Le Presbytère Baie-Egmont / Parish House

The former Baie-Egmont Parish House (Le Presbytère Baie-Egmont) is a large two-storey, centre dormer house, with a rear addition centrally located within the Evangeline region of Prince Edward Island in the rural community of Baie-Egmont.

Le Presbytère Baie-Egmont / Baie-Egmont Parish House is valued for its excellent construction and workmanship, for its connection with the history of the Acadian community of Baie-Egmont, and as a symbol of the importance of religion and the church in a tight knit community.

The former Parish House was built in 1886 by local builder James McNally. The home was the residence for the priest of the parish of St. Philippe & St. Jacques Roman Catholic Church and replaced an earlier 1820 parish house. This earlier residence was moved nearby in 1886 to make way for this home.

The parish of St. Philippe & St. Jacques was first established in 1812 coinciding with the arrival of the first Acadian settlers to the area. The communities served by the Parish of Baie-Egmont include: Maximeville, Abram-Village, Urbainville, Baie-Egmont (also known as Saint-Jacques), Saint-Gilbert, Saint-Hubert, St. Chrysostome, and Saint-Philippe. French speaking priests from Quebec, based in the north shore Acadian community of Rustico, were responsible for serving all Acadians in the province: Father Jean-Louis Beaubien who arrived in 1812 and in 1818 by Joseph-Étienne Cécile.

The Evangeline region includes two Roman Catholic parishes: Saint-Philippe-et-Saint-Jacques and Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel. A church was constructed for the area in about 1814 and was located in Baie-Egmont. In 1820 another church was built in Grand Ruisseau thus establishing a second parish in the region which would become what is known as Mont-Carmel today. The first Acadian ordained priest in PEI was Father Sylvain-Ephrem Perry of Tignish. He ministered to Acadians across the province from 1828 through 1860 and was later the resident priest at Mont-Carmel. The first resident priest at St. Philippe and St. Jacques was Father Azade Trudel in 1865, succeeded in 1868 by Father Cajétan Miville.

There have been a series of church buildings serving the St. Philippe and St. Jacques parish. The most recent, a brick 1923 Chappell & Hunter designed building, was covered in stucco in 1944 which over time caused the bricks to deteriorate. The church closed in 2005 due to the building's declining condition and was demolished in 2010.

This former Parish House was sold by the church in 2008 and has since been privately owned and the property where the church stood is now a community park. On its original site, this large centre dormer residence retains much of its original heritage character. Although its verandah was removed in 1976 and there are some replacement windows and vinyl siding was installed in the 1980s, the current owners are mindful of its history and heritage which they wish to maintain and are interested in returning it to its historic look.

The former Parish House in Baie-Egmont continues to be an important component of the community's landscape.

Source: PEI Heritage Places Files, PEI Department of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8

File #: 4320-20/B5

The heritage value of the residence is shown in the following heritage character-defining elements:

- the scale and massing of the house

- the pitch and slope of the roof

- the size and placement of the sash windows

- the bay windows on the front elevation

- the roof covering the front verandah

Further heritage character-defining element:

- Its prominent location within the community's rural landscape, next to a park commemorating the location of now demolished St. Philippe & St. Jacques Roman Catholic Church