Construction of Government House was ordered in 1800 by then governor
Sir John Wentworth to replace the existing Government House that stood on the present location of
Province House, with the cornerstone of the former being laid on 1 September of that year. The site had originally been purchased by the Crown as the location for a new colonial legislature, but it was eventually deemed to be too far removed from the capital, and was allocated for use as a viceregal residence instead. The Governor and his family moved into the still incomplete building in 1805. On 8 March 1834, Lieut. Col.
James Fullarton, C.B., K. H. died at Government House and was later buried at the
Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia). The first royal resident was Prince Edward, Prince of Wales (later King
Edward VII), in 1860, who was followed by others such as
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, in 1869 (he would also serve as
Governor General of Canada); Prince George (later King
George V) in 1883 and 1901; Prince Albert in 1913 and again in 1939 as King
George VI, along with his wife,
Queen Elizabeth, who returned as the Queen Mother in 1967 for the
Canadian Centennial and in 1979; their daughters, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, in 1951 and again in 1959, 1976, 1994 and 2010 as Queen
Elizabeth II, and
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, in 1958 and 1988; Elizabeth II's children,
Prince Andrew in 1985 and
Prince Edward in 1987, as well as
Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1983, accompanied by
Diana, Princess of Wales. The mansion was also the gathering place for the various
ministers of finance attending the 1995
G7 summit in Halifax. A fire erupted in the mansion's attic in 1854; however, the blaze was kept under control due to the fireproofing precautions taken during the design and construction of the edifice. Government House was not well maintained in the latter half of the 20th century. As one of the oldest official residences in Canada, Government House was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada in 1982. The following year, the provincial government, under the
Heritage Property Act, listed the house and its gardens as a Provincially Registered Property, in recognition of its
Georgian architecture and its association with the various lieutenant governors since 1805 and the Canadian monarchy. The property was not well maintained, regardless, and it underwent extensive renovation and restoration for three years prior to the end of 2008; At the same time, a new Royal Key was inaugurated; it was presented to the Queen and then returned at the end of her tour of Canada, so as to be granted to future lieutenant governors. Nova Scotia's Government House is presently the oldest viceregal residence in
North America. ==Use==