668 Carnarvon Street
New Westminster Court House (1891) rebuilt (1899)
Victorian Romanesque StyleThe Old Courthouse was designed by architect George W. Grant in 1891. The Great Fire of 1898 gutted the building completely. The following year, Grant was commissioned to rebuild the Courthouse using the original walls and the same general plan. This Victorian Romanesque civic building style features brick and stone construction with a slate roof. The exterior has a red brick facade with carved stone details, arched entrances and windows, and an irregular roofline created by the chateau style roof. The architecture of the Courthouse makes the building visually dominate the downtown and its roofline, massing, and distinctive brick and stone facade set the historic character for the street.
The building is structurally sound and the exterior facade fairly well preserved. A new entrance was added in 1910, and the central front facade was removed in 1914, and the ornamental cornice was removed in the 1960's. The Annex was demolished in 1984. In 1987, the Land Registry Office building and the Old Courthouse building were both renovated for office use. The renovations retained the architectural detail of the original buildings and preserved the heritage aspects for the community.
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