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 Cape Spear Lighthouse, Cape Spear, Newfoundland Posted by:  Bon Echo
N 47° 31.209 W 052° 37.399
22T E 377790 N 5264245
At the most easterly point in North America, the Cape Spear lighthouse is a National Historic Site.
Waymark Code: WM1081K
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Date Posted: 03/18/2019
Views: 3
Located a short 15-minute drive from St. John's, Cape Spear is famous for being the most easterly point of land in North America. From this point, the entrance to St. John's Harbour can be determined by locating Cabot Tower atop Signal Hill. Easy to see on a clear sunny day, but imaging sailing towards the rocky shoreline, 150 years before the advent of GPS-assisted navigation. Add in fog, wind and waves and finding your way along the coast could be a life-and-death maritime adventure. For that reason, the construction of well=placed lighthouses along the Newfoundland coastline became a major undertaking of early to mid 1800's. The second lighthouse to built in Newfoundland was the light at Cape Spear. Brought into service in 1836, the lighthouse guided ships until 1955. At that time, the illumination equipment (which had undergone numerous upgrades over the years) was transferred to a new, taller tower constructed a short distance from the original lighthouse.
The history of the original lighthouse is well presented on Lighthousefriends.com, and the following is adapted from that page:
Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America, is situated just south of the entrance to St. John’s Harbour and was a natural place to construct Newfoundland’s first coastal lighthouse. A corruption of the French noun esperance, meaning hope, Cape Spear was likely named after the emotion felt by sailors upon reaching land after a lengthy ocean voyage.
In 1834, the newly formed representative government under Governor Thomas Cochrane passed “An Act for the Establishment of Lighthouses,” which among many things authorized £1000 to be raised by loan for a lighthouse at Cape Spear. Governor Cochrane, accompanied by the Commissioners, the Commanding Royal Engineer, and the Surveyor General, visited Cape Spear in 1834 and selected a site for the lighthouse near the edge of a vertical seventy-three-metre sandstone cliff. Under a £400 contract, St. John’s builders Nicholas Croke and William Parker commenced work on the lighthouse that year, using plans from the Northern Lighthouse Board in Scotland. Stevenson and Sons of Scotland provided a copper domed lantern room with a diameter of ten feet for £335, and a twenty-eight-year-old lighting apparatus from Inchkeith Lighthouse on the Firth of Forth in Scotland was refurbished by the Scottish firm of McBride and Kerr at a cost of £628 for use at Cape Spear.
A square, two-storey, wooden residence, was completed in 1835, but the lighthouse could not be activated until September 1, 1836, due to the time needed for the lantern and lighting apparatus to arrive and be mounted atop the center of the lighthouse’s hipped roof. Each face of the building was divided into three bays or sections, using pilasters, and “false” windows were used to obtain a balanced façade. Initially fueled by sperm whale oil, the lighting apparatus had seven Argand burners set in silvered reflectors and revolved to produce a brilliant flash of light each minute.
On September 19, 1846, a tremendous gale struck Cape Spear and blew with such violence that it lifted one side of the lighthouse several inches off the foundation. The lantern room, supported by a wooden framework within the lighthouse, was so contorted that nearly every pane of glass was broken. Each of the lighthouse’s four corners was subsequently chained to the rock, but still a fearful Keeper Cantwell complained that the lighthouse trembled whenever a strong wind blew. Patrick Kough, Superintendent of Lighthouses, recommended that a stone and brick tower be built within the lighthouse to support the weighty lantern room, and this was carried out in 1850.
Source: "Cape Spear (New) Lighthouse" on Lighthousefriends.com, accessed March 2019
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The Cape Spear Lighthouse was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada on May 15, 1962, A plaque mounted to a stone beside the building reads:
CAPE SPEAR LIGHTHOUSE
LE PHARE DU CAP SPEAR
Cape Spear, Newfoundland's oldest surviving lighthouse, has served as the chief approach light for St. John's harbour since 1836. Constructed by local builders Nicolas Croke and William Parker, it consists of a stone tower surrounded by a frame residence, a common lighthouse design on Canada's east coast. The light mechanism in use in the 19th century came from Inchkeith lighthouse in Scotland. Modern equipment was installed in 1912 and remains in use in the concrete tower built nearby in 1955. Much altered during the 19th century, the old lighthouse has been restored to its original appearance.
Construit par les entrepreneurs locaux, Nicholas Croke et William Parker, ce phare est le plus ancien de Terre-Neuve et le principal repère du port de Saint-Jean depuis 1836. La tour de pierre qui s'enlève au milieu d'une maison en bois rappelle l'architecture familière des phares dans l'Est du Canada. Le mécanisme en usage au XIXe siècle venait du phare Inchkeith en Écosse. Un mécanisme moderne fut installé en 1912 et il sert encore dans la tour de béton construite près d'ici en 1955. Le phare, qui a été grandement modifié au cours du XIXe siècle, a été restoré dans son aspect original.
