Repairs and restoration work to the oldest documented home in Newfoundland and Labrador is just one part of an ambitious long-range plan by leaders of the Town of Bonavista to see many of its 1,100 historic homes and buildings brought back to their appropriate period.
It is a far-sighted economic initiative that not only creates jobs for local builders and renovators but will attract tourists to the town of 4,000 residents overlooking Bonavista Bay and the north Atlantic, a three-and-a-half-hour drive north of St. John’s.
The tourism industry has become a mainstay in Bonavista since the Cod moratorium put a halt to the commercial fisheries in 1992, the lifeblood of the town at the time.
“If we are going to increase tourism, we know that we definitely need these houses,” says David Hiscock, treasurer of the Bonavista Historic Townscape Foundation (BHTF), which offers residents incentives – often in the form of grants – for their restoration efforts.
So far the plan is working.
“We have actually grown in size and grown in jobs where most of our towns in Newfoundland, like towns in any province, have not,” says Hiscock, adding more residents are seeing restoration and renovation as an investment in their homes and the town’s well-being.
To meet the demand for historic-appropriate windows and doors and other architectural elements, a local woodworking business was established and eventually taken over and expanded by John Norman. Set in a 1930s former woodworking building, Bonavista Creative Workshop employs 30 craftspeople including heritage carpenters who make and install historic reproduction wood windows, doors, cedar shake roofs, staircases, interior architectural features and even stained glass windows. The seven-year-old company even has a house mover on staff.
Norman, now serving his second term as Bonavista’s mayor, says his company has become the largest heritage woodworking shop in the province. Orders come from St. John’s, other parts of the province and the company has even done work for clients as far away as Cabbagetown, a historic neighbourhood in Toronto.
Expected to cost well in excess of $1 million, the restoration of the Alexander Bridge House is part of a $1.8 million multi-level government grant that includes the construction of a boardwalk connecting parts of downtown in seaport.
A three-bay, Georgian style home constructed between 1811 and 1814, has sat vacant and neglected for decades. It made the Heritage Canada Foundation’s national list of most endangered properties.
Norman says his woodworking shop will probably bid on windows, doors and other architectural elements for the Bridge House project expected to start this spring.
Once the project is completed, the property will be managed by the BHTF which will put out a request for proposals for its use.
Hiscock says it could possibly be leased as a high-end seafood restaurant on the main floor and offer a museum to the home’s history on the second floor.
While tourism has taken a hit around the globe through the pandemic, Bonavista is holding its own, largely because of the province and the country’s marketing push for staycations.
But Norman says the town faces growing problems normally associated with big cities like Toronto, a shortage of affordable housing and labour scarcities.
He says residential real estate has jumped by 70 per cent in the past couple of years and the market for sales is hot.
“If I had 20 (historic) houses (for sale) I could sell them all tomorrow.”
The pandemic has played a role in the housing surge as the work-at-home shift has people in big cities including Toronto realizing they could work from a home they buy in Bonavista for well under $300,000, the mayor says.
The housing demand, however, has created a scarcity of skilled labour in construction and while most of Norman’s company’s lumber supplies are being met on time, door and window hardware and weather stripping from Quebec and the U.S. are seeing delays because of the pandemic, he says.
“I think the biggest impact of COVID is exacerbating the housing market from a six-month to one-year wait list to now two or three years, depending on what kind of property you are looking for.”
The Alexander Bridge House and boardwalk projects are funded largely through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, with a smaller percentage provided by the province. The BHTF is contributing 10 per cent ($180,000) to the restoration effort.
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