Edward John
(Eddie-John)
Sooley and
Elizabeth Jane
(Lizzie) Sooley
estoring the E. J. Sooley house in
Heart’s Delight, Newfoundland,
population 700, was a labour of love for
Ken Sooley and his sister Sharon Nisbet.
The house is built on land purchased by their great-great-grandfather in 1860. Their
grandfather, Edward john Sooley, built the current house in the late 1930s. It overlooks
Trinity Bay, on newfoundland’s northeastern coast.
ken and Sharon took over the home’s care in the early 1990s. The first of several
renovations began in 1997, drawing on the expertise of carpenter jerry Burton. The
E. j. Sooley house, like many outport houses, is one-storey built simply with readily
accessible materials and a wooden clapboard exterior. like many traditional
English-newfoundland homes, the 1930s version of the house had a central hallway with
three bedrooms on one side, a kitchen with pantry and porch (an anteroom before you
enter the main house) and a parlour on the other side.
Restoring an old house means making choices. The house’s footprint is still 900 sq.
ft. but its interior was adapted to accommodate some amenities. It now has electric
baseboard heaters and an indoor bathroom, situated where an air forced furnace used
to be in the centre of the house. “In hindsight, I would probably have had the bathroom
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