossroads — one of ty. He got his nick- the earliest and best of the so-called name, "Little "Fox houses" in Prince County. Harry," not be- Like many young fellows, Little cause he was par- Harry did not get along too well with his ticularly small, but father — on one occasion stepping in to because his uncle stop his father from beating his sister. and namesake — In his later teens he left home for "Big Harry" Wil- Boston, where he worked and studied liams — was so for two years. There he met and mar- very big. Big Harry ried his wife, Effie Marie Ellis. Her fore- was a farmer who bears were said to have come to raised nine girls America on the Mayflower, but she also and three boys, had links with Harry's mother's family and whose fame back in England. He attended night as a strong man school, studying design, while working sometimes encour- in Marblehead. As George Williams aged foolhardy says, comparing him favourably with neighbours to chal- architect William C. Harris: "He could lenge for a fight. build it as well as draw it!" George Williams, Returning to Prince Edward Island, Little Harry's son, Harry and Effie Marie raised a family of says his great- eight Reagh, Marion, Violet, Harry Jr., uncle Big Harry Gertrude, Myrtle, George and Grace. once took on three Grace died at age three, but the rest men at the same survived to adulthood. In the late 1920s, time and "beat when they were grown up and moved them to a pulp." All out, Little Harry returned to Boston to three were dead, work as a house builder. He died in he claims, within 1934 and is buried in Ellerslie's St. six months! John's Churchyard, on the north side of Little Harry the lovely Carpenter Gothic Church was born in 1867. that represents his finest achievement He came by his ability with wood naturally. "It was born right in him!" St. John's Church, Ellerslie Little Harry Williams as a young man. according to George. His paternal The story is told of the two men who got grandfather was Edward Williams, Harry Williams was into an argument in Turner's Store in who worked as a carpenter at the Port not the original archi- O'Leary as to which was tighter, a clap- Hill shipyards after emigrating from tect of St. John's boarded house or shingled house. Just Devonshire. His mother was an Ellis Church. Whoever that then Little Harry came in, and the men — a family that had been building ves- was — possibly the said: "Let's ask Harry; he'll soon tell us!" sels in the Port Hill area since the rector of the parish, Reverend Henry They explained their argument. He early 1800s. When Little Harry was Harper — had an eye for good propor- replied: "Did you ever see a shingled barely into his teens he was able to tions. The land for the building was boat?" dress lumber and make finished donated by Edward England, who in

25 1895 also framed the building and these general details the church is con- over the windows and doorways, dentil roughed it in. It sat unfinished for sev- ventional enough. It is the rich texture ornaments and bands of board and bat- eral years while the parish raised the of its exterior cladding, and the pol- ten cladding, particularly below the funds to complete the project. Finally, ished elaboration of its finely crafted cornices. Below the three-light west on 2 July, 1899, it was consecrated by interior that make St. John's unique on window is a rectangular panel divided the Right Reverend Frederick Prince Edward Island — with few into triangular segments that bring to Courtney, the Bishop of Nova Scotia, equals in the entire Maritimes. Nearly mind a Union Jack. Above the lancets who exercised episcopal jurisdiction all of this work came from the hands of of this window is a clump of board and for the Church of England on Prince Little Harry Williams. batten cladding under an overarching Edward Island. The queen-posts of the hammer- hood mould. Unfortunately, the white St. John's is a Gothic Revival build- beam roof are linked by unusual, lad- paint that covers the church blanks ing in the Early English style. It con- der-like structures that run horizontal- out most of this detail except when sists of a nave and chancel with a tower ly along the nave and chancel. They strong sunlight creates shadows that that does double duty as an entrance add a helpful rigidity to the axis of the highlight the richness and complexity porch. The tower is surmounted by a building, but there are no exterior but- of the finish. broach spire and there is a small vestry tresses to counter the downward set in the south wall of the chancel. In thrust of the steeply-pitched roof. Instead, two iron tie-bars span the S t Peter's Church, Lot 11 nave to keep the weight of the roof from spreading the walls apart. The Unlike St. John's, St. tie-bars are essential from an engi- Peter's Church in Lot neering perspective, but Harry 11 is entirely Harry Williams is said to have considered William's creation. them an unfortunate visual distraction. Built in 1910 to replace The chancel is lower-roofed and an earlier building from the 1850s, it is narrower than the nave. It accommo- much less ornamented than the dates choir stalls and a slender sanctu- Ellerslie church. However, like St. ary that allows no space for ceremoni- John's, it is in the Early English Gothic al or, mercifully, the current fashion of style, with lancet windows and a chan- moving the communion table out so cel which is lower-roofed and narrow- that the priest may stand er than the nave. Again, the Reverend behind like a mer- Henry Harper was rector when it was chant at a shop built, and one cannot help but suspect counter. Everything that he had something to do with the — altar, pulpit, architectural ecclesiological concepts lectern, choir stalls, expressed in the building. While sim- communion rail, pler, they are similar to those seen at sanctuary chairs, St. John's. pews — is intricately designed and exquis- itely finished. Williams' imagination ran St. James' Parish Church, riot on the exterior finish. Port Hill He employs carved shingles, elaborately ornamented Again, the Reverend string courses, hood moulds Henry Harper had a hand in St. James, which was built under his leadership in 1885. It replaced an Born on Prince Edward Island, older Anglican church from the 1840s the Reverend Henry Harper or '50s. The parish history indicates spent his entire, 30-year ministry that Thomas H. Pope, John Maynard in Port Hill. He was a classmate Jr. and Thomas Adams were appointed at Kings College, Nova Scotia of to procure plans and specifications for another Islander, the Reverend the church in 1882. It is characteristic Alexander Harris — the broth- of parish histories that the names of er of painter Robert and the local celebrities who secured the architect William Harris. plans are preserved, together with the He is reading the Scripture names of the clergy in charge and any Lesson from a beautifully local carpenters who were involved, crafted lectern in St. John's while the name of the architect who Church, Ellerslie built by drew the plans is lost. The plans were Little Harry. ready by 1883 when Henry Harper, fresh from King's College, Nova Scotia

