Description of Historic Place

1916 City Hall Façade consists of a neoclassical two-storey Doric pillar and pilaster sandstone façade with a large pediment located at the entrance of the Moncton Museum on Mountain Road in Moncton.

Heritage Value

1916 City Hall Façade is designated a Local Historic Place for being a good and rare example of large-scale neoclassical design in Moncton.

When architect Albert Sincennes and contractor Tilman D. Leblanc erected the City Hall and Market building in 1915-1916 to replace the one destroyed by fire on February 25, 1914, the result was one of the most architecturally striking buildings in Moncton’s history. The large neoclassical Doric pillars and pediment served as a narrowly protruding portico for the immense building which measured 49 meters long by 18.5 meters wide and included an opera house and city market. The sandstone from Smith Quarries in Amherst, Nova Scotia was evaluated at the time as the best in the country. The façade was often adorned for special occasions, such as coronations, royal visits and sports and military parades. The large rectangular facility in pink sandstone stood on the south side of Main Street until it was deemed to small for Moncton’s growing needs in 1969. When dismantled, the façade was kept for innovative local architect Jacques Roy with the intent of using it for the façade of the proposed Moncton Museum. The museum, including the historic façade reassembly, was completed in 1973.

Source: Moncton Museum, Moncton, New Brunswick - second floor files – “20 Mountain Road – City Hall Façade”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe 1916 City Hall Façade location and context include:
- continued use as a façade of a civic building.

The character-defining elements that describe the exterior elements of 1916 City Hall Façade include:
- rusticated pink sandstone ashlar masonry;
- block modillions under moulded cornice and pediment;
- moulded architrave;
- 2-story Doric pillars;
- 2-story Doric engaged pilasters;
- ancone brackets under windows;
- ancone keystone on moulded Roman arch entrance;
- blind Roman arch transom over door;
- wide frieze with haut-relief inscription: “1916 – CITY HALL – 1916” with pillars and pediment forming shallow portico.