The mysterious tower on top of the Colonial Building
People following the rehabilitation of the Colonial Building in St. John's have noticed a new tower with windows crowning the top, but is the tower actually new?
The building, which housed Newfoundland's legislature in the 1850s, is being completely restored to what it looked like when it was originally built.
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But early photographs and stamps don't show a tower on the neoclassical gem.
Jerry Dick, director of heritage with Newfoundland and Labrador's Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development department, says the tower is actually a lantern — a popular architectural feature in the 19th century that would allow light to come into the top of the building into the lobby.
"Unless you're more than 120 years old, you wouldn't have recollection of it," Dick said.
"It was part of the original design of the building, which was opened in 1850, and it was taken down we think around early 1890s, probably because it was not performing well. It was leaking."
The team behind the restoration didn't have any construction or original drawings, Dick said, so they had to work with historic photographs and the footprint of what was there decades ago.
He said there was lots of conversation about how to avoid any leaking problem.
"The original was probably made of wood and glass and this one is made of steel coated in lead, so we've been told it's going to perform very, very well," he said.
The restoration, which has been ongoing since 2010, has recreated a "more formal, more ceremonial approach" to the building, Dick said.
"In the openings of the house they used to have a procession that went from Government House. The whole government would march with the mace and they would have a procession right up to the building," Dick said.
Changes to the porch
There are also a number of changes to the porch area. Three windows have been removed and as part of the process, workers are putting back a replica of the double door that pre-dates the Smallwood era.
Dick said with the 2017 reopening on the horizon, the outside work on the building is expected to be completed in late summer or early fall — then workers will move inside.
"That will entail redoing all the plaster work, ripping off layers and layers of paint off woodwork and then, in many cases, putting back original paint finishes, some of which were quite elaborate, Dick said.
"An example of that, the front lobby. I always knew it as sort of, I'll call it transportation and works beige, but in fact is actually dark-green Venetian marble."