Description of Historic Place

Haliburton House is a two storey wooden Victorian house located at 053 Water Street, in the community of Woody Point, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site Gros Morne, Newfoundland and Labrador. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

Haliburton House has been municipally designated for its historic and aesthetic values.

Haliburton House is historically valuable for its association with John P. Haliburton, a fish merchant who made his fortune in the booming herring fishery of the 1890s. In 1930 the Haliburton’s left Woody Point and their house then served as a courthouse for the community. The Haliburton House is also historically valuable for its association with the trial that resulted from the 1938 Riot. The riot occurred in Woody Point after a government representative was sent there to listen to the concerns of the people. In the midst of the Great Depression this town felt the six cent daily dole ration was too little to support their families. However, when the government representative, Commissioner Wilfred Wood arrived in Woody Point he was immediately swarmed by local people. When he told the people they could have no more rations seven men from Bonne Bay jumped aboard the government vessel and attempted to prevent it from leaving. Their subsequent arrests and acquittals made international news at the time. The trials of the seven men were held in this house.

Haliburton House is aesthetically valuable because it is a good example of Victorian architecture. This steeply pitched gable roofed, two -storey house, in typical Victorian style, is symmetrical in appearance. There are two bay windows at the main level with fascia boards. A large, covered open veranda neatly divides the house. Two dormer windows which are cut through the eaves have peaked pediments, and a central chimney can be seen just below the ridge line of the roof.

source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador file number 1802 - Woody Point.

Character-Defining Elements

All those elements that speak to the Victorian style, including:
-steeply pitched gable roof;
-two storey wooden construction;
-bay windows with fascia board;
-dormers with peaked pediments;
-covered, open veranda;
-central chimney cut below eave ridge;
-all original window and door openings;
-size, shape and fenestration of windows; and
-location, orientation and dimensions of house.