Holman Homestead gets new lease on life

A Summerside couple has stepped up to save one of the city's most historic landmarks from demolition with a plan to turn Holman Homestead into a country inn — complete with an ice cream parlour.

Ken and Jenny Meister purchased the 1850s home on Fitzroy Street, which had been slated for demolition, earlier this month.

It's a beautiful looking house. The location is wonderful. It's got a great history to it.— Ken Meister

"We have a passion for old homes. We bought a property up the street and did a lot of work on it. And we had a lot of fun doing it, and we had the help of all of our kids working along with us," Ken Meister said.

"We saw this house up on the market two years ago, and showed some interest then, but we were really busy with our business. When we heard word of this property being torn down, it jerked at our heart strings a little bit, and we decided to come by and take a look and we found we wanted to make this our next project."

Meister said he fell in love with the house the first time he saw it.

"We loved the gardens. Ever since we moved and walked by, we thought the gardens were fantastic," he said.

"It's a beautiful looking house. The location is wonderful. It's got a great history to it. It would just be a shame for it to be not open to the public as a building that everybody can see and use."

Suites could be open by June

The home is in good shape, he said, but will still require a lot of work. He said the historic home has a lot of restrictive covenants on it, but any renovations on the building have been approved by the local heritage foundation.

The home was built in the 1850s and bought by R. T. Holman — the founder of the Holman department stores that once dotted the province.

In December, the city approved a demolition permit that would have seen the building torn down after its former owner tried unsuccessfully to sell the home for nearly two years.

The Meisters have been renovating projects since they moved to Summerside three years ago.

First, they fixed up and opened the Summerside Inn Bed and Breakfast, which has won awards from Trip Advisor, Booking.com and Cottage Life magazine. Last year, the couple bought a lighthouse cottage that had been abandoned for five years and spent the winter renovating it.

The Meisters expect to spend up to 12-hour days working on the house. They hope to open Holman's Ice Cream Parlour and Heritage Suites by June.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | Fledgling curling team is new to the ice — and Canada
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | How the P.E.I. government is banking on the new Anne movie
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | 'More efficient approach' needed to P.E.I. seniors' health care, says tender