From the humblest dwelling to the grandest public edifice, New Brunswick boasts some of the most significant structures and built environments in Canada. New Brunswick’s architecture has traditionally exhibited excellence in craftsmanship, faithfulness to materials, and harmony with the environment; ideals that are earnestly being rediscovered.
As few physical structures remain from before the late 18th century, we must rely on archaeology and historical records to tell the stories of the birchbark dwellings of the First Nations, and the destroyed farms and forts of the early Acadians who arrived in the 17th century.
The arrival of the Loyalists in the 1780s to New Brunswick initiated the first broad influx of architectural principles that have remained to this day. While the first Loyalist houses and structures were simple and unadorned, the quality and reach of their buildings grew as the province grew. With superb building skills, easy access to the world’s best materials, and the wealth generated by shipping and the lumber trade, the 19th century saw many architectural styles flourish. New Brunswick saw the construction of heroic Gothic Revival churches, elaborate factories and railway stations, vigorous commercial streetscapes, large government buildings and schools, rows of mansions, and graceful farms.
Many of these notable buildings and neighbourhoods have become National Historic Sites, including Fredericton’s Government House (1828), Christ Church Cathedral (1853), the red brick industrial panorama of Marysville, the stunning seaside town of St. Andrews with its well-preserved Loyalist architecture, and the late 19th-century Prince William Street area of Uptown Saint John, the first nationally-designated streetscape in the country.
Other significant sites include the wonderfully crafted early 19th-century stone houses at Dorchester, MacDonald Farm at Bartibog (c. 1820), the Old Carleton County Courthouse in Upper Woodstock (1833), the stunning baroque interior of the Catholic Church at St. Isidore (1908), Saint John’s Imperial Theatre (1913), and Moncton’s towering Notre Dame de l’Assomption Cathedral (1940). Visitors can also step back in time to picturesque historic settlements that have carefully preserved both the architectural and material culture of our British and Acadian past, respectively: Kings Landing Historical Settlement on the Saint John River and the Village Historique Acadien near Caraquet.
While these show the range of early architecture in the province, other structures played a key role in the built history of New Brunswick, such as the Hartland Covered Bridge – the longest in the world at 1282 feet, the herring smokehouses on Grand Manan, and the historic wooden lighthouses that dot our coastline.
By the early 1950s, as New Brunswick wanted desperately to be part of a progressive and forward-looking Canada, the pull of Modernism that had swept the rest of the world became fully established. The province witnessed adventurous takes on structural engineering, bold spaces and enlightened aesthetics, found particularly in churches constructed from the late 1940s to early 1970s in New Brunswick’s francophone regions.
By the late 20th century, the province began to witness surprising interpretations of Postmodernist, Neo-traditionalist, Contemporary, and Green architecture, marking a renewed enthusiasm for celebrating form.
John Leroux, architect