Beaconsfield, originally uploaded by Luisa Carbonelli.

Here is what I remember from the tour of the house: Once upon a time, when Charlottetown ship-building was at its peak, the local millionaire Peake built a dream home overlooking the harbor inlet. Five years later, that whole line of business had fallen through, and the Island had no more lumber for building ships: Peake was bankrupt. The house was sold. All inventory was auctioned off.

Another rich family moved in, then out. Nuns used the building for years. (Later I heard that when the nuns used the house, they removed a statue of a half-naked lamp-holding Venus. It was in its original location when I saw it.)

Next to the building is an annex, Carriage House, which is still used for meetings and concerts and the like. When we visited, and got a personal tour, there was a Heritage Association (?) meeting in progress in the annex.

In the picture above, you can see how the rooms are now presented: sealed off with a ribbon, you look into these recreated milieux, guided by a storyteller, who may or may not know the details of the items in the rooms. Fact we got to know: The wallpaper is after-the-fact installed William Morris designs. All rooms have that. Must have cost a fortune. Looks stunning, though.

Luisa’s audio-guide idea could work well in this place; lots of items to hook a story to, simple to get the user to stand in the right place for a story. And, having several stories for the same room could give the user more interpretation than would be possible from a tour guide.