One of Canada's most historically important places, it was in this building that the wheels were set in motion for the creation of the Dominion of Canada. In September of 1864, 23 delegates from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Upper and Lower Canada met here to debate the possibility of joining together in the formation of a new country.
Built in the years 1843 to 1847 to house the legislative assembly (elected) and the legislative council (appointed), Province House also housed the Prince Edward Island Supreme Court until 1872. The building's design was the work of Isaac Smith, winner of a public design competition.
In 2013 an inspection of Province House revealed major structural shortcomings requiring immediate attention. As a result the building was "Closed for Business" on January 1, 2015, not to reopen for three to five years. A news story on the situation, from the National Post, is reproduced in part below.
The legislative assembly presently resides in the adjacent George Coles Building at 175 Richmond Street, as Province House was closed on January 1, 2015 for three to five years of restoration work.
History of Province House
Province House has been the seat of Prince Edward Island's Legislative Assembly since 1847. It is Canada's second oldest active legislative building, after that of Nova Scotia.
Prior to the construction of Province House, or the Colonial Building as it was originally called, PEI's Legislature met in homes, taverns and, for over three decades prior to the completion of the Colonial Building, in the Plaw Building, which also housed the Court House. In 1837 Lieutenant Governor Harvey noted that Charlottetown lacked a solid and well constructed edifice for the deposit and safe custody of all Public Records. He set aside £5,000 for the construction of a building that would house both the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, as well as offices and storage for public records. Later it was decided that the Supreme Court would also be given space in the building, and a further £5,000 was assigned to the project. A public design competition was won by builder Isaac Smith, and construction began in 1843.
Province House was built of stone to make it more resistant to fire, with brick vaults to house records. Contracts for labour and materials were awarded to Island businesses, with the exception of the stone used for the exterior walls, which came from Nova Scotia. The beginning of construction in May, 1843, was marked with a parade, music, speeches and the laying of a cornerstone by Lieutenant Governor Sir Henry Vere Huntley. The finished building comprised a cellar and three stories; a central staircase divided each floor into east and west corridors, with offices on north and south sides. Larger rooms such as the Legislative Council Chamber and House of Assembly on the second floor, and the Supreme Court on the first floor, were located at the corridors’ end. The Legislature first met in the Province House on January 26, 1847, and the finishing touches were completed in 1848. Province House was built in the Classical Revival (or neoclassical) style and is comparable to public buildings in other colonies of the time.
From the Legislative Assembly of PEI
Province House is falling down
The P.E.I. Legislature’s home is riddled with severe structural problems, report says
Just as Prince Edward Island prepares to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the 1864 Charlottetown Conference, the revered stone building that hosted the first meetings of the Fathers of Confederation is at risk of partially collapsing.
Province House, built in 1847, was where colonial leaders met to hash out some of the earliest outlines of what would become Canada. Today, the building serves as the home of the P.E.I. Legislature.
P.E.I. has pegged Province House to serve “as the backdrop for 2014 celebrations” of the Charlottetown Conference. However, a recently unearthed May, 2013 engineering report found the building riddled with severe structural problems, many of them caused by its apparent failure to keep out Charlottetown’s rainy weather.
News of the report comes just as Parks Canada, the agency in charge of the structure, wrapped up $2-million in renovations designed to make Province House “ready to shine for 2014.”
Steel beams were bolted in to shore up bowing walls and stonemasons were brought in to deal with the worrying phenomenon of stones beginning to protrude — and even fall off — the exterior walls.
“Welcome back, Province House!” boasted the Legislative Assembly in a December online post soon after exterior scaffolding was taken down.
Within six weeks of reopening, however, plaster raining down from the ceiling once again forced the building to close “until further notice.”
From the National Post