The cottage in Brigus might be the oldest remaining building in N.L.

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BRIGUS, N.L. — During his 50 years in the construction business, Rex Passion has come to know wood, but he’s only worked on one wooden roof: Kent Cottage in Brigus.

He was recently on the roof, putting on new shingles made from eastern white cedar wood for the historic home, located on the Battery on the north shore of Brigus Bay.

“I’m experienced, but I’ve never done a wood roof before,” said Passion, who is the vice-president of facilities for Landfall Trust and Kent Cottage.

He wrapped up the first phase of reshingling the southside roof and the studio roof in June. The 40-year-old roof was at the end of its lifespan.

During the summer, Kent Cottage hosts art, music and writers residencies, and they can’t have construction going on.

“We’re booked, basically, full through the first part of June ‘til the first part of October. So in October, we’re going to go back and we’re going to do the other half of the job," he explains.

Passion estimates phase two will take about a month to complete.

The Kent Cottage roof has had its unique construction material since American Bradley Jacob Folensbee Jr. replaced it more than 40 years ago, in 1981, with imported western red cedar.

“They were two-and-a-half inches thick at the butt end. So, they’re gigantic shingles. So even from Newfoundland standards for a wood roof, it was a strange roof. You never see anything like it in Newfoundland because the wood was imported from the west coast (of the U.S.),” Passion explains.

Finding suitable replacements was a challenge. He started looking for shingles last December and reached out to vendors in St. John’s for the materials but came up empty.

Then he went around Brigus before finding a bundle of white cedar wood in a Bay Roberts store for $60 a bundle, but he didn’t get to celebrate long before he was told they were being held for another customer.

Then he was told the materials could be ordered for $140 a bundle, which he agreed to. The price ended up being $120 a bundle in the end, he added.

Passion said they were able to raise approximately $14,000 for the $15,000 job through a campaign where people could donate $200 to sponsor a bundle of shingles. People had the option to do this in someone’s name and he said the dedications were printed, stapled to the roof and then covered with shingles.

“When this roof wears out, in hopefully 40 years, somebody will take it off and they’ll find these dedications, kind of like a time capsule,” he said.

The Landfall Trust also got a Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage grant for the roof renovations, so it's splitting the cost.

Before phase one of the roof project started, the Landfall Trust had mason George Morgan put in a new chimney in a day.

“He’s very historically accurate and he’s used to doing nice Victorian chimneys that have a little flair to them. I had to make sure he did nothing fancy to it, because this is not a fancy chimney,” said Passion.

Brigus mayor Shears Mercer Jr. said Kent Cottage is a beautiful old building and it’s great to see the cottage being maintained.

“We’re trying to keep what history we still have remaining. We’ve lost a lot over the years as people bought homes and tore them down and replaced them with new ones. And it’s too bad it comes to this,” said Mercer.

He added that the historical charm of buildings like the cottage bring people from all over to the community.

That's why, Passion said, it was important to get the roofing materials right.

“We are a registered heritage structure with Heritage NL, and actually, we are the highest tier of that; we are a landmark structure… So just from an aesthetic and a historical point of view, it’s important to keep the historic type of roof on it and not put a modern roof on it,” said Passion.

It could also be the oldest building in the province, he said. It was estimated to have been built in 1786, while the Anderson House in St. John’s was built circa 1804-1805.

“Kent Cottage is significantly older than that, I’m sure. It’s a really important heritage site," he adds.

However, not much of that original structure is still around.

“We know that one wall is there because, up in the attic, you can see the old roof line. It was originally built as a two-window Georgian.”

Over the years, owners have made their own additions, like in 1914, when artist Rockwell Kent added a small studio space on the west side.

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