James Leo Harty House and Outbuildings

The James Leo Harty House and Outbuildings have been designated because of their aesthetic and cultural value.

The James Leo Harty House has aesthetic value as it is a good representative example of a fisherman’s biscuit box style house in the area. Enhancing the aesthetic value is the context in which the house is situated. The building exists in a very traditional Newfoundland setting, with outbuildings in close proximity and fencing surrounding the property. There are very few examples of outport homes with the majority of their outbuildings still remaining. Outbuildings on the Harty property were designed for practical use, employing rough materials, simple design elements and utilitarian construction techniques. There are two outbuildings, which include an outhouse, and a larger structure which is comprised of a linked carriage shed, stable, pig barn, and cellar.

The James Leo Harty House and Outbuildings have cultural value as they are physical reminders of an earlier time and place. In the early 1900s most outport residential properties had several outbuildings, used to store vegetables grown in private gardens and to house livestock. These buildings served a vital purpose in a subsistence economy which demanded that food be stored for both animal and human consumption. Most properties also had extensive fences as livestock were free to roam communities in the summertime. Regulations regarding roaming livestock and a decline in the number of families raising animals has resulted in such fences disappearing from the landscape.