Heritage Inventories
In the autumn of 1995 the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador took a bold step in the documentation of Newfoundland's built heritage with the launch of the Bonavista Peninsula Heritage Inventory Project (BPHI). This pilot project was designed as a preliminary inventory of the area's heritage structures to identify and categorize the built heritage of the region, and was the first architectural inventory of its kind in the province. It was designed to serve as a basis for a province-wide inventory and for preparing a strategy for the preservation of Newfoundland's architectural heritage, an integral part of the mandate of the Heritage Foundation.
The mandate was to identify and examine all the pre-1920 structures on the peninsula and to collect data on the buildings and their architectural attributes. All buildings were of interest - residences, stores, sheds, stages, shops, outbuildings, hotels, workshops, schools, churches, halls, and lodge buildings. The project saw over 300 structures photographed, analysed and catalogued. In July of 1996 the survey area was expanded to include the communities of Random Island, Trinity Bay and the southernmost end of the peninsula.
The Bonavista Peninsula Heritage Inventory and subsequent surveys will determine the most significant surviving examples of Newfoundland's unique and striking architecture. To date, the BPHI is the only inventory of its kind for the province. Other programs, such as the Canadian Inventory of Historic Buildings, have prepared reports on select buildings but no comparable comprehensive regional survey has been attempted.
The Bonavista Peninsula
The Bonavista Peninsula, located on the northeast coast of Newfoundland between Trinity Bay and Bonavista Bay, is steeped in history. The namesake community of the peninsula, Bonavista, was sighted by John Cabot in 1497 and its history has been tied to the fishing industry ever since. By 1677 the community was the second most populous settlement on the island. Bonavista at one time rivalled St. John's as the fishing capital of North America, a title also sought by the community of Trinity on the eastern side of the peninsula. Discovered by Gaspar Corte Real in 1500, Trinity was permanently settled by the end of the seventeenth century, with many of its inhabitants emigrants of Dorset. Both communities have managed to preserve a great deal of their built heritage, a richness that is representative of the peninsula's economy before the collapse of the fishery.
Architectural Documentation
In documenting the architectural heritage of the area, many aspects of building construction were addressed. Of particular interest was information on the date of construction, the architect, the builder, the name and occupation of the original and subsequent owners, the use made of the building, the major construction materials used, and whether or not alterations have been made to the structure. And while the survey was directed at the exterior - the building's structure, roofing, windows and trim work - significant interior details such as wall finishes, ceilings, flooring or stairs were also noted.
Results
Already the collected data is yielding important information on the building traditions of the area. In Bonavista there seems to have been the development of a late Victorian local style, typified by a steep gable roof with double front peak dormers, heavy raincaps, roundels in the gable ends and distinctive wood panel doors with blue and red coloured glass inserts. This style of building is thought to derive from the work of a local builder, Ronald Strathie, and dates from 1900 into the 1920s. These Bonavista houses, also seen in the nearby community of Maberly, are infrequent in other settlements along the peninsula. Late Victorian vernacular housing on the rest of the peninsula is more consistent with patterns seen elsewhere in the province, with very low pitched roofs predominating.
The inventory has revealed that on the peninsula, local traditions have had strong impacts on building styles in some communities. The settlements of Old Bonaventure and New Bonaventure in Trinity Bay, for example, have excellent examples of curved roof houses also from this period. In the communities of Random Island, early nineteenth century steep gable roofs without dormers continued to be built well into the twentieth century, possibly due to the local abundance of slate. In other areas of the peninsula, the introduction of commercial roofing felt at the turn of the century facilitated the emergence of low pitched roofing. The numerous slate quarries in operation on or near Random Island during this period ensured a cheap local source of traditional roofing material and the cultural survival of older roof construction strategies.
Following the success of the BPHI, subsequent inventories have been started in other sections of the province. To date, the Foundation has been involved in inventory work in St. John's, the Burin Peninsula, and Twillingate. For further information on heritage inventory research, e-mail the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador.