The Bartlett/Burke House, built around 1830, is a two-and-a-half storey house with a mid pitched roof and dormers located in Brigus, Conception Bay, NL. The designation is restricted to the footprint of the building.
Formal Recognition Type
Registered Heritage Structure
Heritage Value
The Bartlett/Burke House was designated a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1990 because of its historic and aesthetic value.
The Bartletts were a notable family of sailors in Brigus in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Brigus at that time was one of the main hubs for the annual seal hunt. Bartlett/Burke House was built around 1830 and eventually purchased by Abram Bartlett, a prominent sealing captain. His son John took possession of the house in 1889 following the elder Bartlett’s death.
John, like his father, worked in the seal hunt and was an accomplished sea captain, as well as the Member of the House of Assembly for Port de Grave. He sailed the sealing vessel Panther to Scotland to convert it into a steam ship, making it one of the first steam ships in the Newfoundland sealing fleet. He captained the Kite and later the Hope on American explorer Robert E. Peary’s early Arctic expeditions. In 1898 John Bartlett sailed the Windward north with Peary, eventually getting stuck in ice causing the expedition to last for twice as long as expected. On this expedition, Peary found Fort Conger, built during an Adolphus Greely voyage, in present day Nunavut, and later had eight of his toes amputated due to frostbite. Bartlett’s final trip with Peary was in 1906, in which he commanded the Roosevelt. Bartlett’s nephew, Bob Bartlett, who was at times a mate on John’s voyages, would go on to be a highly accomplished sailor, and captained the Roosevelt on Peary’s successful 1909 expedition in reaching the geographic north pole.
John Bartlett left the house to his son, Moses, another successful captain in the cod fishery, seal hunt, and on arctic expeditions. In 1980 a fire damaged part of the house. The owners at the time, Fred and Rowena Bartlett, were assisted in repairing and renovating the building by St. John’s lawyer Tom Burke, who eventually inherited the house.
Bartlett/Burke House is a two-and-a-half storey house with a mid-pitched gable roof and gable dormer windows, one each on the back and front of the house. The protruding front porch has a rounded roof. There are two chimneys, one larger than the other, and each floor has a fireplace. There is a unique large open fireplace on the main floor, which was common in the homes of many early permanent settlers to the area, but of which there are few remaining examples. Bartlett/Burke House is peculiar because it has an asymmetrical façade, contrasting the traditionally symmetrical styles of the 19th century. The middle window on the second floor is slightly right of centre, along with the positioning of the front porch, and the eastern and western exterior walls have a different number of windows. It has been suggested that this was simply the rebellious style employed by the architect in the area at that time, as there are abandoned homes that also reflect this design.
Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador property file “Brigus – Bartlett/Burke House – FPT 1437”
Character Defining Elements
Those elements of the 19th-century Brigus house construction, including:
-number of storeys;
-mid pitch roof;
-return on eaves;
-single central dormer window on either side roof;
-dormer placement and style;
-dormer window size, style, trim and placement;
-wooden roof shingles;
-wooden corner boards;
-wooden window size, style, trim and placement;
-location, size and style of porch on front facade;
-rounded roof on porch;
-size, style, trim and placement of wooden windows in porch;
-size, style, trim and placement of exterior wooden doors;
-chimney style and placement;
-stone wall foundation;
-large open fireplace, and;
-dimensions, location and orientation of building.