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The following description of the building and it's significance is taken from the Canadian Register of Historic Places website:
Description of Historic Place
The Cape Spear Lighthouse at Cape Spear National Historic Site of Canada is a Neoclassical, two storey, cubic building with clapboard siding, and a low hip-roof crowned with a solid stone circular lighthouse tower and polygonal lantern. Constructed in 1835, the Cape Spear Lighthouse is located on the most eastern point of Newfoundland and is the centrepiece of the Cape Spear National Historic Site of Canada. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Heritage Value
Cape Spear Lighthouse is a Classified Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values. Historical value :
The Cape Spear Lighthouse is associated with the provisions of aid to navigation for the settlement of Newfoundland. Constructed in 1835, it was the first purpose-built lighthouse on the east coast of Newfoundland. The Cape Spear Lighthouse signalled the entry to St. John’s harbour for commercial shipping and navigation, and was the first Public Works project by the colonial legislature as well as the first project initiated by the commissioners of lighthouses. From the outset, shipping duties were levied on commercial ships to pay for the cost of maintaining the lighthouse. Members of the Cantwell family were the light-keepers of the lighthouse for over a century and throughout its functional life. Architectural value :
The Cape Spear Lighthouse is an excellent interpretation of Neoclassicism applied to a lighthouse design, and is characterized by a well-proportioned composition and simple building forms. Well built and functionally well conceived, the Cape Spear Lighthouse is a skillful integration of two building types, a residence and a lighthouse, and is an elegant solution to a challenging functional program. The building’s solid construction also demonstrates the use of quality craftsmanship and materials some of which, such as the structural framing and interior masonry tower and lantern, have survived the harsh weather conditions for over a century. Environmental value :
Located on the most eastern point of Newfoundland, the Cape Spear Lighthouse reinforces the dominant maritime setting of the rugged headland and natural coastline. The site is defined by the borders of the Cape Spear National Historic Site of Canada, and has retained its rugged character and its relationship to the surrounding landscape. The Cape Spear Lighthouse is one of the best-known symbols of the Avalon Peninsula, a distinction it shares with Cabot Tower and the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse. Sources: Alexandra Mosquin, Cape Spear Lighthouse, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 00-198; Cape Spear Lighthouse, St. John’s, Newfoundland; Heritage Character Statement 00-198.
Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of Cape Spear Lighthouse should be respected. Its role as an illustration of provision of aids to navigation for the settlement of Newfoundland, and as the first coastal light to signal entry to St. John’s harbour is reflected in:
- its strategic coastal location and its dominant view;
- the skillful integration of two building types, a residence and a lighthouse, which permitted the continuous and efficient performance of this coastal lighthouse despite the rugged landscape and harsh weather conditions. Its excellent interpretation of early 19th century Neoclassicism, its quality craftsmanship and its good quality materials as manifested in:
- the well proportioned and symmetrical composition of the building which consists of simple forms such as the cubic volume of the residence, the pyramidal shape of the low hipped roof, the circular stone tower and the polygonal lantern with domed roof;
- the simple articulation of the building’s façades which are sharply defined and framed by the overhanging cornice, the wide horizontal planks at the base and cornice of the building, and the wide vertical wood planks evocative of pilasters at the corners of the building and between the windows, dividing the elevations into three bays;
- the rhythm established by the symmetrical placement and proportions of the ground floor’s double-hung windows, and the upper level’s smaller, rectangular false windows;
- the elegant scheme of exterior paint colours which consists of the square white residence and the red and white striped dome of the lantern;
- the functional interior layout of the residential spaces which are wrapped around the masonry tower;
- the well-crafted construction of the stone light tower and foundation and the wood structure and clapboard siding of the residence. The manner in which this coastal lighthouse reinforces the maritime character of the setting as evidenced in:
- its relationship with the site, in particular its prominent location on a ridge at the end of a climbing path, isolated from the other buildings belonging to this National Historic Site;
- the contrast of the lighthouse’s bright white residence and distinctive red and white lantern with the rugged landscape of the rocky peninsula and expansive ocean which establish the maritime character of the setting;
- the building’s landmark value as the centerpiece of Cape Spear National Historic Site of Canada, and one of the best known symbols of the Avalon Peninsula.
Source: www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=2885, accessed March 2019
URL of Page from Heritage Register: [Web Link]
Site's Own URL: [Web Link]
Address of site:
Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site, St. John's, NL, Canada
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