Description of Historic Place

Sir Pierre-Amand Landry House is three-storey Second Empire style house with two single-storey front bay windows and side porches. Various decorative brackets under the main mansard roof and the other rooflines give elegance to this house located on Cape Road in Dorchester.

Heritage Value

Sir Pierre-Amand Landry House was designated a Local Historic Place for its association with Sir Pierre-Amand Landry, for its association with English and French cultural harmony, for its association with the Acadian Renaissance, for its architecture and for its association with the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly.

Sir Pierre-Amand Landry House is recognized for its association with Sir Pierre-Amand Landry (1846-1916). This residence was probably built circa 1872 when Pierre-Amand Landry married Bridget Annie McCarthy. Sir Pierre-Amand Landry was the first Acadian lawyer, provincial cabinet minister, judge and chief justice. Sir Landry was also the first and only Acadian to receive knighthood from a King of England. He was elected to the Provincial Legislature in 1870 to replace his father, notable pioneer Acadian politician Amand Landry. Sir Landry became a cabinet minister in 1878. On May 2, 1883 Landry gave a seven hour speech, the longest speech in the history of the New Brunswick Legislature, speaking mostly for the rights of Acadians. The following day he resigned as an MLA. Landry went on to become the Member of Parliament for Kent County from 1883 to 1890. In 1890, Pierre-Amand was appointed County Judge for Westmorland and Kent Counties and, in 1893, he was promoted to the Provincial Supreme Court. In December 1913, Landry was appointed as New Brunswick’s Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. In June 1916, shortly before his death, Pierre-Amand Landry was made a Knight of the Order of St. Michael and St. George by King George V of England.

Sir Pierre-Amand Landry House is also recognized for its association with cultural harmony and equality between Anglophones and Francophones. Sir Pierre-Amand Landry studied at his local French parish school, in the English Collegiate School in Fredericton and in the bilingual Saint-Joseph College in Memramcook. He was elected with the highest number of votes in Westmorland County in 1870, where two-third of the population was English-speaking and married an English-speaking Irish Catholic woman, Bridget Annie McCarthy. Landry encouraged English- and French-speaking people to live in mutual respect and tolerance.

The remarkable career of Sir Pierre-Amand Landry is the very symbol of the Acadian Renaissance of the late 19th century, illustrating both the awakening of national consciousness among the Acadians and the beginning of their consequent integration and participation in provincial government and administration. He was president of a group of Acadian leaders that organized the first three Acadian National Congresses and that successfully lobbied for the nomination of the first Acadian senator, Pascal Poirier in 1885, and the first Acadian Roman Catholic bishop, Reverend Alfred E. LeBlanc in 1912.

Sir Pierre-Amand Landry House is recognized for its architecture. This three-storey residence with a mansard roof is a good example of Second Empire residential architecture from the 19th century. The overhanging eaves with brackets and cornices give an Italianate feel to this Victorian-era home.

Landry House is recognized for its association with the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly Building. Landry, as Minister of Public Works, presided over the construction of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly Building, which opened in February 1882, and which was, as was his home, built in the Second Empire style. The project was completed in time and under budget. The sandstone used for this building came from quarries in Landry’s riding in the Dorchester area.

Source: Dorchester Village Office, Local Historic Places File #1

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements related to the Sir Pierre-Amand Landry House include:
- balanced, symmetrical rectangular three-storey massing;
- mansard roof;
- bracketed gable dormer windows;
- overhanging eaves with brackets and cornices;
- lateral porches with brackets under the cornices;
- tall, narrow, double-paned windows with moulded surrounds and bracketed entablatures;
- single-storey bay windows on the front façade.