TopNational Historic Site · 1857–1953Ryan Premises10 Ryans Hill RoadPhoto: Silverchemist · CC BY 3.0 · Commons file
Ryan Residence · Photo: Lukester878 · CC BY-SA 3.06historic places on the registers
History of Bonavista · Canada’s heritage registers
An older town: 38% of Bonavista’s homes predate 1961
The typical town has 18%: Bonavista has 2.2 times the share. Inside the town the registers count 6 historic places; 2 are top designations. Per resident it outdoes 99% of Canadian towns, with 18 for every 10,000 people. Its oldest building on the record is Cape Bonavista Light, from 1843.
Historic places
6
18 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
2
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Other federal designations
3
Recognized buildings, railway stations, lighthouses
Provincial and local listings
1
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1843
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
38%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Bonavista’s 2 highest designations, each in a photo
All of Bonavista’s designated places are pictured. Leading off: Ryan Residence and Ryan Premises. 4 photographers took them.
Ryan Premises
Cape Bonavista Light
Ryan Retail Store
Ryan Fish Storage
Ryan Store and Fish Purchasing Centre+1See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
The map
Where Bonavista’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Each dot is a place: point at it for the name, tap it for its page.
The 6, by tier
2 Highest designations3 Other federal designations1 Provincial and local listings
Federal designations come from Parks Canada’s directory; a province’s or a council’s own listing shows here only when Wikidata holds it and an encyclopedia covers it.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
2 places in Bonavista with the highest designation
Ryan Premises is the earliest, from 1857; the latest dates from 1860. By designation: a National Historic Site and a Classified Federal Heritage Building. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1860–1861Ryan ResidenceCanaille RoadPhoto: Lukester878 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Other federal designations
3 more federal designations in Bonavista
Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Ryan Retail Store is the earliest, from 1860; the latest dates from 1888. Each one opens its own page.
FedRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1860–1875Ryan Retail StoreCanaille RoadPhoto: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
FedRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1874–1880Ryan Store and Fish Purchasing CentreCanaille RoadPhoto: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
FedRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1888–1891Ryan Fish StorageCanaille RoadPhoto: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
What’s designated
Bonavista’s record leans to mills, shops and works: 50%
Second on the list: houses, 2 of them. Two of the highest-ranked are Ryan Premises and Ryan Residence.
Mills, shops and works3
Houses2
Stations, lighthouses and bridges1
Each place sits in one group, from its name first, then the uses its register lists.
Provincial and local listings
One more place Bonavista or its province protects
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Each one opens its own page.
LocalHow old
Most of Bonavista’s dated places come from the years before Confederation
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–18664
After Confederation 1867–19132
Wars and Depression 1914–19450
Since 1946 1946 on0
Before 1867: 4 of the 6 with a date.
Homes by age
Little new building in Bonavista: 1.4% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
More than half of Bonavista’s housing predates 1981. In Bonavista, 25% of homes date from 1961 to 1980, much as in most towns (27%). 24% of Bonavista’s homes were built from 1981 to 2000, close to the typical town’s 23%.
38%
Before 1961
25%
1961–80
24%
1981–2000
13%
2001–15
1.4%
2016–21
BonavistaTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Towns its size
Bonavista has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 3,300 to 3,300 residents, by places on the registers.
Bonavista6
The middle one has 0. 11 of them have none.
Neighbours
Bonavista and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonavista | 3,293 | 6 | 2 | 1843 |
| Trinity Bay North | 1,692 | 1 | 1 | 1916 |
In brief
Bonavista in brief
Before 1961: 38% of Bonavista’s homes, against 18% in the typical town. The count is 6 historic places, 2 with the highest designation. It tops the 16 towns nearest its size for historic places. By date, the years before Confederation lead: 4 of 6. The other figures are unremarkable: John Abbott (1874) is its person of the past on the record; and its places were designated between 1987 and 1993.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The tiers. National Historic Sites and the most protected buildings form the top tier; recognized federal buildings, stations and lighthouses the second; provincial and municipal listings the third.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
- The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
- Protection. Federal recognition isn’t a planning control: buildings the federal government owns follow its heritage policy, while others are protected only by a provincial or municipal designation.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
Questions about Bonavista’s history
How old are the homes in Bonavista?
Before 1961: 38% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Which places in Bonavista have the highest designation?
Ryan Premises and Ryan Residence.
What is the oldest building in Bonavista?
By its record, Cape Bonavista Light, from 1843 (Provincial historic site).
Why might a heritage building in Bonavista be missing here?
Its province’s and council’s own lists can’t be reused here; 32 further listings in Bonavista show up only as Wikidata numbers.
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) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
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).