For those interested in built heritage, history, architecture and photo opportunities, this district offers the opportunity for a rewarding and picturesque self-guided walking tour in the distinctive downtown St. John’s core.

Since the 1600s, St. John’s Historic District has been shaped by the English, Irish and Scottish settlers who built a new society here. Its historic churches, buildings and cultural landscapes reflect the social, spiritual, political and economic foundations of Newfoundland and the city. Designated a National Historic District of Canada, it showcases the rich cultural heritage, art and architecture of the Old World in the New.

Description of Historic Place

St. John’s Ecclesiastical District National Historic Site of Canada is a large, linear shaped parcel of land located in St. John’s Newfoundland, overlooking the north side of St. John’s Harbour.

The district, located in the centre of town, is largely composed of 19th- and 20th-century buildings and landscape features associated with the Roman Catholic, Anglican, United (formerly Methodist) and Presbyterian denominations. All but one of the buildings are of masonry construction.

The district includes three separate nodes in the downtown area. The first, most northern node contains eight buildings and a cemetery. The second node, to the east, includes a number of largely interconnected buildings, the centrepiece of which is the Basilica of St. John the Baptist National Historic Site of Canada. The third, most southern node contains seven buildings associated with three Protestant denominations, including St. John the Baptist Anglican Cathedral National Historic Site of Canada. Official recognition refers to the three nodes in the downtown area of St. John’s.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that contribute to the heritage character of the site include: its location in downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland; its sitting on a steep hill overlooking the city’s harbour; the single use character, including ecclesiastical buildings, cemeteries and monuments; the informal organic layout of the district featuring three separate nodes with varying architectural styles, materials and boundaries; the various landscape features including trees, shrubs and open spaces.

Elements relating to the first node: the lack of cohesion which attests to the organic evolution of the site; the variety of masonry construction materials including wood, cut stone, grey stone and brick; the Second Empire-style three-and-a-half storey former St. Michael’s Orphanage, with a symmetrical design, central tower and decorative window mouldings; the eclectic design of Mount St. Francis Monastery with its bay windows, steeply-pitched dormered roof, quoins and windows with V-shaped arches; the modern, 20th-century masonry school buildings (Holy Heart, Brother Rice, and MacPherson) with horizontal massings, flat roofs, associated parking lots and playing fields; the rectangular functional design of O’Hehir Arena; Belvedere cemetery, including the original burial ground and the linear layout of its paths and monuments.

Elements relating to the second node: the sense of time and place conveyed by the layout, building types, masonry construction and architectural design; the Lombard Romanesque Revival-style Basilica of St. John the Baptist, with its symmetrical façade, two large towers, semi-circular arched openings and contrasting stonework; Basilica square, located in front of the cathedral, including the triumphal arch crowned with a sculpture of St. John the Baptist; the Classical Revival-style, two-storey Presentation Convent, and the Presentation School of similar scale with a hip roof and a gabled projecting frontispiece; additions to the Presentation buildings such as a chapel, Health Centre, Spiritual Centre, garden and cemetery; the Italianate and Renaissance Revival-style Bishop’s Library with its diminishing window height, roof with plain entablature, pedimented window and Tuscan Order porch; Bishop’s Palace designed in the classical tradition; St. Bonaventure’s College in its symmetrical British Classical style with plain doorframes and curve-headed windows; including later additions such as Mullock Hall, Holland Hall and the chapel; the Second Empire-style St. Patrick’s Hall, with a mansard roof and central frontispiece with a tower; the buildings of the Sisters of Mercy including the four-storey convent and the Renaissance Revival chapel.

Elements relating to the third node: the lack of cohesion which attests to the independent development of each denomination’s properties; St. John the Baptist Anglican Cathedral with grey cut stone, a Gothic Revival nave, extended transepts and chancel; the Italianate Romanesque Revival-style, Gower Street United Church with bold massing and a symmetrical façade with two towers; the High Victorian Gothic Revival-style St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (known locally as “The Kirk”), with its single spire and polychromatic exterior; the former Parish Rectory and House designed in the Queen Anne Revival style, characterized by asymmetry, bay windows and irregular rooflines; the two-storey, red brick Anglican Parish Hall.