A Note on the Architecture and History of the Nurse Myra Bennet House, Daniel’s Harbour

The home of Nurse Myra Bennet, known as Newfoundland’s Florence Nightingale, is a testament to her and her husband, Angus’, dedication to their community. The house was built by Angus in 1922 and was a two-storey with a low pitched hipped roof, and on the front, had two two-storey bay windows. 

In a submission to Downhome Magazine by Myra and Angus’ daughter Grace, wrote about the house:

He [Angus] had seen a house in Halifax with four bay windows on the front, one for the dining room and one for the living room and two upstairs for the bedrooms. He had to go into the woods, chop down the trees, and saw the lumber in the saw mill and using an ox and sleigh haul it out to the site in which he was doing the building. He had put a verandah on the back, it had four bedrooms, a bathroom, a place for linen, and two clothes closets. There was a space for a bathroom but indoor plumbing wasn’t used in Daniels Harbour, that would come later. Large kitchen and a pantry was built and in the pantry he found a running spring. What a find!!! We had fresh water without going to the well under the hill to bring buckets back to the house. He put a pump in and it served us very well.

Grace’s full letter can be found here: https://downhomelife.com/submission/nurse-myra-bennett-as-told-by-daughter-grace/ 

When Myra first arrived to Newfoundland from England in 1921 through NONIA, she was appointed to the North-West coast as the only medical caretaker in a nearly 320 kilometer region. Even after the two-year contract was complete, she continued her role despite the low–and at times, non-existant–compensation, and when patients could not pay, Angus helped by footing the bill.

As the nearest hospital was in St. Anthony (260 kilometers away), the kitchen of the Bennett home became the medical clinic. This set up continued until 1942 when Angus added a separate clinic space off the kitchen. Sometime in the 1940s, plumbing was installed to the home, but upon being designated by Heritage NL in 1991, the house remained mostly in its original state. 

Over her official career that lasted from the 1921 until 1953, Myra recorded that she delivered  5,000 babies and pulled 3,000 teeth, however these numbers are certainly higher as she continued working at least into the 1970s.

More details about the house and the Bennett Family, you can check out our webpage: https://heritagenl.ca/heritage-property/nurse-myra-bennett-house-registered-heritage-structure/