Description of Historic Place

The Greenwood Courthouse (Supreme Court of Yale), is a four story wood-framed constructed, located at the corner of Government and Deadwood Streets in the City of Greenwood, British Columbia. The building was constructed in 1902-1903 to serve as the provincial government building and courthouse for the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the first in the interior of British Columbia. Served as the Supreme Court of Yale from 1902-1953. The building is located at 202 S. Government Ave., Greenwood, BC and is currently used as the City Hall.

Heritage Value

The Greenwood Courthouse is significant because of its historical, cultural and aesthetic significance to Greenwood and the surrounding region.

Prominent BC architect George D. Curtis was commissioned to design and oversee construction of the heritage site. The building was constructed by Smith Brothers and Travis who were contractors that built many of the institutional, commerical, and high-end residential buildings during Greenwood's early development. The architect George D. Curtis is known in Greenwood's history for his contract for this building and a residence for Gold Commissioner and Provincial Agent W.E. McMynn.

The heritage site is representative of the role that institutions played in the establishment of order and governance in the Boundary and other regions; and the establishment of colonial society in the resource boomtowns of British Columbia.

The heritage site is valued as the first Supreme Court in the District of Yale and served as a significant political and cultural center to the community for the court cases in the years 1903-1953. Greenwood's importance as the center for the Boundary mining region, and indeed its survival, was solidified by the Province's decision to locate the Supreme Court, Gold Commissioner and Provincial Agent in the City. W.G. McArthur, a long serving Mayor, was influential in Greenwood becoming an internment camp for 1200 Japanese Canadians during WWII. After the war, the heritage site was subsequently used as a City Hall, Museum, and Courthouse.

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements of the heritage site include its:

- elements relating to the original construction and use of the building as a Provincial Government building and Courthouse
- asymmetrical massing of exterior elements
- interior layout
- stained glass windows in the courtroom - two vertical round windows depicting the seven coats-of-arms of the provinces of Canada in confederation in 1902, stained glass in the ceiling symbolizes the saints of England, Scotland and Ireland (comprising the flag of the Union Jack)
- west coast cedar for interior construction and trim, courtroom, jury room, judge's room, jury box, witness and prisoner's box, upper gallery
- ancillary staircase used by Judge's lawyers and witnesses, partial staircase beside the prisoners box, to go down to the prison cells in the basement
- furnishings
- basement jails: one original cell, and two metal cells - installed approx. 1915, remnants of a coal bin, bannisters
- prisoner entrance to the basement, from the outside north corner, has a rock entrance holding back the earth
- front pillars with a balcony on top, and turrets. The outside of the building and the foundation is the same as it was built in 1903