Prince Edward Island Architects

A series from the Institute of Island Architectural Studies and Conservation

William Critchlow Harris 1854 - 1913

In 1993 a deranged arsonist torched St. ‘ Cuthbert's Church in St. Teresa, William Harris’s last church. He spent time in jail, but before he was released the issue whether or not he should serve a period of probation afterwards was the subject of debate in the newspapers. The thought of such an individual being unsupervised makes one wonder if any church, particularly any wooden church, in Prince Edward Island is safe.

And of course they are not safe in any case, even if no arsonist is on the loose. Edifices of timber are fragile, and are vulnerable not only to fire but also to decay and mutilation. Someone has said that the Harris churches are a special feature of the Island landscape. But SPEC“: there are not as many of them now as there NA used to be; and no doubt their number will 749 diminish in the future. Of the four Island William Harris churches that were lost before the -H37 burning of St. Cuthbert's, three were destroyed by fire - St. Joseph's at Kelly's Cross, 31-1330 Ann's at Emyvale, .and St. Mary's at Souris - Harris's largest church. The fourth casualty1 was, in effect, abandoned - St. Thomas's at Long Creek. The loss of these churches should caution us to take the best care we can of those that remain.

There are 14 still standing: the Methodist (now United) church at Tryon and its near replica at Bedeque; St. Mark's, Kensington; St. Patrick's, Grand River; St. Elizabeth's, Springfield; St. Malachy's, Kinkora; St. John's, Milton; St. John the Evangelist, Crapaud; St. Patrick's, Fort Augustus; St. Paul's, Sturgeon; and in Charlottetown, St. Paul's on Queen Square; All Souls' Chapel at St. Peter's Cathedral; and Central Christian Church. The fourteenth is the Kirk of St. James, which is attributed to David Stirling, but is probably mostly from the hand of Harris.

Of course, not all the Harris churches are in Prince Edward Island. There is one, a gem,

‘in New Brunswick, at Clifton Royal, and some splendid ones in Nova Scotia - of which St. James's at Mahone Bay must be accounted the chief - but only because the exterior of his All Saints’ Church at Springhill has been so badly mutilated by the application of every kind of tawdry cladding that has come and gone in fashion over the past 70 years - asphalt shingles, abitibi board, aluminum and vinyl siding - that its virtues are obliterated, at least as far as its exterior appearance is concerned. The Springhill highway sign - "You should