Description du lieu patrimonial

The Bay Roberts Railway Station is an early twentieth century, two-storey wooden railway building located on land near the former railway in Bay Roberts, NL. The station has a steeply pitched roof, a protruding bay on one facade and an extended porch on the other. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Valeur patrimoniale

The Bay Roberts Railway Station has been designated because it has aesthetic, historic and cultural values.

The Bay Roberts Railway Station is aesthetically valuable because it stands as an unusual architectural example of railway station construction for the region. The wooden, two-storey station, more appropriately called a combination depot, was built by the Reid Newfoundland Company sometime between 1899 and 1908. It was constructed with living quarters on the second floor and on the first floor were facilities for passengers, baggage freight, and the agent’s office. The architecture of the building is directly related to its function as a railway station: it has a protruding bay overlooking the tracks and an enclosed porch on the opposite facade that gave access to the ticket counter inside. The depot was staffed by an agent who lived with his family on the second floor. The building remains in its original condition with a steeply pitched roof, wooden clapboard and large gable-end windows.

The Bay Roberts Railway Station is historically valuable because of its age. Built between 1899 and 1908 this railway station was constructed when the Harbour Grace Line was changed to include this part of the coast. In 1898 a branch known as the Carbonear Line was constructed from Brigus Junction to Tilton via Brigus, Clarke’s Beach, Bay Roberts and Spaniard’s Bay. The age of the Bay Roberts Railway Station makes it one of the first stations built for the new line.

The Bay Roberts Railway Station is also historically valuable because of its associations with twentieth century development of the town. The construction of the station enabled Bay Roberts to become an important business and commercial centre of Conception Bay North. The town was first founded as a fishing community, and the seal fishery formed the mainstay of the economy in the 19th and 20th centuries. But, the railway opened the way for transport of freight and passengers province-wide, and the community grew based on this.

The Bay Roberts Railway Station is culturally valuable because it represents a time of exceptional growth in the community. The station is symbolic of trade and commerce for the region. It stands today as a rare surviving example of a railway building in a province where the railway no longer exists and related rail buildings have all but vanished from the landscape. Yet, the building holds meaning to the town as a fundamental element that helped shape the face of the coastal community.

Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, Meeting 59, April 27, 2007.

Éléments caractéristiques

All those original, vernacular features that reflect the architecture of the building, including:
-wooden construction;
-narrow wooden clapboard;
-steeply pitched gable roof;
-original wooden window material, sizes, openings and their locations; and
-door openings, sizes and locations.


All those original features that reflect the railway function of the building, including:
-large, gable end windows;
-protruding operator’s bay with large windows and shed roof;
-enclosed porch with extended roof; and
-two-storey construction.