Description of Historic Place

William Ellis Saint House is a two-storey, wooden, steep gable roof house located at 031-035 Ryan’s Hill, Bonavista. The municipal heritage designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

William Ellis Saint House has architectural and cultural landscape values in Bonavista.

William Ellis Saint House was built in 1899, and is a good example of vernacular residential architecture in Newfoundland of the period between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There have been few alterations to the design of the building since its construction, so most style elements remain intact.

William Ellis Saint House has cultural landscape value in the community of Bonavista, as it is located at a high elevation amid a rocky outcrop locally known as Ragged Rocks, in an historic area of town known as Canaille. Together with its two-storey height, this location makes William Ellis Saint House a highly visible building.

Source: Town of Bonavista Town Council meeting minutes of 2006/08/14

Character-Defining Elements

All elements that define the building's period vernacular design, including:

-3 bay facade;
-2/2 double hung windows;
-wood post foundation;
-partially enclosed porch;
-steep gable roof;
-wood shingles;
-clapboard sheathing;

Additionally: the house’s siting, which makes it a highly visible building in the town’s cultural landscape.