This three-storey Second Empire, semi-detatched dwelling is located at 4 Park Place on Rennie’s Mill Road in St. John’s, NL and is situated within the Rennie’s Mill Road Federal Heritage District. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Formal Recognition Type
City of St. John's Heritage Building, Structure, Land or Area
Heritage Value
4 Park Place is designated a municipal heritage building by the City of St. John’s for its aesthetic and historical values.
4 Park Place is aesthetically valuable as an excellent example of the Second Empire Style executed on a semi-detatched building. The concave mansard roof with hooded dormer windows, the decorative eaves brackets and the bay windows on the first floor are all characteristics of the Second Empire Style as it appears in St. John’s. The architectural details on 4 Park Place are highly ornate and are indicitive of the building’s association with well-known architectural firm of J. & J.T. Southcott. The Southcott firm was the purveyor of the Second Empire style in Newfoundland and the style of this building is often locally referred to as the Southcott Style.
4 Park Place is historically valuable for its association with English born Augustus F. Goodridge (1839-1920). Goodridge became a fish merchant and eventually moved into politics, becoming first elected as a Conservative. Due to political controversy at the time, Goodridge was appointed Premier of Newfoundland in 1884, even though his party was not in power. His government was short-lived, however, due to a mounting political and economic crisis and he resigned on December 12, 1894 after the collapse of two banks. Goodridge lost his seat in the 1904 election. A few years later he was appointed to the legislative council (Newfoundland’s Upper House) by Prime Minister Edward Patrick Morris.
Source: Designated by the City of St. John’s 1986/09/24
Character Defining Elements
All those elements that reflect the Second Empire style of architecture, including:
-mansard roof with decorative hooded dormers;
-eaves brackets;
-narrow wood clapboard;
-size, style and placement of original wooden windows and original wooden doors;
-original, right gable-end entrance with enclosed porch;
-keystone decorations around doors and windows;
-chain-like decoration above second storey windows;
-dentils on eaves;
-all decorative window trims, and;
-size and dimensions of building.
Notes
The Park Place houses, and others on adjoining lots on Monkstown Road, were built sometime after 1878 when the Southcotts acquired the land; most likely in 1881 at a time when the Newfoundland economy was growing. The concave-curved mansard roof with hooded dormer windows, the decorative cornices under the eaves and the bay windows on the first floor, are characteristic of the Second Empire Style as it appears in St. John’s. All four houses of Park Place appear on the insurance map of January 1888. The centre building in the grouping exhibits a Newfoundland characteristic of the Second Empire style. An attempt is made to present a homogeneous streetscape by arranging entryways on the sides instead of on the facade of the building. Both halves of the building are houses built on the centre-hall plan, but the axis of each of these runs parallel to the street. The effect is to convey the impression that a multiple dwelling is one large single dwelling. From c1891-1915 the building was occupied by Hon. A.F. Goodridge.