Description of Historic Place

H.C. Grant Heritage Museum at 082 Main Street at the corner of Dogberry Road, Springdale is a former family dwelling built in 1917 through to 1920, and now operates as a museum. It is a wood-frame, two-and-a-half storey, steep roofed house in L-layout design, with a verandah and a rear corner single storey extension. The municipal heritage designation encompasses the building and entire property.

Heritage Value

The H.C. Grant Heritage Museum and surrounding property has been designated as a Municpal Heritage Building and Land because of aesthetic, historic and cultural values.

The H.C. Grant Heritage Museum building has aesthetic value as an example of a family dwelling of its age, place and type. While Springdale was settled in the 1880s, a forest fire spread to and destroyed most of the buildings in the community in 1904. Construction of the home that is now the H.C. Grant Heritage Museum began in 1917, and it is one of the oldest extant buildings in the Town of Springdale. The two-and-a-half storey, front facing gable with a side wing, and a shed roofed verandah form is typical of a sub-group of folk Victorian style. The exterior ornamentation is quite restrained, with simple eaves and window and door trims; square-cornered spindlework in the verandah roof trims; and square-cornered rails and posts in the verandah and front stairs.

H.C. Grant Heritage Museum has historic value through its association with the Town of Springdale’s first mayor. Construction of the dwelling was interrupted when the original owner was killed during WWI. Harvey Clarence Grant purchased the property in 1919, and construction of the Grant family home was finished in 1920. H.C. Grant became Springdale’s first mayor when it was incorporated as a municipality in 1945, and served in that capacity for twenty years. His substantial community service record includes helping to spearhead the province’s Newfoundland Federation of Mayors and Municipalities (now the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Municipalities).

H.C. Grant Heritage Museum has cultural value through its current function as a museum. H.C. Grant transferred ownership of his house to the Town of Springdale in 1979. In 1981 it became a museum in tribute to Grant, showcasing the house itself, along with domestic artifacts and furnishings from the 1940s to 1960s.

Source: Town of Springdale Council Meeting Minutes 2006/04/25.

Character-Defining Elements

All those exterior elements which contribute to the domestic appearance of the building, and hence indicate its original function, and which are indicative of its age, design and form, including materials:

-L-design layout;
-number of storeys;
-all roof pitches (main pitch is 12/12) and ridge lines;
-projection of eaves, and depth and simple decorativeness of eave returns;
-placement and style of 2 brick chimneys with corbelled tops;
-wood frame construction with painted, narrow, horizontal clapboard, and vertical corner boards;
-dimensions, location and design of verandah including: shed roof with square-cornered spindlework trims, projection of eaves, square-cornered posts and balustrade, wood floor, and painted finish;
-style and placement of front wooden, painted exterior stairs, including square-cornered balusters and handrails;
-size, style, materials and placement of exterior doors, including unelaborate trims and stained glass in front door; and
-size, style and placement of windows, including simple trims.