Bridge House (Bonavista)
Bridge House (Bonavista)![[Bridge House: Image]](033.jpg)
Bridge House is the oldest surviving residental structure in Newfoundland. This is not to say that there may not be older houses in the province but Bridge House is the one to which the oldest date now known can be assigned . on the basis of a fairly substantial folk tradition, the house is said to have been built in 1814 by Alexander Strathie of Greenoch in Scotland. It was built for Strathie's fellow countryman, William Alexander, a prominent merchant of Bonavista. The house is a fairly straightforward gable roof house with gable end chimneys and a central hall. A photograph taken by Herbert Swyers sometime in the 1920's shows single storey gable bays at either end. The one on the left side is now missing but both were built around 1912-1916 when the house was used as a boarding house for commercial travellers. The interior may also have been remodelled but interestingly enough, in keeping with its original style, at the same time as the bays were added. It is also possible that the porch may date from the same period.
Because of the way records were kept in Newfoundland, it is unusual to find a house which it is possible to accurately date as early as Bridge House and to know the name of both the builder and the original owner.
The age of the house, its state of preservation and its architectural character make it one of the most significant Newfoundland structures. In addition, it is presumably the first work by the Strathie family in Bonavista, the first of the many buildings built by Alexander Strathie and his descendants which still stands in Bonavista.