Description of Historic Place

The William Pardy Property is located on a hill overlooking Bonavista and the ocean. Enclosed by a fence the property includes 3 original outbuildings: a barn, a workshop and a root cellar. A traditional vegetable garden is located on the site, and all are overlooked by a two-storey Mansard-roofed house. The designation is limited to the property boundaries, encompassed by a traditional fence with an entrance gate.

Heritage Value

The William Pardy Property has been designated a Registered Heritage Structure because it has aesthetic, historic and cultural values.

The William Pardy Property is aesthetically valuable because it is a complete collection of traditional, Newfoundland residential buildings, including a dwelling house, a barn, a tool/work shop, and a root cellar. The dwelling house, built circa 1887 by William Pardy, displays many features common to the Bonavista area. The Second Empire style became very popular throughout Newfoundland in the late nineteenth century. The features of this house, Mansard roof and bonneted dormer windows, were a common architectural theme in larger centres around Newfoundland, but more specific to the Bonavista area are the gable-end decorations with roundels. The narrow-wood-sheathed dwelling house has wooden windows and doors and some ornamentation on them, such as wide trim with delicate drops and raincaps with s-shaped brackets. This property also adds a significant visual impact with the presence of three outbuildings, painted in traditional red ochre colour. The workshop, barn and root cellar have typical outport design with mid-pitch gable roofs, wooden siding and small windows. The lack of decoration on these outbuildings suggests their utilitarian purposes, and help to make the dwelling house more visually prominent.

The William Pardy Property is historically valuable because of its age. Built circa 1887 by original owner, William Pardy, the house was done, in large part, by him. Pardy was responsible for the construction of the house and all its interior details, as well as the outbuildings. His craftsmanship has lasted over one hundred years and this property remains in the family.

The William Pardy Property is culturally valuable because it represents a traditional way of living that was common throughout Newfoundland. The subsistence lifestyle was one that required the types of outbuildings found on the William Pardy Property. A traditional fence encompasses the property, not to keep anything out, but to prevent animals from entering the vegetable gardens growing within. The house and outbuildings represent a way of life to the greater community that is getting more difficult to preserve. The William Pardy Property is symbolic of an earlier time in Bonavista’s history.

Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, designated at a meeting held September 28, 2007, Meeting 60.

Character-Defining Elements

All those elements that reflect the Second Empire style of architecture for the house, including:
-narrow wooden clapboard;
-Mansard roof;
-bonnetted dormers with wide, wooden trim and dainty drops;
-wooden windows with wide trim, some with rain caps and S-shaped brackets;
-wooden doors with wooden storm doors;
-gable end roundels and decoration; and
-two-storey construction, orientation and dimensions.

All those elements that reflect the late, nineteenth-century style of outport architecture of the outbuildings, including:
-mid-pitch gable roofs;
-wooden siding;
-small, wooden windows;
-traditional red ochre colour; and
-their configurations within the property boundaries and the relationships of the outbuildings to the dwelling house.

All those elements that relate to the property as a whole, including:
-the collection of original buildings within a single property; and
-the delineation of the property boundaries by use of a traditional-styled fence.