Description of Historic Place

The Lighttower on Gull Island is a straight, unadorned, prefabricated cast iron cylinder, 11.6 meters in height. Its shaft, founded directly on bedrock, is punctuated by two small windows and a corbelled gallery with a simple balustrade. It is topped by a circular lantern with two tiers of triangular glazing, a small dome and ventilator. The structure is painted in alternating red and white vertical bands and linked to the lightkeeper’s house by a covered walkway. The lighttower is part of a small lightstation complex, located on a remote island off Newfoundland’s north coast. The designation is confined to the footprint of the structure.

Heritage Value

The Lighttower on Gull Island is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical value:
The Lighttower on Gull Island is associated with the development of safe navigation in pre-Confederation Newfoundland. Considered to be a minor navigational light, it coincided with the rise of fishery in the Grand Bank waters and still serves locals in shipping and fishing.

Architectural value:
The Lighttower on Gull Island is a well-proportioned structure and an excellent example of the standardized prefabricated cast iron component structures. It is an example of technological advancement in tower construction, which moved away from fire-prone timber structures. Shipped from England and assembled on-site, a process common for late 19th Century Newfoundland, this design had the functional advantages of low costs, easy shipment and rapid assembly.

Environmental value:
The Lighttower on Gull Island reinforces the rugged and utilitarian character of its setting, a remote, barren and rocky island off Newfoundland’s north coast, which it shares with other light station buildings.

Sources:
Sally Coutts, Gull Island Lighthouse, Gull Island, Newfoundland. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 88-133; Gull Island Lighthouse, Gull Island, Newfoundland, Heritage Character Statement 88-133.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Lighttower on Gull Island should be respected.

Its simple, efficient design and standardized construction, as demonstrated in:
-the overall distinctive form and simplified lines of the structure’s exterior;
-the prefabricated cast iron cylindrical shaft, with its two small window openings and an exterior gallery supported on iron fretwork brackets above a fledging cornice;
-the protective paint daymarks, which consist of six alternating red and white vertical bands and contribute to its visibility;
-the prefabricated cast iron lantern, with its circular light composed of two tiers of triangular glazing, topped by a small dome and ventilator.

The manner in which the building reinforces the rugged and utilitarian character of its setting:
-the structure’s open relationship to the rugged and barren site and to the other buildings of the light station;
-the physical link to the lightkeeper’s house by a covered walkway, which testifies to the Island’s rugged conditions.