St. Dunstan's is the most prominent building on the Charlottetown skyline, its twin Gothic spires rising above the flat historic core and visible from the harbour. The current basilica dates to 1919, rebuilt after a fire destroyed the previous cathedral; the spires were added in the 1950s and reach 55 metres. It is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown, and the interior is richly decorated with Italian marble, carved woodwork, and stained glass.
The basilica is open to visitors most days outside of Mass times. The interior is more atmospheric than many Canadian churches of similar age — the scale is ambitious for a city this size, reflecting the large Irish and Scottish Catholic immigrant population that built the church and funded its successive rebuilds.