26 arrived in the parish. Like its sisters in Ellerslie and Lot 11, it is a classic Early English Gothic Revival church. The style, promoted by a group of crit- ics and intellectuals called The Ecclesiologists, was a favourite of Victorian church architects. St. James is thus very high and narrow in its pro- portions and the altar, in accordance with the High Church sentiment of its day, is much elevated, with many steps raising it above the level of the nave.* Unfortunately, the height of the roof created a large volume of empty space that proved difficult to heat. The aesthetic and antiquarian dogmas of The Ecclesiologists made no provision for practicalities like fuel costs and congregational comfort in a cold cli- mate. A succession of furnaces installed after 1885 failed to solve the problem at St. James. Finally, in 1929, Little Harry Williams was called in to craft a beautifully panelled ceiling that The Williams' Homestead at Poplar Grove. is both functional and attractive. It is similar in principle to the timber ceil- ings featured in the medieval cathe- order — Harry Williams' tools, just as like new-fangled contraptions like gas drals of Peterborough and Ely in he left them in 1934. But the great cir- engines! England. cular saw he used to prepare the lum- Harry Williams' Colonial Revival ber for his buildings is no longer style houses are known on the Island as around. It was known in East Prince as "Fox Houses," because most of them Little Harry's Houses the first power saw in the Island. At were built by families who had pros- first it was powered by two horses. pered in the turn-of-the-century silver Harry Williams' specialty was houses, Later a gas motor was rigged up to it fox boom. They are generally rectangu- not churches. He should be remem- — much to Harry's disgust. He didn't lar in their floor plans, with broad, bered for his detail and craftsmanship, not grand, original designs. His own home, a traditional Island "L" farm- house, was framed by his grandfather Edward in the 1860s. Harry himself did all the finish work, inside and out. It has a finely crafted panelled entry with a staircase that turns at a landing halfway up. The parlour features a built-in cupboard with hand-grained panels and coloured-glass doors — very much like the woodwork Little Harry used in later houses. In the yard, his grandson Robert Williams, who now lives in the house, preserves intact his grandfather's workshop. Everything is still there, in working

The old church was retained, with bell-cote removed, for use as a Sunday School. Old St. James and Christ Church, Cherry Valley are the only Island Anglican churches from the 1840s that remain much as they were built. (St. Elizabeth's Church, Springfield is also from this Fox farmer Tom Inman engaged Little Harry to build one of his largest and most sump- era, but was rebuilt under the direction of tuous homes at Cascumpec c. 1917. It was subsequently purchased by James Wells, and William Harris in the 1890s, and is much altered his sons Andrew and Kennedy have both lived in it since. Today Kennedy and Marilyn from its original appearance.) Wells operate it as a Bed and Breakfast under the name Cold Comfort Farm.

27 Big

tmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Wall cupboard in the Palmer house, O'Leary. Much of Little Stairway in the front hall of the Palmer house, O'Leary. Harry's reputation stemmed from the care and detail he lav- ished on his interior finishes.

Staircase in the Williams' house, Poplar Grove. Mantle in the Williams house, Poplar Grove.

28 bracketed eaves and two-storied porti- coes with Doric columns, surmounted by a pediment featuring a Palladian or round-headed attic window. The portico is invariably set asymmetrically against a shorter-side front elevation. They have bay windows — sometimes angled, sometimes squared — and dormer windows on the side rather than the front elevation. The first floor is usually set apart by a string course or belled shingling, but in the MacDougall house in Springfield West there is no break at all between the floors. Sometimes there is an entrance door set in a side elevation between the basement and the ground floor, with stairs on the left leading up to the kitchen and straight ahead down to the cellar. A similar device is often used inside the house; complementary sets of stairs from the front hall and the kitchen or back hall- way meet in a doorway halfway up the partition, and then proceed as one to the upstairs landing. The entrance hall usually receives special treatment, with beautifully polished hardwood wainscotting and panelled ceilings. The Metherall-MacAusland house at Bloomfield. Most of Harry Williams' houses are well-preserved or have been sympa- thetically restored, although a few have been sheathed in vinyl or had their portico columns and balustrades replaced by metal posts or grilles. One, the Turner mansion, was destroyed by fire. Not all the Island "Fox Houses" were built by Harry Williams, but his are among the best. Together with his churches they con- stitute an important element in the architectural heritage of Prince Edward Island.

Farmer Charles MacDougall employed Little Harry to build this handsome Colonial Revival Style house in Springfield West. Today it is still a farmhouse, the home of Norman Dewar.

29 Little Harry's son George Williams, standing next to his father's tombstone.

Note on Sources

The reminiscences of George Williams, Little Harry's son; the research and writings of Scott Smith, in particular his Historic Churches of Prince Edward Island; and the hospital- ity of the present-day dwellers in the houses Harry Williams built have all been most helpful in the preparation of this article.

The Dr. Alexander Palmer house, O'Leary. Note the annex that housed the dentist's office. The house is now the home of Stanley andAdrienne MacDonald.

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