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Thursday, April 01, 2010

"Modern Cape Light"


In the first session of the House of Assembly in Newfoundland in 1834 the small colony of St. John's took out its' first loan of 1000 pounds to build the first lighthouse at Cape Spear (Header Image). Governor Thomas Cochrane at the time choose the site at the very top and precipice edge of the sandstone cliffs some 240 vertical feet above sea level. Construction began in 1834. The firm of Croake and Parker were contracted to build the light at a cost of 440 pounds. The design was based on similar plans developed by The Northern Lighthouse Board in Scotland.

The wood frame house was built fairly lightly and would have disastrous results a decade later. It was regency style architecture popular in Britian at the time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are going to tell us what the disastrous results were, right?

Stan Mac Kenzie said...

You betcha! : )