CNHS - Alberton Courthouse - Alberton, PEI
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 46° 48.737 W 064° 04.117
20T E 418473 N 5184858
This old wood frame courthouse was one of six circuit courts built in the 1870s and one of only two of this design. This is the only one remaining; the other, in Souris, has not survived.
Waymark Code: WMP6BR
Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada
Date Posted: 07/09/2015
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Weathervane
Views: 3
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Built in 1877-78, this was one of only two of the six circuit court buildings which included a jail in the basement. It was built with six jail cells and accommodations for a jailer. The building served the town as courthouse for about a century until its retirement in the late 1970s. It now houses the Alberton Museum.

Established in 1964, the museum originally consisted of a private collection. As it grew it eventually required a new and larger home. By 1980 the old courthouse building was no longer in use so the museum took over the premises. As well as local historical artefacts and photos the museum houses the West Prince Genealogy Centre.

ALBERTON COURT HOUSE

Soon after the passage of Prince Edward Island's County Courts Act in 1873, a series of six circuit court houses was erected in the province's small town and villages. Under the direction of the Provincial Board of Works, they were built according to a standard plan consisting of a rectangular main body dominated by a single room, with a porch at the gable-end entrance, like many rural schools and churches. Of the four circuit court houses that remained in 1980, the Alberton building, erected in 1877 by John Wiggins and Sons, is both representative and the most ornate of this rural type.
From the CNHS Plaque
Alberton Court House
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
The Alberton Court House is a simple wooden hall under a steeply pitched roof. With its entry on a gable end, the building evokes the image of a pioneer church rather than the courthouse that it was. Located in Alberton, Prince Edward Island, it is notable for its Neo-classical composition and graceful proportions. The designation refers to the building on its legal property. It now serves as the Alberton Museum.

HERITAGE VALUE
Alberton Court House was designated a National Historic Site in 1980 because it is both representative and the most ornate of a series of six circuit court houses erected according to a standard plan, soon after the passage of Prince Edward Island's County Courts Act in 1873.

All these early circuit court houses were small single storey pitched roof buildings constructed to a standard plan with a porch/vestibule and an open interior court room. The Alberton Court House was built in 1877-1878 by James Wiggins and Sons of Alberton to the standard plan designed by the Prince Edward Island Superintendent of Public Works in 1874-1875. The basement of the Alberton Court House contained half a dozen cells as well as accommodation for a keeper. The building ceased to be used as a court house in the late 1970s and began to be used as the local museum in 1980.

The heritage value of Alberton Court House National Historic Site lies in those aspects of its design that conform to the standard plan - its single storey form, open interior layout and porch/vestibule - as well as those that mark this building as distinctive - its basement gaol, its Neo-classical composition and graceful proportions.

CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
- its rectangular massing under a steeply pitched roof;
- its auditory hall design with an open interior volume and small rectangular entrance porch;
- its Neo-classical detailing, including its Roman arched window and door openings, corner pilasters, molded cornice, and oculus;
- its evenly spaced, tall round headed, multi-pane sash windows on the main floor and the small multi-pane barred windows with single, hinged exterior shutters of the basement;
- its wooden construction materials and their careful, skilled craftsmanship;
- surviving evidence of its original function as a courthouse and gaol, notably its open ground-floor volume and surviving layout and materials of the basement jail;
- surviving original fittings and furnishings, their materials, craftsmanship and finishes.
From Historic Places Canada
Classification: National Historic Site

Province or Territory: Prince Edward Island

Location - City name/Town name: Alberton

Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]

Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: [Web Link]
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