Description of Historic Place

The Emma and Philip Templeman Property comprises a nineteenth century, gable-roof wooden house and an associated hipped-roof, wooden fisheries store located at the rear of the property and at the water’s edge. Both are located on Main Road in Newtown, Newfoundland and Labrador. The designation is confined to the footprints of both buildings.

Heritage Value

The Emma and Philip Templeman Property has been designated because it holds aesthetic, environmental, cultural and historic values.

The Emma and Philip Templeman Property holds aesthetic values because of its architectural design. The house is a good surviving example of late nineteenth century, middle-class housing. The two storey construction and steep gable roof with returned eaves are common for the area, while the peaked dormers add a decorative element to the otherwise simple exterior. Plain, unobtrusive features like the wide, flat mouldings; large rain caps over the original 2/2 windows and doors; plank storm door and wooden, stained glass interior door all show quality craftsmanship in this vernacular, outport house.

Further aesthetic value can be found in the small fisheries building located at the rear of the property. Strategically situated at the water’s edge this 23 square meter utility outbuilding possesses simple design features. A hipped roof tops an otherwise unadorned rectangular building supported by wooden shores (posts). Each side of this one-storey building features either a simple wood-plank door or windows with wooden shutters.

The combination of both buildings on the property in their setting and orientation near the water reveal an historically typical pattern of settlement for the area. The existence of such properties in their original condition is a rarity, as the trend towards more modern housing increases, and the necessity for fisheries buildings lessens. In this way the Templeman Property achieves environmental value.

The Templeman Property is culturally valuable because of its importance to the community. Highly visible on the main road in Newtown, this house, once built for a cobbler, became the Methodist Parsonage before being owned by the Templeman family. Local folklore suggests that the store was once a stable and moved from its original location in Newtown to its present one. The property represents a traditional type of architecture and property layout once common in the area. The community have come to rely on this property as a landmark and visitor attraction as a representation of nineteenth century Newtown.

The Templeman Property is historically valuable because of its age and associations with previous owners. The house was built circa 1865 by Isaiah Browne who was a cobbler by trade. Between this time and 1925 the house was used as a parsonage for the nearby Methodist Church. In 1925 the house was purchased by Mrs. Emma Roberts, who later married Philip Templeman. The Templeman family are well known in the Bonavista area, having had mercantile interests there for many years. Philip Templeman himself was perhaps better known as one of 46 survivors of the Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914 in which 78 men died.

Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labador, December 1, 2006, Meeting 58.

Character-Defining Elements

All those elements that define the nineteenth century vernacular architectural style of the house, including:
-wooden construction with narrow wood clapboard;
-original 2/2 windows;
-gable roof with returned eaves;
-dormer windows with returned eaves;
-two-storey construction;
-wide, flat mouldings;
-large rain caps over windows and doors;
-plank storm door over stained glass interior door;
-dimensions, orientation and location.

All those elements that define the utilitarian, vernacular architectural style of the store, including:
-hipped roof;
-plain, unadorned exterior;
-narrow, wooden clapboard;
-wooden post foundation;
-one storey construction;
-simple, plank door;
-windows with wooden shutters;
-orientation towards the water; and
-situation located directly at the water’s edge