UD prof explores an architectural puzzle in Newfoundland

The Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation commissioned Prof. Herman to ascertain the age of a storehouse that sits on the Mockbegger Plantation, part of a 500-year-old East Coast fishing village situated on Bonavista's historic harbor front. Photo by Bernie Herman

10:49 a.m., Aug. 24, 2006--On the Bonavista Peninsula at the northern most tip of the island of Newfoundland, where explorer John Cabot is thought to have sighted the "New World" for the first time in 1497, Bernie Herman, Edward and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Art History at UD and past director of the Center for Material Culture Studies, has solved an architectural puzzle.

Herman was commissioned by the Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation to ascertain the age of a storehouse that sits on the Mockbegger Plantation, part of a 500-year-old East Coast fishing village situated on Bonavista's historic harbor front.

Working onsite with colleagues from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, he examined the building from July 6-11, and determined that the storehouse is the oldest known surviving structure in on the island and dates its construction to the late 1700s.

“Newfoundland has a growing tourist economy. They [the government] would like to interpret this building for the public. In order to do that accurately, they want to know when the structure was first built and how it was altered over time. In addition, they want to interpret how the building was used at different points in its 200-year history. This building is particularly important, because it physically documents the earliest history of the fishery when it went from being seasonal to year round in the late-18th century,” Herman said.

In 2003, the provincial government embarked on a new marketing
strategy designed to lure retiring baby-boomers and global travelers to
Newfoundland and Labrador. Ecotourism, including the restoration of historical landmarks that could attract tourists, is part of the plan.

Bernie Herman, Edward and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Art History, also has served as director of the Center for Material Culture Studies at UD. Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

The Mockbegger Plantation tells the story of those who caught and processed fish and of the industry itself. The storehouse and the other buildings at Mockbegger are domestic and industrial structures typical of a 19th-Century salt-fish mercantile complex and include a retail shop, fish store, salt shed, carpentry shop, cod-liver-oil factory and manager's residence.

Herman said the framing practices used in the 55 feet by 24 feet, two-story building strongly resembles northern New England framing techniques. He said the 18th-Century owner of the storehouse likely hired a master carpenter with a construction crew well versed in the construction practices of the Massachusetts Bay area. “The level of sophistication apparent in the building's fabric is really impressive,” he said.

Herman also is working on a computer model of the building with architect and former student, Jeffrey Klee, an architectural historian with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Klee received a master's degree in art history from UD in 2001 and is currently completing his PhD dissertation on the architectural history of Boston's Beacon Hill.

In September, Herman will submit a report of his findings, guidelines for restoration, recommendations for future research, computer model and a narrative to be used when the storehouse is open to the public, to the provincial government.

“It's always a privilege to work with people committed to preserving and teaching with the buildings of the past,” Herman said. “I learned so much from the building and from friends and colleagues in Newfoundland.”

Article by Barbara Garrison

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