When Norton's Cove Studio was purchased by Ms. Davis in 1996 it was immediately obvious that it was a building worth preserving. In addition to the building itself it also held artifacts relating to its history as the J. Kean Shop. These included unsold merchandise, receipt books, family photographs, greeting cards and a stamp collection.

Captain Job & Mrs. Virtue Kean moved to Norton's Cove, now Brookfield, from Flower's Island in 1879. Job was the nephew of the famous Captain Abram Kean, the most successful sealing captain in Newfoundland history. They operated the J. Kean Shop, a general store supplying dry goods, groceries and hardware. Their major clients were the Brookfield Hospital and various different schooners. The store not only provided utilitarian items for their customers, but "Aunt Virtue", as she was known, kept the store stocked with special ladies fashion items for the ladies of the community such as lace, dress clasps, and hat-pins.

Baxter, the youngest of their eleven children, began managing the shop sometime after attaining a diploma in business from Mount Allison College in New Brunswick. He continued to operate the shop till he died in 1976. The shop closed a few years later.

It is thought that the Architect William F. Butler may have designed the shop as he designed the Kean home, which sits directly behind the shop. When Janet Davis purchased the shop it had been empty for 18 years. For the next couple of summers she operated a craft shop out of there with Duke Kelloway. A lack of maintenance and serious vandalism had taken its toll. Floors had sunken, the windows had broken, paint was falling off inside and out and the rear stair enclosure was detaching. For the first 3 summers minor work was carried out to make the place suitable for fair weather use. With in-kind assistance from Davis Shipping Limited, paint was removed & re-applied, broken glass replaced, wood supports installed in the basement and the rear stairs removed. This was not enough to support year around use, however. In fact, one winter there were 3 foot drifts of snow on the main floor!

In the spring of 2002, more extensive restorations were carried out. The shores under the building were completely rotten so a concrete foundation was installed. It was covered in the same manner as the original wooden shores so as not to change the appearance of the building. The leaking roof, rear stairs and clapboard were replaced, a new front door was built to match the existing one, and a thin foam insulation was applied to make the place habitable year-round. With the assistance of old photos and impressions left in paint and boards new trim were fabricated.

The shop is now known as the Norton's Cove Studio and houses Janet Davis' art studio, a visiting artist program, art classes and workshops. It is a registered heritage structure with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland & Labrador. The project had the assistance of the Heritage Foundation, The Craft Council of Newfoundland & Labrador's Start-up Fund and Human Resources Development Canada's Job Creation Partnerships Program. Ms. Davis hopes that others in the area will be inspired to preserve built heritage.