Description of Historic Place

Charlotte County Court House National Historic Site of Canada is a simple, one-and-a-half-storey, wood-frame building with a monumental pedimented portico. Built from 1839-1840, it is located on an elevated site next to the county gaol, in the town of Saint Andrews. The formal recognition consists of the building and the legal property on which it sat at the time of designation in 1981.

Heritage Value

Charlotte County Court House was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1981 because:
- the Charlotte County Court House is the best preserved example in New Brunswick of the typical mid-19th century Maritime court house.

The Charlotte County Court House is typical of mid-19th-century county court houses in its siting, composition, form, materials and classical features. Like other county court houses of the period erected in the Maritime Provinces, its simple, wooden, vernacular form was distinguished from other buildings in the community by the addition of certain monumental features appropriate to its function and status in the community. These included an elevated site, a prominent pedimented portico, and the incorporation of classical masonry detailing translated into wood. The Charlotte County Court House was situated adjacent to the county gaol for functional reasons. The elegance and fine craftsmanship of the courthouse reflect the community’s prosperity and pride in its public buildings, particularly those associated with the justice system. A royal coat of arms representing the British origins of the Loyalists who settled in the area was carved into the tympanum of the pediment by Charles Kennedy in 1858.

Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, June 1981, November 1982.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that relate to the heritage value of this site include:
- its vernacular form, low-massing and composition, consisting of a symmetrical, one-and-a-half-storey clapboard building, five bays wide, a medium-pitched gable roof, and a classical portico intersecting the gable roof;
-its classical features and detailing, including an elaborate pedimented portico with decorative mouldings, Tuscan columns and broad entrance steps, and pilasters at the corners of the building and on either side of the entrance;
- its openings, including double entrance doors topped by a large, multi-pane rectangular transom, and large multi-pane windows symmetrically placed on either side of the entrance doors;
- the carved and painted coat of arms on the tympanum of the pediment;
- its construction of local pine with a random ashlar foundation;
- the high quality of its construction and craftsmanship;
- its elevated siting;
- its relationship to other county buildings, including the adjacent gaol, and the nearby registry office.