Cable Building
In French: Édifice du Câble
Also known as Western Union Telegraph Co. , Bay Roberts Cable Building
Water Street, Bay Roberts
About Cable Building
In Bay Roberts, Cable Building is the National Historic Site. By its record, Cable Building was built in 1913–1914. The register names D. C. Weeks & Son and McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin as its architects.
The Cable Building National Historic Site of Canada is a testament to the development of the telegraph industry in Newfoundland and Canada in the 20th century. Situated on Water Street in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland and Labrador, the concrete and steel structure is Neoclassical in design. The building is clad in red and beige brick and consists of a single, two-storey rectangular portion with a sympathetically-designed lateral wing. The interior spaces were designed to be open and spacious in order to accommodate the telegraph relay station. Currently, the ground floor houses the town hall, and the second floor is home to the Road to Yesterday Museum and the Christopher Pratt Art Gallery. The official recognition refers to the building on its footprint.
From the Canadian Register of Historic Places, Cable Building National Historic Site of Canada · Open Government Licence – Canada · as published, word for word
A National Historic Site is designated by the federal minister on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board’s advice.
Finding Cable Building
Bay Roberts
It is a stop on its own: the next historic place is a longer trip.
Questions about Cable Building
What is Cable Building?
Since 2008, Cable Building has been a National Historic Site of Canada.
Is Cable Building protected?
The designation recognizes its national significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Provincial or municipal designation may.
Can you visit Cable Building?
As a museum it usually opens to the public; its operator sets the hours.
When was Cable Building built?
The record of Cable Building gives 1913–1914.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Photos: Wikimedia Commons, each credited with its licence and copied to our own server · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).