Description of Historic Place

The Joseph and Selena Templeman House is a two and one half storey, steep gable pitched wooden house with a one storey back linhay and two and one half storey central tower. Built circa 1877, the property is located at 2 - 4 Rolling Cove Road, Bonavista, NL. The designation includes the house, two outbuildings and fencing.

Heritage Value

The Joseph and Selena Templeman Property has been designated because of its aesthetic and cultural value.

The Joseph and Selena Templeman Property has aesthetic value as it is a good representative example of a type of late nineteenth century vernacular housing employed in the region. The original home, with its symmetrical three bay facade and steep gable roof, would have been common in the community in the late 1800s. When Joseph and Selena’s daughter Alfreda took possession of the home, she and her husband Heber John Tremblett added a central front tower, a stylist element marking the evolution of housing styles. Enhancing the aesthetic value is the context in which the house is situated. The building exists in a very traditional Newfoundland setting, with outbuildings in close proximity and fencing surrounding the property. There are very few examples of outport homes with outbuildings still remaining. Outbuildings on the Templeman property, which include a cellar and store, were designed for practical use, employing rough materials, simple design elements and utilitarian construction techniques.

The Joseph and Selena Templeman Property has cultural value as it is a physical reminder of a certain time and place. It is an integral part of Bonavista’s cultural landscape, while its superior folk craftsmanship is reflective of a settlement which saw great prosperity for merchants and fishermen alike. The outbuildings and fencing add to the property’s cultural value. Up until the mid 1900s most outport residential properties had several outbuildings, used to store vegetables grown in private gardens and to house livestock. These buildings served a vital purpose in a subsistence economy which demanded that food be stored for both animal and human consumption. Most properties also had extensive fences as livestock were free to roam communities in the summertime. Regulations regarding roaming livestock and a decline in the number of families raising animals has resulted in such fences disappearing from the landscape.

Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador property designation file M-029-002, Bonavista - Joseph and Selena Templeman House

Character-Defining Elements

Those pertaining to the house include:
-number of storeys;
-steep gable roof;
-wooden roof shingles;
-slightly kicked eaves;
-boxed eaves returns;
-narrow clapboard;
-corner boards;
-window size, style, trim and placement;
-size, style, trim and placement of exterior doors;
-location, size and style of tower on front facade;
-size, style, trim and placement of windows and door in front tower;
-location, size and style of linhay (local terminology referring to an addition to the rear of a structure) on rear facade;
-chimney number, style and placement;
-dimension, location and orientation of building.

Those pertaining to the outbuildings and fences include:
-original form, scale and massing of outbuildings;
-original roof types;
-narrow clapboard;
-corner boards;
-window size, style, trim and placement;
-size, style, trim and placement of exterior doors;
-red ochre exterior colour;
-dimension, location and orientation of outbuildings;
-original style and placement of fences.