TopNational Historic Site · 1692–1763Castle HillRoute 100Photo: HobbsTravels · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Castle Hill · Photo: HobbsTravels · CC BY-SA 3.03historic places on the registers
History of Placentia · Canada’s heritage registers
Placentia keeps a building from 1692: Castle Hill
All told the heritage lists hold 3 historic places within Placentia, and one sits in the top tier. Few towns have as much for their size: 8.9 for every 10,000 residents, more than 97% of Canadian towns. On the list: 2 provincial or municipal listings. 5 further listings on provincial or municipal registers are known only through Wikidata, so they have no page of their own.
Historic places
3
8.9 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
2
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1692
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
25%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
See Placentia today and before 1950: 3 photos, 2 old pictures
All of Placentia’s designated places are pictured. In front: Castle Hill and O’Reilly House. 3 different photographers shared them on Wikimedia Commons.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Through time
Placentia, 1740 to 1900
By date: one old photograph of the town, with the oldest view of one of its historic places. Point at a dot for its year, or tap a picture to enlarge it.
1740
c. 1900Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
The map
Where Placentia’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsProvincial and local listings
Names show on hover, and a tap takes you to the place’s page.
The 3, by tier
1 Highest designations2 Provincial and local listings
The federal directory kept by Parks Canada supplies most of these places; provincial and municipal lists outside Québec aren’t open data, so only the ones Wikidata documents with an article appear.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
Placentia’s top designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Provincial and local listings
2 more places Placentia or its province protects
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Among them: Fort Frederick and O’Reilly House. Each one opens its own page.
Local
LocalHomes by age
25% of Placentia’s homes are older than 1961, against a usual 18%
Half of the homes standing in Placentia today were built before 1981. The busiest building years in Placentia were from 1961 to 1980, which account for 39% of today’s homes. From 2016 to 2021 Placentia added 2.9% of its homes, less than the typical town’s 4.1%.
25%
Before 1961
39%
1961–80
23%
1981–2000
10%
2001–15
2.9%
2016–21
PlacentiaTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Towns its size
Placentia has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 3,300 to 3,400 residents, by places on the registers.
Placentia3
Only North St. Boniface has more. The typical town its size has 0. 10 of them have nothing on the registers.
In brief
Placentia in brief
Placentia has 25% of its homes from before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The lists come to 3 historic places, one with the highest designation, including Castle Hill. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just one has more historic places. The rest is about typical: its past has lives on the record such as François-Gabriel D'Angeac (1708) and Patricia Murphy (1905); and its one place was designated in 1968.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Map points. Where a federal place sits on the map is Wikidata’s placing; the directory itself has no coordinates.
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
- Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
- The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Provincial and municipal listings here come from Wikidata alone, since the provinces’ own registers can’t be reused; a listing needs an encyclopedia article to get a page.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
- The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
Questions about Placentia’s history
What is the oldest building in Placentia?
Castle Hill — its record dates it to 1692 (National Historic Site).
Which places in Placentia have the highest designation?
It is Castle Hill.
How old are the homes in Placentia?
Before 1961: 25% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Why might a heritage building in Placentia be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 5 more listings in Placentia, but without an open description or an encyclopedia article they get no page.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).