Description of Historic Place

The Church of England School is a wooden, one room, single storey gable roofed building with arched windows. It is located at 007 Swyers Hill in the Bailey’s (alternatively spelled “Bayley’s”) Cove area of Bonavista, NL. The municipal heritage designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

Bailey’s Cove Church of England School is designated because of its historical significance and aesthetic value.

Bailey’s Cove Church of England School, which was constructed circa 1880 to 1900, has historical value because of its age and its association with early education in Newfoundland. The building is a reminder of the formative days of organized education in the region, as well as the denominational education system once predominant in the province.

The building has aesthetic value as its style, design and construction technique are typical of early Anglican wooden schools in Newfoundland. The size is typical of many historic schoolhouses, while the simple design is augmented with elements of Gothic Revival style. This was the definitive style of Anglican church and associated architecture in Newfoundland and Labador from the latter part of the nineteenth century to after World War I. The school’s pointed arch windows and its steeply pitched roof subtly suggest the verticalism more apparent in grander buildings in Gothic Revival style.

Source: Town of Bonavista Town Council meeting minutes of 2006/08/14

Character-Defining Elements

Exterior elements indicative of the building’s age and style including:

-dimensions of the building;
-steep gable roof with wooden shingles;
-size, style, trim and placement of pointed arch Gothic Revival windows;
-mock exposed timbers on exterior;
-narrow clapboard sheathing;
-size, style, trim and placement of single exterior door on left gable end;
-stone pile foundation;
-and the location and orientation of building.