Description of Historic Place

The Old Loft Restaurant/Jersey Rooms Crafts is a two storey wooden restaurant and craft shop located at 008 Water Street in the community of Woody Point, situated within the UNESCO World Heritage Site Gros Morne, Newfoundland and Labrador. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Old Loft Restaurant/Jersey Rooms Crafts has been municipally designated because of its historical and aesthetic values.

The Old Loft Restaurant/ Jersey Rooms Crafts holds historical value because of its association with local merchant Thomas “Tommy” Garcin who built the building in 1936. It was the third building constructed by Mr. Garcin on this site. Both previous buildings were destroyed by fire, the first in the fire of June 1922 in which most of the waterfront was burnt and the second in October 1931. The current building is one of the oldest in the community.

The Old Loft Restaurant/Jersey Room Crafts is aesthetically valuable because it is a good example of an early twentieth century merchant building. It is a two storey wooden building with a centrally located main entrance. Typical commercial features include the large plate glass windows on the main floor and a sign band located above the main entrance. Two second story windows are situated just above the sign band. Like most two storey merchant buildings the first floor was where regular business was conducted, and the second floor was used for storage.

A large addition is situated at the right of the main entrance and it has a shed roof, a door and a large plate glass window. A row of long windows follows a regular fenestration down the side of this addition.

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

Character-Defining Elements

All those elements that define the outport merchant style, including:
-the two storey construction;
-main entrance flanked by large picture windows;
-sign band above main entrance;
-windows at second storey level;
-shed-roofed addition with door and large picture window;
-regular fenestration of addition windows;
-all original window and door openings;
-narrow wooden clapboard and board and batten materials; and
-plain wide trims and wide corner boards.