Nova Scotia House of Assembly, Halifax

Province House in Halifax is the home of the Nova Scotia's elected legislative assembly, known officially as the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The province legislature has met here every year since 1819, making it the longest serving legislative building in Canada, as well as Canada's oldest house of government.

Standing three storeys tall, the structure is considered to be one of the finest examples of classic British Palladian architecture in North America.

Province House was built on the same location as the previous Governor's House, erected by Edward Cornwallis (whose table still remains in the Province House bedroom) in 1749. Province House was opened for the first time on February 11, 1819. One of the smallest functioning legislatures in North America, it originally housed the executive, legislative and judicial functions of the colony, all under one roof.

The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia held its sessions in the House (in what is today the legislative library). On January 20, 1842, English author Charles Dickens attended the opening of the Nova Scotia Legislature, saying that it was like looking at Westminster through the wrong end of a telescope. During 1848, Province House was the site for the first form of responsible government in the British Empire outside the United Kingdom.

Undergoing many renovations, from 1985 to 1994, the building's reopening was attended by Queen Elizabeth II. Province House was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996, in recognition of its status as the longest serving legislative building in Canada, and the role it played in the development of responsible government and freedom of the press in the country.