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Heritage Reports The Observatory 1 Bonaventure Avenue St. John's, Newfoundland an historical report by Shane O'Dea Centre for Material Culture Studies Memorial University of Newfoundland January 6th, 1995 (rev.) This report attempts to fix the date of construction of 1 Bonaventure Avenue, the Observatory, and to determine the connection of that house with significant aspects of the career of John Delaney. THE CONSTRUCTION DATE The Observatory is a good example of a Second Empire style house and would appear to have been originally built in that style. That is, it does not appear to have been an earlier house remodelled at a later date. The style was probably introduced to Newfoundland by John Thomas Southcott when he returned from his architectural training in 1876. The majority of Second Empire houses in St. John's were built in the 1880s so that stylistic grounds would suggest a date in that decade for the house. Town plans by Surveyor-General Noad for 1849 and 1852, and Capt. Murray's plan of Fort Townshend (1861) show the site as unoccupied. Cartographic evidence does confirm the existence of a mansard-roofed house on the site in the 1880s. The Goad Insurance Plan for 1880 shows a mansard-roofed house on the site with essentially the same plan as the Observatory. A house of similar plan is visible on the 1885 Admiralty Chart. Contemporary illustrations are few. A photograph by S.H. Parsons taken from the roof of the B.I.S. Building shows the house on an essentially bare lot. The photograph is from an album in the Vatican Library which was presented to Pope Leo XIII in 1888. Internal evidence (i.e. dates on other photographs), suggests that the photograph itself can be dated to about 1885 and the bareness of the lot suggests a house recently constructed. Ruger's Panoramic View of St. John's (1879) shows a house with a similar plan to that of the Observatory but not a similar mansard roof. However, caution must be exercised in dismissing the evidence of the Ruger because such views tended to be somewhat rudimentary in their recording of detail. Delaney was given a thirty-year lease on this property in 1883 "for the purpose of building and maintaining and efficiently constructing a Meteorological Observatory and a Dwelling house and outhouses" (Special Grants Vol 2. f. 342). This lease was to run from 1 May 1882 and was renewed for a further sixty years from 1912. The lease has a property diagram showing the house and what is presumably the observatory. The lease suggests that Delaney had built the Observatory before the paperwork for the property was complete. While unusual this was not unknown in nineteenth century St. John's. It does, however, suggest that a dating about 1880 would be reasonable. The Goad Plan makes clear that the Observatory was constructed by 1880. The Ruger Panoramic, if the roughness of its detail is accepted, brings this date back to 1879. THE ASSOCIATION WITH THE CAREER OF JOHN DELANEY The Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador Biography gives an account of the career of John Delaney, owner of the Observatory from the time of its construction until his death in 1883. Born in Ireland in 1811, he came to Newfoundland and represented Placentia in the House of Assembly 1848-52 and 1855-56. He was appointed Postmaster General in 1860 and oversaw improvements in the mail service. His interest in meteorology led, in effect, to the development of a local meteorological service under the aegis of the Meteorological Service of Canada. A regular informant of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1873. He is also significant for having made and operated the first telephone in Newfoundland. While his work in the Post Office is of some importance, Delaney's historical significance rests on his work in meteorology and on the telephone. But what was the role of the Observatory in this work ? In 1864-65 Delaney lived at 2 Monkstown Road (Hutchinson's Directory). In 1871 he lived at 61 Military Road (McAlpine's Directory and Lovell's Directory). When his sister died in December of 1876 she was living at Delaney's residence on Military Road (Crosbie 1875-77). When Delaney himself died in 1883 it was at his residence on Garrison Hill (Newfoundlander April 27, 1883). In 1885-86 a Miss Delaney lived on Garrison Hill (Sharpe's Directory). From these references it would appear that Delaney moved from Monkstown Road to Military Road sometime before 1871, and that he moved from Military to Bonaventure sometime between 1876 and 1883. In 1878 Delaney made himself a telephone and conducted the first telephone conversation in Newfoundland. The Royal Gazette, March 19, 1878 says, "The Telephone was attached to the wire used by Mr. Delaney to connect his house telegraphically with that of the Post Office Messenger [John Higgins]."* In the period 1864-1886 (Hutchinson's, Lovell's, McAlpine's and Sharpe's directories) Higgins lived at 48 Southwest (now Colonial) Street, a very short distance from Delaney's house at 61 Military. While there is no directory for 1878 to fix Delaney's address for that year, it is highly probable that, in conducting his experiment with the telephone, he would have strung his wire over the shortest, least obstructed distance possible. The distance from 61 Military to 48 Southwest is about 165 feet and was relatively clear. This suggests that the site of the experiment, which the Royal Gazette states was the house of John Delaney, was 61 Military. This interpretation of the evidence is supported by Gilbert Higgins (grandson of John Higgins) who has told me that he remembers being shown both houses by his father and being told the story of the telephone call between them. CONCLUSION From the evidence cited above it would appear that John Delaney moved from 61 Military to 1 Bonaventure sometime about 1878-79 at which time it is likely the house was built. A two-storey structure (now demolished) attached to the rear addition is visible on the lease, in Parson's photograph and on Goad's plan and was probably the observatory in which he continued his meteorological observations. His significant contribution to the development of the telephone is associated with the Military Road house. The fact that he was made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1873 suggests that he had made a major contribution by that time, a time at which he was living at 61 Military Road. *According to The Voice of Generations this conversation was conducted between Delaney's house at 2 Monkstown and that of Higgins at Southwest, but this error is probably based on the assumption that, after 1864-65, Delaney continued to live at Monkstown. REFERENCES MAPS 1849 Plan of St. John's, Newfoundland. William R. Noad 1852 Plan of St. John's, Newfoundland. William R. Noad 1856 The Chart of the Harbour and Narrows ... Frederick R. Page 1861 Plan of FORT TOWNSHEND and War Dept. Land adjacent. F.A.L. Murray 1880 Insurance Plan of the City of St. John's. C. Goad 1885 St. John's Harbour. George Robinson ILLUSTRATIONS 1879 Panoramic View of St. John's, Newfoundland. A. Ruger [1888]Views in Newfoundland. S.H. Parsons PRINTED MATERIALS 1864-65 Hutchinson's Newfoundland Directory. Thomas Hutchinson 1871 Lovells' Province of Newfoundland Directory. 1871 McAlpine's Maritime Provinces Directory. 1878 Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser. March 19 1883 Special Grants Vol. 2. folio 341-44, Registry of Grants 1883 Newfoundlander. April 27 1885-86 Directory for the Towns of St. John's, Harbour... John Sharpe 1986-90 Births, Deaths, Marriages in Newfoundland Newspapers 1825- 1884. 8 vols. Gert Crosbie 1990 Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador Biography. R. Cuff ed. 1994 The Voice of Generations. McCarthy, Galgay, O'Keefe |
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