130 Prince of Wales Street - Parr Division
Charles Randolph Hosmer and Mrs. Hosmer built this large summer cottage, with its commanding view of the town of St. Andrews, in 1905. Edward Maxwell designed the house, its furniture, and the garden. At the rear, the verandahs look out onto spacious lawns and flower gardens, with Minister’s Island and Passamaquoddy Bay in the distance. Edward Dougherty was the gardener for many years.
Born in Coteau Landing, Quebec, in 1851, Charles Hosmer married Clara Jane Bigelow. They had one son, Elwood Bigelow Hosmer, and a daughter, Olive. Charles had left school at the age of fourteen and studied telegraphy with the Grand Trunk Railway. A year later he was put in charge of the telegraph office. He joined the Dominion Telegraph Company, where he became Superintendent in 1873 at the age of 22. His final move was to the C.P.R., where he was appointed Head of the Telegraph Department in January 1886, when he was 35.
13 years later he retired from C.P.R. a rich man – and would become even more so. He was the founder and first President of the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company and also became a director of the Bank of Montreal and twenty-six other companies, as well as a governor of the three largest hospitals in Montreal. The Hosmers had a large and opulent house on Drummond Street in Montreal, filled with beautiful things, especially a fine collection of paintings, which included four Canalettos, said to be among the very finest. With the exception of the Canalettos, most of the Hosmer collection now belongs to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.
When H.R.H. the Prince of Wales visited Montreal in the 1920s, Charles Hosmer gave a magnificent ball in the Princes’ honour at the Drummond Street house. Miss Marguerite Pillow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Pillow, was still attending Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School for Girls, but she was allowed to attend the ball given by her great- uncle and great-aunt, where she danced with the Prince – a magical evening for a young girl.
The Hosmers were kindly and very sociable, with many friends, and travelled widely. Charles Hosmer was particularly known for his liveliness and wit, being interested in the theatre and arts in general. Nellie Melba, the great opera singer, was a personal friend. Near the end of his life, Charles Hosmer had a stroke, which affected his speech. He came to St. Andrews very often then, and every day his chauffeur, Thomas, would take him in a long, black open car on his favourite drive, round and round Indian Point. Then they would stop at the thirteenth hole on the golf course (below what became Anderson house), where his golfing friends would stop by and talk to him. When callers came to Hillcrest, he had lots of lettered wooden blocks, which he could manipulate very quickly into words and thus communicate with them.
One story about Hillcrest must be told. Mr. Clarence Mackay, President of Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation in the United States, had an attractive daughter named Ellin. She had fallen in love with a young and already prosperous pianist and composer – and he with her.
His name was Irving Berlin. Since the young man was Jewish, Clarence Mackay did not approve at all and tried everything to separate the young couple. He and Charles Hosmer were old friends, so in the summer of 1923 he sent Ellin all the way to St. Andrews to stay at Hillcrest with the Hosmers. Her suitor followed and proposed marriage. Since Ellin was only 20 and her father was so against the union, she was sent abroad for seven months in 1924. But she did not waver. On January 4th, 1926, she married Irving Berlin. Ellin died on July 29, 1988, and Irving Berlin on September 22, 1989, at the age of 101. They had been married for 62 years.
Before their marriage, Clarence Mackay had declared: “The day you marry my daughter, I will disinherit her” – to which Irving Berlin replied: “The day I marry your daughter, I’ll settle a million dollars on her” (he was then worth at least four million). So he called Clarence Mackay’s bluff with a vengeance.
Elwood Bigelow Hosmer was born in 1879 and died in 1947 at age 68. Married for a short time, then divorced, he had no children. He was a short, rather unattractive man who worked occasionally as a stockbroker but spent most of his time travelling, buying paintings, and smoking huge cigars. He was also a perpetual visitor to the Palm Court in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montreal, where he drank a lot. Sir Andrew McPhail, a physician and man of letters, and Alphonse Jongers, a well-known portrait painter, were boon companions: with Elwood Hosmer, they made three ugly men. Elwood lived at the Ritz during the last years of his life. However, he must have had a well-hidden spirit of adventure because in1927, some friends persuaded him to fly the Atlantic. Unfortunately, his plane – the flying whale – crashed after taking off from the Azores, and he and his three partners spent 12 hours drifting in the ocean until they were picked up by the liner Minnewaska. The newspaper reported that at the time Elwood was found he was sitting on a wing of the plane, calmly reading John Buchan’s Greenmantle. After this experience, he returned to his armchair in the Ritz.
He kept up his interest in flying sufficiently, however, to drive from St. Andrews to Pennfield Ridge in August 1932, when Jim Mollison touched down after his dramatic east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic. Elwood protected him from the Press and brought him back to spend the night at Hillcrest.
It was sad that the Hosmers left no grandchildren to inherit the large fortune left by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hosmer and by Elwood and his sister Olive. There was of course an extended family: Mrs. Homer’s sister, Mrs. Heney, had a daughter, Marjorie, who married George Shuter – and they had a son and daughter. Mrs. Heney’s son Theodore married Amy Springett – and there were two daughters and a son from this marriage. This extended family benefited greatly from the fortune of the former telegraph boy from Coteau Landing.
