Government House of Nova Scotia is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, as well as that in Halifax of the Canadian Monarch. It stands in the provincial capital at 1451 Barrington Street; unlike other provincial Government Houses in Canada, this gives Nova Scotia's royal residence a prominent urban setting, though it is still surrounded by gardens.

The public has only access to the Main Foyer, the Grand Staircase, the Ballroom, the Morning Room, the Drawing Room and the Dining Room.

(Description copied from wikipedia)

The Drawing Room 

• Traditionally Drawing Rooms were the most formal rooms in a house – see the gilt bronze mantle clock, candelabras, and classical paintings. 

• In the late Victorian period, the room was completely different, there is a picture of it on the Lieutenant Governor’s website which shows how cluttered the room was - typical of the period – with furniture and trinkets with lots of pictures and paintings cover the walls from the floor to the ceiling. 

• In 1860, the Prince of Wales, son of Queen Victoria and the future King Edward VII, held a levee in this room during his Royal Tour of Canada in 1860. You will note the Prince of Wales’ feather’s which appear in the valances over the windows. There is a sketch of that famous levee in the Dining Room. 

• Now it is used for smaller receptions, investitures and during the levee. 

• The center painting is of the present Queen’s father, King George VI. Together with his consort, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), they visited Canada in 1939, the first visit by a reigning monarch. 

• The first responsible Executive Councillors (the cabinet) met in this room in February 1848, making their meeting the first responsible cabinet government in the British Empire (outside of the United Kingdom). 

• In 1995, during the G7 Summit in Halifax, then Prime Minister Jean Chretien used the function rooms at Government House including this one to welcome the world leaders including: Bill Clinton of the US, Helmut Kohl of Germany, John Major of the UK, and special guest, Russian President Boris Yelstin. This was the first time the Russians were invited to the G7 meeting. 

• In 2014 The Prince of Wales was sworn into the Privy Council in this room. 

• The bust of Queen Elizabeth II was a gift from the Government of Canada in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. It was unveiled by the former Lieutenant Governor at the Garden Party in 2012. 

• The Despatch Box under the back mirror was a portable writing table and secure document box for Lieutenant Governor, Sir Charles Hastings Doyle. 

• The two other paintings are of the “Archangel Michael” by Guido Reni and “Cumaean Sibyl” a copy of Domenichino’s original by Joseph Bolzern – the second was owned by Capt. John Taylor Wood, grandson of US President Zachary Taylor and nephew of Confederate president, Jefferson Davis.