Description of Historic Place

The Lighttower on Gull Island is a straight, unadorned, prefabricated cast iron cylinder, 11.6 meters in height. Its shaft, founded directly on bedrock, is punctuated by two small windows and a corbelled gallery with a simple balustrade. It is topped by a circular lantern with two tiers of triangular glazing, a small dome and ventilator. The structure is painted in alternating red and white vertical bands and linked to the lightkeeper’s house by a covered walkway. The lighttower is part of a small lightstation complex, located on a remote island off Newfoundland’s north coast. The designation is confined to the footprint of the structure.

Heritage Value

The Lighttower on Gull Island is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical value:
The Lighttower on Gull Island is associated with the development of safe navigation in pre-Confederation Newfoundland. Considered to be a minor navigational light, it coincided with the rise of fishery in the Grand Bank waters and still serves locals in shipping and fishing.

Architectural value:
The Lighttower on Gull Island is a well-proportioned structure and an excellent example of the standardized prefabricated cast iron component structures. It is an example of technological advancement in tower construction, which moved away from fire-prone timber structures. Shipped from England and assembled on-site, a process common for late 19th Century Newfoundland, this design had the functional advantages of low costs, easy shipment and rapid assembly.

Environmental value:
The Lighttower on Gull Island reinforces the rugged and utilitarian character of its setting, a remote, barren and rocky island off Newfoundland’s north coast, which it shares with other light station buildings.

Sources:
Sally Coutts, Gull Island Lighthouse, Gull Island, Newfoundland. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 88-133; Gull Island Lighthouse, Gull Island, Newfoundland, Heritage Character Statement 88-133.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Lighttower on Gull Island should be respected.

Its simple, efficient design and standardized construction, as demonstrated in: the overall distinctive form and simplified lines of the structure’s exterior; the prefabricated cast iron cylindrical shaft, with its two small window openings and an exterior gallery supported on iron fretwork brackets above a fledging cornice; the protective paint daymarks, which consist of six alternating red and white vertical bands and contribute to its visibility; the prefabricated cast iron lantern, with its circular light composed of two tiers of triangular glazing, topped by a small dome and ventilator.

The manner in which the building reinforces the rugged and utilitarian character of its setting: the structure’s open relationship to the rugged and barren site and to the other buildings of the light station; the physical link to the lightkeeper’s house by a covered walkway, which testifies to the Island’s rugged conditions.

Heritage Character Statement

Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.

The Gull Island lighttower was erected in 1884 by the Newfoundland Board of Works to guide local navigation. One of a series of perhaps 38 cast iron structures, it was designed and cast in Britain by an unidentified firm.
It is currently the responsibility of Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard. See FHBRO Building Report 88-133.


Reasons for Designation

The Gull Island lighthouse has been designated a Recognized federal heritage building as one of a series of special structures associated with a particular theme of national maritime history, as a carefully executed example of maritime design and engineering, and as a highly visible element of importance to navigation in its environment.

Typical of what may be considered a second wave of prefabricated lighthouse construction for local navigation in the late 19th century, and associated with the promotion of the Grand Bank fishery, the lighthouse is a large vertical cylinder of cast iron founded directly on bedrock with a circular light composed of triangular glazing topped by a small dome. Painted with vertical stripes of red and white, the tower is part of a complex of relatively recent structures. Despite reservations about their use for navigation aids in wave-swept locations, carefully located and rapidly erected cast-iron constructions proved suitable substitutes for fire-prone timber structures. Of perhaps 38 built in Newfoundland up to the introduction of reinforced concrete early in the 20th century, at least 26 survive. Its exterior evinces the maintenance and care of detail typical of maritime facilities.


Character-Defining Elements

The external heritage character of the tower is of a smooth vertical cylinder of cast iron 11.6 metres high. Its shaft, founded directly on bedrock, is punctuated by two small windows and a simply balustraded gallery near the top, with a circular light composed of two tiers of triangular glazing topped by a small dome with a ventilator at its peak. Painted with six vertical bands, alternating red and white, the tower is linked to a relatively recent lightkeeper's house by a covered walkway. A narrow doorway below the level of the lantern gives access to the exterior gallery, which is supported on iron fretwork brackets above a fledgling cornice.


As a whole, the building retains almost all of the characteristic features of its original construction, and these should be protected and retained in the course of any future work. Continued regular maintenance of interior and exterior is essential, in particular the protective paint on the cast iron elements. Consideration should be given to sampling and recording paints and colours, both existing and hidden, before any future refinishing.