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A Gower House B&B St. John's

his downtown St. John's Victorian Inn was built in the late 1800's and completely refurbished in 1994. Our cosy non- smoking rooms are well appointed and provide visitors with quiet and comfortable accommodations after a day of sightseeing. Our lodgings have received a Three Star Rating under the Canada Select Program. Several guest rooms have queen sized beds and full ensuite washrooms and each has a telephone, individual thermostat, sound control, remote control color cable television, clock radio, and high quality bedding. Two of our rooms have ground level entry from our private paved off street parking area.

We have an extensive art collection on display throughout the Bed and Breakfast featuring many of the Newfoundland's better know artists such as David Blackwood, Janis Udell, Paul Parsons, Scott Goudie, and Anne Meredith Barry.

Located in the central downtown historic properties area, halfway between Hotel Newfoundland, Delta Hotel, and St. John's Convention Center, we are within a 5 minute walking radius of most travelers' attractions: St. John's Harbour; Mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway; Memorial Stadium, home of the St. John's Maple Leaf's Hockey Team, Anglican Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist; Roman Catholic Basilica; Commissariat House; Colonial Building for Genealogical researching at the Newfoundland Provincial Archives, the presbyterian Kirk, Government House - the residence of the Lieutenant Governor, offices of the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador, old cemeteries, George Street night life for traditional Celtic and Irish musicians, live theater (LSPU Hall), dinner theater ( Spirit of Newfoundland); Rennies River and Signal Hill hiking trails, the Newfoundland Military Museum; Commissariat House. Fine restaurants (Margaritz; Bianca's; The Bread Pig) art galleries (Emma Butler, Christina Parker) the Court Houses, craft and antique shops (Pollyanna); and all of Canada's major banks.

The St. John's Haunted Hike Tour starts from the suitably Gothic west entrance to the Anglican Cathedral on Church Hill, which is just a few meters from Gower House Bed and Breakfast and the Province's Museum at the foot of the street where it meets Duckworth Street.

We are a twenty minute walk from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Health Sciences Complex and School of Medicine, and Pippy Park, and 3 miles from St. John's International Airport (YYT).

Many guests just like to walk down from Signal Hall and watch an Arctic iceberg drift offshore or the humpback and minke whales rolling in the waves while supply ships, for OffShore oil production at Hibernia, ply their way through the Narrows. Others take one of our many boat tour into the North Atlantic for birdwatching some of Atlantic Canada's 40 million birds from species such as auks, puffins, murre, gulls, gannets, osprey, and bald eagles.

The Salmonier Ecological Reserve and Nature Park is about a 20 minute drive from the house and here guests can take a leisurely stroll through an old growth forest and observe moose, bears, caribou, beaver, ptarmigan, the endangered pine martin, Peregrine Falcon, Canada Lynx, Arctic fox, Bald Eagle, River Otter, Snowshoe Hare, and American Kestrel.

Gower House is a four-storeyed wood-frame house built in the Second Empire style with a mansard roof and semi circle dormers. Originally only three storeys, the house, had a fourth floor artist studio loft added in the early 1900's by the Newfoundland photographer Elsie Holloway, to take advantage of the exceptional views of the City and St. John's Harbour. It has been designated as a point of interest by the Newfoundland Historic Trust because it was the Holloway residence.

In 1913 Elsie established Holloway Art Studio of St. John's, in partnership with her brother, Bert, who died in 1916 in the First World War. Elsie specialized in portraits, and was known for her style and spirit in capturing spontaneity and mounting photographs in original ways. She also documented the departure of Amelia Earhart from Harbour Grace, and became adept at landscape photography. Elsie's work is acknowledged to be among the finest photography produced in Newfoundland. She retired and sold the Studio in 1946. Much of her work is preserved in the Newfoundland Museum and the Provincial Archives.

Many of our guests like to venture farther afield while in Newfoundland and explore the French Islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon off the Burin Peninsula. Other visitors explore Canada's World Heritage Site, trails leading through the tuckermore - tangled, twisted spruce trees - to sights of incredible fiords and waterfalls in the Gross Morne National Park. Western Brook Pond is truly breathtaking, and continue up the Northern Peninsula along the Viking Trail, as part of (Vinland) Newfoundland & Labrador's Leif Ericson (Eriksson) Millennium Celebration to the Bird Cove archaeological digs or on to L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, the oldest authenticated European settlement in North America - inhabited by (Norge) Norse Vikings five hundred years before Columbus' arrival.

Please feel free to contact us for any general enquires you may have on travel or vacationing in our Province.

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