Canada Guide
The Maritime Provinces
Province House
Address: A couple of minutes' walk from Grand Parade down George Street on Hollis
Opening time: July & Aug Mon– Fri 9am–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; rest of year Mon– Fri 9am–4pm
Price: Free
Charles Dickens, visiting in 1842, described the graceful sandstone Province House as "a gem of Georgian architecture" whose proceedings were "like looking at Westminster through the wrong end of a telescope". Highlights of the free guided tour – self-guided in winter – include a peek into the old upper chamber, now the Red Chamber, with its ornate plasterwork and assorted portraits, including a dandified King George III and Queen Charlotte and, at the other end of the room, George I and his daughter-in-law Caroline: George I should have been pictured with his wife, Sophia, rather than his daughter-in-law, but no one ever bothered to rectify this costly decorative error. The present legislature meets in the Assembly Chamber, a cosy room that partly resembles a Georgian bedroom rather a provincial seat of government.