This old house: Bathurst group finalist to win $50K for repairs to historical property

Hannah Rudderham · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 06, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

A New Brunswick enactment is hoping to get a large helping manus to restore a practice site.

Doucet Hennessy House successful Bathurst is simply a finalist successful the Next Great Save, a contention from the non-profit National Trust for Canada, where the victor gets $50,000 to spell toward preserving oregon renewing a practice place.

Melynda Jarratt, president of the Doucet Hennessy House Association, said determination are a batch of deserving practice sites successful Canada, but she inactive thought it worthy entering.

"I thought, ohio well, it's a chance," she said. "If you don't apply, it's similar winning the lotto, right? If you don't bargain the ticket, you can't win."

Getting chosen felt similar graduating from university, said Jarratt. "I threw my chapeau up successful the air!"

Doucet Hennessy House is much than 200 years old. The homestead, which sits astatine the apical of a elevation connected St. Peter Avenue and overlooks the Bay of Chaleur, was location to the Doucet household archetypal and past the Hennessy family.

According to the group's submission to the competition, the location was built successful 1812 by Charles Doucet, an Acadian. In the aboriginal 1900s, the 200 acres were passed connected to the Irish-Scottish Hennessy family. Now, the location is utilized for taste programming, specified arsenic theatre, creator residencies and exhibits.

The archetypal signifier of the house's restoration is already completed, said Jarratt, but Phase 2 volition necessitate immoderate monetary support.

The main absorption successful the past was structural repairs and the exterior, she said, portion the 2nd phase is focused more connected the inside.

Jarratt said winning the $50,000 prize wealth would let the radical to entree antithetic backing streams to assistance implicit the project. She said for astir practice grants, groups request to beryllium capable to lend a tiny information of the wealth to get the money.

Even a 10 per cent publication tin adhd up, she said. 

"When you've got a $500,000 project, what's 10 per cent? It's 50,000 bucks," said Jarratt. 

"And it's hard to rise wealth successful Bathurst, and it's hard to rise wealth successful an economically challenged assemblage that's facing galore difficulties of its own."

Public voting started connected Monday and goes until April 17 erstwhile the winners are chosen. Along with the expansive prize, determination are 2 runner-up prizes of $10,000 and $5,000. 

LISTEN | Association walks done plans for practice location renovations:

The finalists see three in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1 successful Alberta, 2 successful British Columbia, 1 successful Manitoba, 1 successful Nova Scotia, 2 successful Ontario and 1 successful Saskatchewan. The Bathurst task is the lone New Brunswick finalist. 

Phase 2 of the Doucet Hennessy House task has progressive gutting the archetypal floor, which has revealed immoderate 200-year-old ceiling beams, said Jarratt. 

New wiring and plumbing, caller entryways to the rooms, insulation and a wheelchair accessible bath inactive person to beryllium completed. Part of this signifier besides includes making the location vigor efficient, including adding solar energy. 

"This volition unfastened up doors for america that we've been pushing and kicking … to effort to get into those backing structures," said Jarratt.

"We spot this arsenic a magnificent accidental to really bash the things to get to the extremity of the race."