The History of 87 Water St.
Home of The Reading Well Bookstore
In 1868 Daniel Davies was given permission to move a building from the corner
of Queen and Richmond Street to a site next to the brick bonded warehouse at
91 Water Street.
The permission to move the building, known as the London House, was contingent
on keeping a light in the structure each night it was in transit.
Apparently street lighting was so poor that fear of a collision between
the unwary and equipment used to move the structure was warranted.
When first used on Water Street, the building had a shop and pork curing facility
in the ground floor and basement and a dwelling on the second floor.
Things became livelier in the period from 1880-1890 when the appropriately named John Joy operated the Old London Billiard
Hall and Oyster House from the site. Joy is best known today for having issued brass token marked "Old London Ch'Town".
Likely used as bar and pool checks, the tokens are now much sought after by numismatists.
By the early twentieth century the history of the original London House building becomes unclear. Businessman E.T. Higgs
built a large warehouse on this site in 1911, most of which is already gone.
After extensive research, Charlottetown historian Irene Rogers came to the conclusion that the 1911 warehouse incorporated
the older London House structure, turning it so that its gable end faced the street.
The nature of the framing in the current building suggests a structure of some age, possibly a portion of the building
originally moved to the site in 1868.
