Downtown St. John's is the historic core, and

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North Ame ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Located north of St. John's harbour, it is the business, entertainment, and tourism centre with office buildings, hotels, restaurants, and other services.

Geography

In the case of St John's the word "downtown" is ambiguous because it can be both taken literally, and can follow the dictionary. That is the old city is literally downtown, below the ridge along which Military Road runs. However, the word "downtown" usually means "the central business district," and its boundaries in St John's are sometimes extended further north and west. The historic boundaries of Downtown St John's are usually thought to start at the harbour, and is bounded by Waterford Bridge Road in the west, Cavendish Square/Plymouth Road in the east, and Military Road in the north. A common misconception is also that The Battery is a part of downtown St. John’s. In recent years, the boundaries of the "downtown" (in the generic sense) have been extended further north and west. As such, it now usually takes in Military Road and Lemarchant Road (sometimes only as far as far Merrymeeting Road). According to ''Defining Canada’s Downtown Neighbourhoods: 2016 Boundaries'', Downtown St. John's is approximately in landmass.

Culture

Downtown St. John's is home to

The Rooms The Rooms is a cultural facility in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The facility opened on June 29, 2005 and houses the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Provin ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

's cultural facility, which unites the Provincial Museum, the Provincial Art Gallery and the Provincial Archives all under one roof. The A1C postal code in the downtown area is known to have one of the highest concentrations of artists in Canada.

Entertainment

The

Mary Brown's Centre Mary Brown's Centre (formerly Mile One Centre) is an indoor arena and entertainment venue located in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlanti ...

is the city's main sports and entertainment centre. Built in 2001, it has been the home of the

St. John's Maple Leafs The St. John's Maple Leafs were a minor ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, at Memorial Stadium from 1991 to 2001, and at Mile One Stadium from 2001 to 2005. The team was ...

St. John's Fog Devils The St. John's Fog Devils were a junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Division of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) from 2005 to 2008. They were based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and played at Mile One Centre ...

St. John's IceCaps The St. John's IceCaps were a professional ice hockey team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. They were members of the North Division of the Eastern Conference of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team was originally aff ...

, and most recently, the

Newfoundland Growlers The Newfoundland Growlers were a professional minor league ice hockey team in the East Coast Hockey League, ECHL based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team began play in the 2018–19 ECHL season, 2018–19 season with home games ...

and

St. John's Edge The St. John's Edge were a Canadian professional basketball team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, that competed in the National Basketball League of Canada. From 2017 to 2020, they played home games at Mile One Centre. They were ...

. It is also a major concert venue. In April 2010 Mile One, as well as George Street, hosted the

Juno Awards The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's music industry. The Grammy Awards are the United S ...

for the second time. The Downtown Busker Festival is an annual event held in August. The festival is the only one of its kind in the province and features local talent as well as national and international performers.

Nightlife

George Street is located downtown and is the focal point of the city's nightlife. The short street is populated mainly by bars and pubs, which are open later than most others in

. The street is the venue for an annual

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

celebration in October. However, the largest celebration on George Street is the six-night George Street Festival. The festival occurs at the end of July or early August and typically concludes on the Tuesday night before the Royal St. John's Regatta, which is set for the first Wednesday in August. Over 120,000 people making their way through the streets during the six-day period.

Historic buildings

St. John's is one of the oldest cities in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, with numerous historic buildings from the nineteenth century.

Economy

Downtown St. John's is the central business district for the city and is the centre of the oil and gas industry in

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (, also the Eastern provinces, Canadian East or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of Hudson Bay/ Hudson Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newf ...

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

has its headquarters in the Cabot Building on New Gower Street, as well

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. In th ...

and

Suncor Energy Suncor Energy Inc. () is a Canada, Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-largest public ...

along with other oil and gas companies have major operations downtown.

Fortis Inc. Fortis Inc. is a Canadian electric utility holding company, based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. It operates in Canada, the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. In 2015, it earned . Fortis was formed in 1987, when shareho ...

have their headquarters in the Fortis Building on Water Street and they own and operate several of the office buildings and hotels downtown. All of the Big Five Canadian banks have operations in the downtown core as well.

Hotels

* Courtyard by Marriott St. John's * Delta St. John's Hotel * Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland

Retail

Downtown has many small stores including unique specialty stores and fashionable clothing boutiques for men and women. There are art galleries, bookstores, and music stores featuring the work of local artists scattered throughout the downtown.

Government

Municipal

Downtown St. John's is the home of the St. John's City Council Chamber at city hall. Offices for the mayor, city councillors, and additional staff are also located in city hall.

Federal

The

office for the regional federal minister is located downtown, as well many

Federal Government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

departments and agencies are also located downtown in different buildings including: the Sir Humphrey Gilbert Building and the John Cabot Building.

Demographic

From the report from Statistics Canada named ''Defining Canada’s Downtown Neighbourhoods: 2016 Boundaries'', Downtown St. John's has approximately 9,431 people living within its boundaries. The population density is approximately 31 people per hectare.

References

External links

Downtown St. John's
{{St. John's landmarks Neighbourhoods in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Saint John's History of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Venues of the 2025 Canada Summer Games