Description

The article in the 14 May 1884 issue of the Daily Examiner was a long one but its point was easily seen. “I think that Charlottetown might be called the City of Ugly Buildings.” The writer noted that although there were exceptions: “The ordinary style of house is not only plain but excessively ugly; and it is impossible to obtain a view of any one street, or part of a street, that is not marred by some disfigurement.” Worse still were the public buildings. The Market House, the Court House, public schools, Notre Dame Convent were “an offense to all but the most inartistic eyes.” But the unknown writer had saved most of his venom for the churches of Charlottetown. “That such monstrosities as the larger Wesleyan and Baptist Churches could ever have been raised to the honour of a beauty-loving God almost passes belief. That Christian people can be satisfied to worship year after year in such naked barns as St. Paul’s and St. Dunstan’s is a painful proof of how little is known of the beauty of worship.”