Description of Historic Place

The Charlotte County Registry Office is a two-storey, square brick Georgian edifice located on historic King Street in Saint Andrews. Surrounded by mature gardens, the building is now a business and private residence.

Heritage Value

The Charlotte County Registry Office is designated a Provincial Historic Site because it was a notable civic building in the Loyalist history of Saint Andrews. Erected several decades after the arrival of the Loyalists, its construction was in response to a growing need to properly house the vital records of the Loyalist families and other settlers.

The Charlotte County Registry Office is also designated as a good example of a civic building architecture of the period. The building was constructed in two stages; the main part as a single storey in 1837 and an addition in 1887. Simple in design, the structure was built with functionality, rather than grandeur, in mind. It does, however feature many traditional elements of Georgian architecture, namely the hipped roof, square massing and the simple eaves with dentils.

Source: Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport - Heritage Branch - Site File: Vol. I - 12765-4/D, 5

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements relating to the Charlotte County Registry Office’s value include:
- its historic context on King Street;
- two-storey square massing;
- hipped roof;
- centrally located corbel chimney;
- red brick exterior walls;
- brick dentils and corbel bands below moulded eaves;
- window shutters on the side elevations;
- symmetrical placement of rectangular and segmented arch windows with brick headers;
- location on historic King Street in proximity to the Charlotte County Courthouse;
- off-centre main entrance featuring wooden door and door shutters.