Fowler House: A Restoration Project in Brigus

The Fowler House in Brigus, built circa 1850, was designated as a Registered Heritage Structure by Heritage NL in 1988 for its historic value.

Image: Fowler House, Brigus. Photo courtesy of Heritage NL

The most iconic and distinctive part of the structure is the roller located at the base of a door on the second floor of the attachment - this served as a way to ease pulling fishing nets up from the street into the loft to mend them. As the town of Brigus was heavily involved in the fishery, having a tangible representation of the history of the fishery in the community through the house is very valuable.

Image: Clapboard removal from Fowler House. Photo courtesy of @brigus_twine.loft

Today the current owners are working with Heritage NL, contractors, and individuals skilled in heritage restorative work to restore the house to be not only a home, but also a representation of the history of the community. In collaboration with them we are going to be posting a chronological history of the house, as well as restoration updates, on social media.

Follow along with the project by using the hashtags #BrigusTwineLoft and #HeritageNL on our
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook: @hfnlca, and by following @brigus_twine.loft on Instagram and @brigustwineloft on Facebook.

Visiting the Burgess Property, Whiteway, Trinity Bay.

Burgess Fishing Stage

The Burgess Property is a collection of 6 buildings in Whiteway, NL, dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was designated a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2020. Built and operated by an unbroken line of Burgess family members over six generations, the cluster of closely spaced buildings are part of a single family enterprise. Their continuity helps to imbue a sense of how the property was inhabited and operated for more than 100 years, and the diversity of buildings speaks to the variety of functions and income sources of outport family premises.

We visited the site yesterday, and are working with the Burgess family to document and better understand the history of the premises. Stay tuned for more info and photos on this group of structures in the weeks to come!

Burgess Dwelling House

Burgess Stable/Store (left) and sawmill (right)

Tuesday's #FolklorePhoto: Simms House

Today's Folklore Photos are of the Simms House which is a two-and-a-half storey, mansard roofed residential structure built in the late 19th century. It is situated on Pleasant Street in the west-end area of St. John’s, NL, once known as Lazy Bank. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Tyler Stapleton and Dale Jarvis.

Tyler Stapleton, a 24 year old Nautical Science Graduate from the Marine Institute, is actively restoring the 1882 Registered Heritage Structure in Downtown St. John’s. In March 2018, Tyler gave Dale and Terra with the Heritage Foundation a tour of his property and described the ongoing restoration and the background research on the history of the house. 

The home was built in 1882 for draper George Taylor and sold to cooper Henry V. Simms in 1902. Simms ran a successful trade out of a shop once located behind the home and, by the time he died in 1947, owned several properties in the area. Henry’s son William Simms inherited Simms House in 1947 and also worked as a cooper. Simms House has aesthetic value as an excellent example of an early middle-class home in urban St. John’s.

Henry V. Simms played an active in his community, serving as Vice President of the Master Coopers’ Association and an organizer of the local prohibition movement. His interest in prohibition may have been influenced by his neighbourhood, Lazy Bank, which generated reports of public intoxication and unsanitary conditions around the turn of the century. 

A bottle of Labbatt's Blue and a pack of Man-Tex condoms found during the restoration of the home. An interesting find given Simms' interest in the prohibition movement. 

If you would like to learn more about the Simms House have a listen to the Living Heritage Podcast episode number 104. In this episode, which can be found here, Dale and Tyler discuss on the history of the building, his process of research and restoration, and some of the secrets of the Simms House.