Description of Historic Place

The Victoria County Registry Office Provincial Historic Site consists of a red sandstone and grey granite two and a half storey office building built in 1902. It is situated on a parcel of land facing the St. John River in the Village of Perth-Andover.

Heritage Value

The Victoria County Registry Office is significant as one of the few cut stone buildings in the region. The building was constructed in 1902 employing local masons and using local sandstone and granite from McAdam. Through the course of a century, it has been an important place in the community and region. It housed various local government offices and served as the official repository for all deeds of Victoria County from 1902 to 1997. It also housed the first bank in the area, a branch of the Peoples Bank of Halifax from 1902 to 1905 when it was taken over by the Bank of Montreal. The Records Office has had various tenants share the building including the New Brunswick Telephone Company (1907-1912) and the Western Union Telegraph and Cable Company (1920s). Source: New Brunswick Culture and Sport Secretariat, Heritage Branch, Site File # 81.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Victoria County Registry Office include: - setting of the building, its orientation to the street and river, adjacent the Victoria County Court House, creating a grand public image that could be viewed from a distance; - approximately square main section of the building with a medium pitch hip roof ; - front projection around the central main entrance with a medium pitch roof and a front gable; - cut stone, broken course walls made of red sandstone quarried nearby in the Wapske area, accentuated by cut granite quoins, window & door surrounds, sills, and door arch brought from McAdam; - exterior walls emphasized by two continuous bands of stone several inches proud of the wall surface at the corresponding sill heights; - attic gable featuring a pointed arch window and sheathed in diamond shaped interlocking metal tiles stamped with a floral pattern; - stained glass window within the arch over the main entry door consists of the words “Victoria County” on a scroll contour crowned by a faded British coat of arms; - original pair of vaults on the main floor with their metal doors, exposed brick and steel fireproof structural ceilings.