Description of Historic Place

The J. Angus MacLean Building was built in 1872 as the Union Bank Building. It is a three storey brick structure in the Italianate style with mansard roof. It was renamed in honour of former Premier J. Angus MacLean (1914-2000) in October 2002. It is prominently situated on historic Great George Street near Queen's Square in the centre of Charlottetown across from the Provincial Legislature. The designation includes the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Union Bank of PEI was one of the earliest banks to operate in the province. It is one of the best preserved examples of Italianate architecture in a public building in PEI.

The building is also evocative of important events in PEI history, such as the building of the PEI Railway and the financial difficulty this caused which was one of the contributing factors leading to the entry of PEI into Canadian Confederation in 1873.

The building of the PEI Railway in the 1870s left the bank cash strapped which led to its amalgamation with the Bank of Nova Scotia in 1883 and they operated it as a bank until 1921. The first telephone exchange in the province was established in the building in 1884 in the law offices of Palmer and MacLeod.

Source: PEI Heritage Advisory Committee Files

Character-Defining Elements

The following architectural features are integral to the heritage value of the building:

- the Italianate red brick construction
- the height of 3 storeys
- the mansard roof (topped originally with iron cresting)
- the compact and strongly defined windows framed by round arches
- the distinctive quoins on the 4 corners of the building