Built in 1902, city hall was originally built as a provincial government building and courthouse. It was designed by George Dillon Curtis, an Irish-born architect who had established a practice in Nelson in 1897 and designed public buildings there and in Rossland and Fernie as well. The historic stone and brick courthouse in Rossland was in fact designed by Curtis' future partner, John James Honeyman.
The building originally housed the gold commissioner's office, the chief of police and the mining recorder, as well as the county and supreme courts. There are three jail cells in the basement, one of which was part of the original design. The City of Greenwood bought it from the province in 1953 to use as its city hall.
The building is well preserved and still contains its original woodwork and fixtures, including the wooden staircase leading to the courtroom on the second floor, a beautifully hand painted safe in the city office, and stained glass windows and skylights in the courtroom.
On the grounds of City Hall are Greenwood's War Memorial and the original bell from Greenwood's original fire hall.
Deservedly, the old courthouse-city hall-jail house may be in for a much needed restoration to parts of the interior, including its historic courtroom, its stained glass and other items inside the building. The Boundary Creek Times news item, reproduced in part below, fills in some of the story's details.
City Hall preservation on Board
of Trade agenda
by Andrew Tripp - Boundary Creek Times
posted Sep 21, 2015 at 9:00 AM
The Greenwood Board of Trade (BOT) assembled for its monthly meeting recently and one of the main items on the agenda was the significant heritage value of City Hall and the need to preserve it, particularly that of the historic courtroom, where the board was meeting due to ongoing renovations to council chambers.
Special guest Linda Larson, MLA for the Boundary-Similkameen riding, attended the meeting to outline steps required to secure a grant of up to $25,000, potentially to be used for various restorations projects, including the cleaning of the stained glass windows that are mounted in the ceiling of the building.
The same artist that produced several windows for the B.C. Legislature building in Victoria crafted the glass, and, reportedly, it was his only project outside of the B.C. capital.
Larson also stressed the need to archive the significant amount of historical material stored in the building. She suggested that such a project could be contracted out to a college or university, perhaps as part of an Archive Conservation certificate program.
From the Boundary Creek Times