The character-defining elements of this property include:
The character-defining elements for the property include:
Architectural Style: Queen Anne Revival Shingle Style
Source: Willa Walker “Summers in St. Andrews”, St. Andrews Civic Trust – Charlotte County Archives, St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Born in Coteau Landing, Quebec, in 1851, Charles Hosmer married Clara Jane Bigelow. They had one son, Elwood Bigelow Hosmer, and a daughter, Olive. Charles had left school at the age of fourteen and studied telegraphy with the Grand Trunk Railway. A year later he was put in charge of the telegraph office. He joined the Dominion Telegraph Company, where he became Superintendent in 1873 at the age of 22. His final move was to the C.P.R., where he was appointed Head of the Telegraph Department in January 1886, when he was 35.
13 years later he retired from C.P.R. a rich man – and would become even more so. He was the founder and first President of the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company and also became a director of the Bank of Montreal and twenty-six other companies, as well as a governor of the three largest hospitals in Montreal. The Hosmers had a large and opulent house on Drummond Street in Montreal, filled with beautiful things, especially a fine collection of paintings, which included four Canalettos, said to be among the very finest. With the exception of the Canalettos, most of the Hosmer collection now belongs to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.
When H.R.H. the Prince of Wales visited Montreal in the 1920s, Charles Hosmer gave a magnificent ball in the Princes’ honour at the Drummond Street house. Miss Marguerite Pillow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Pillow, was still attending Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School for Girls, but she was allowed to attend the ball given by her great- uncle and great-aunt, where she danced with the Prince – a magical evening for a young girl.
The Hosmers were kindly and very sociable, with many friends, and travelled widely. Charles Hosmer was particularly known for his liveliness and wit, being interested in the theatre and arts in general. Nellie Melba, the great opera singer, was a personal friend. Near the end of his life, Charles Hosmer had a stroke, which affected his speech. He came to St. Andrews very often then, and every day his chauffeur, Thomas, would take him in a long, black open car on his favourite drive, round and round Indian Point. Then they would stop at the thirteenth hole on the golf course (below what became Anderson house), where his golfing friends would stop by and talk to him. When callers came to Hillcrest, he had lots of lettered wooden blocks, which he could manipulate very quickly into words and thus communicate with them.
One story about Hillcrest must be told. Mr. Clarence Mackay, President of Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation in the United States, had an attractive daughter named Ellin. She had fallen in love with a young and already prosperous pianist and composer – and he with her.
His name was Irving Berlin. Since the young man was Jewish, Clarence Mackay did not approve at all and tried everything to separate the young couple. He and Charles Hosmer were old friends, so in the summer of 1923 he sent Ellin all the way to St. Andrews to stay at Hillcrest with the Hosmers. Her suitor followed and proposed marriage. Since Ellin was only 20 and her father was so against the union, she was sent abroad for seven months in 1924. But she did not waver. On January 4th, 1926, she married Irving Berlin. Ellin died on July 29, 1988, and Irving Berlin on September 22, 1989, at the age of 101. They had been married for 62 years.
Before their marriage, Clarence Mackay had declared: “The day you marry my daughter, I will disinherit her” – to which Irving Berlin replied: “The day I marry your daughter, I’ll settle a million dollars on her” (he was then worth at least four million). So he called Clarence Mackay’s bluff with a vengeance.
Elwood Bigelow Hosmer was born in 1879 and died in 1947 at age 68. Married for a short time, then divorced, he had no children. He was a short, rather unattractive man who worked occasionally as a stockbroker but spent most of his time travelling, buying paintings, and smoking huge cigars. He was also a perpetual visitor to the Palm Court in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montreal, where he drank a lot. Sir Andrew McPhail, a physician and man of letters, and Alphonse Jongers, a well-known portrait painter, were boon companions: with Elwood Hosmer, they made three ugly men. Elwood lived at the Ritz during the last years of his life. However, he must have had a well-hidden spirit of adventure because in1927, some friends persuaded him to fly the Atlantic. Unfortunately, his plane – the flying whale – crashed after taking off from the Azores, and he and his three partners spent 12 hours drifting in the ocean until they were picked up by the liner Minnewaska. The newspaper reported that at the time Elwood was found he was sitting on a wing of the plane, calmly reading John Buchan’s Greenmantle. After this experience, he returned to his armchair in the Ritz.
He kept up his interest in flying sufficiently, however, to drive from St. Andrews to Pennfield Ridge in August 1932, when Jim Mollison touched down after his dramatic east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic. Elwood protected him from the Press and brought him back to spend the night at Hillcrest.
It was sad that the Hosmers left no grandchildren to inherit the large fortune left by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hosmer and by Elwood and his sister Olive. There was of course an extended family: Mrs. Homer’s sister, Mrs. Heney, had a daughter, Marjorie, who married George Shuter – and they had a son and daughter. Mrs. Heney’s son Theodore married Amy Springett – and there were two daughters and a son from this marriage. This extended family benefited greatly from the fortune of the former telegraph boy from Coteau Landing.
The character-defining elements of this property include:
- Symmetry and massing
- Steep rood pitches
- Entrance with large stone buttress
- Gable turrets
- Decorative eave brackets
- Pergola
- Ornamental columns
- Bow windows
- Enclosed porches
- Wood shingle cladding
The character-defining elements for the property include:
- circular driveway
- location on a large property that maintains historic open space
Architectural Style: Queen Anne Revival Shingle Style
Source: Willa Walker “Summers in St. Andrews”, St. Andrews Civic Trust – Charlotte County Archives, St. Andrews, New Brunswick
