Description of Historic Place

Winterholme National Historic Site is a large, Queen Anne Revival-style residence located on a landscaped urban corner lot at 79 Rennie’s Mill Road in St. John’s.

Heritage Value

Winterholme was designated in 1991 because it is a fine example of the conservative approach to the Queen Anne Revival Style in Canadian domestic architecture.

Its heritage value resides in the physical attributes illustrating a conservative example of the eclectic, picturesque Queen Anne Revival style, typical of grand homes in late nineteenth-century Atlantic Canada.

Winterholme was built by the Horwood Lumber Company in 1905-1907 as a residence for Sir Maramaduke Winter (1857-1936).

Source: HFNL unnumbered property file: "St. John's - Winterholme"

Character-Defining Elements

All elements that define the building's Queen Anne design including:
-the classically inspired, 3-bay facade organized around a central porch;
-the slightly asymmetrical definition of each bay as a distinct identity with its own roof line, roof details, vertical forms and horizontal depths;
-the steep, truncated, wood-shingled roof;
-the wooden clapboard exterior finish;
-the eclectic incorporation of historical motifs and features including;
-the classical porch supported by colonnettes and crowned with a decorated pediment;
-the curved, projecting end bay, one under a conical roof and one under a gable roof;
-the heavy classical cornice;
-the use of varied window forms (bow, curved and flat-headed);
-the decorative ironwork crenellation on a second floor bow window;
-the whimsical repetition of features and motifs in pairs with each paired element in a slightly different form (two articulations of curved window forms, two articulations of gables of different sizes, two iterations of a floral motifs);
-varied exterior textures (shingles, wooden clapboarding, projecting string courses, curved clear glass, stained glass);
-stacked chimneys at each end of the roof;
-the symmetrical ground floor plan with principal rooms organized; along a central axis;
-the varied interior footprint and fenestration of each room; and,
-size, dimensions and location of the building.