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Southcott Awards 2002 Bartra, Circular Roard, St. John's Likely designed by the local architect W.F. Butler - who designed so many of the great Queen Anne Revival style houses on Circular and Rennie's Mill Roads - Bartra is an interesting play on a classical theme. It serves as the centrepiece for two adjacent houses which, because they use similar motifs and are set more forward on their lots, creates the illusion of a house with wings. However there is no property connection between the three houses - all appear to have been built independently. Bartra was built in 1906 for W.S. Monroe who owned the house until 1908 when it was sold it to W.D. Reid of the Newfoundland Railway and subsequently to A.E. Hickman, founder of what is now the Hickman group of companies. The political history of the house has an interesting irony in that the first owner, WalterMonroe, succeeded the third, Albert Hickman, as Prime Minister of Newfoundland in 1924. During the 1970s, when owned by Wes and Marion Andrews, it housed the finest and most complete collection of Newfoundland prints and engravings. Typical of the eclecticism of the Queen Anne, it uses classical motifs, which generally call for symmetry, in an asymmetrical facade. It has recently undergone a major restoration under the direction of Renee Marquis and Paul Antle who , with the assistance of their contractor Laurence Canning, have been extraordinarily attentive to merits of the house. For a period of time this house was an eyesore on Circular Road and often viewed as a threat to the neighbourhood with its steadily changing status from house to boarding house to bed and breakfast. It was also a threat to itself because of these changes. While well-supported on its stone foundation, most of the internal support had failed and the house had to be jacked to level it. That was a very sensitive task because of the quality of the plasterwork in the house. But such negative discoveries were not all that was made during the restoration. In the drawing room the removal of the roof of the bay window revealed that it had been a conservatory - to which form it was returned. The most striking feature of the house - and one which, mercifully, was not interfered with - was the main hall and staircase superbly panelled in quarter sawn oak, detailed with Corinthian columns. In redoing the kitchen Laurence Canning picked up some these motifs and made counters and cabinet out of mahogany. |
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