The Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador says it has outgrown its space and wants to find a spot more on tourists’ downtown beaten path.
Executive director Rowena House said one of the biggest reasons for the sale of the landmark Devon House on east Duckworth Street is also accessibility — there’s no way to make the 1800s structure accessible.
Members of the council are excited about a move, which is contingent on the sale of the building, House said.
The aim is to enhance the opportunities of the council’s members, she said.
While Devon House occupies prime real estate with a back-door view of St. John’s harbour and is near the Hotel Newfoundland, it doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic, House said.
“No one knows where we are,” she said.
When House started her job two years ago after moving from Labrador, she said, she wasn’t sure where to find Devon House, a four-storey structure that houses the retail shop and offices of the craft council.
“We’re on the cusp of the downtown. When people come down over the hill they turn right. They don’t turn left,” she said.
No specific relocation plans are set. The council has looked at some locations downtown — further west and somewhere before the Delta is the ideal — and will definitely lease, House said.
That gives the council flexibility to move again if it outgrows the next space, as it has with Devon House, which it moved into in 1991. At that time, said House, the council was leaving an office for an entire building. From there, the gallery and retail operations were successfully built up.
The move is bittersweet.
“Because we have been here so long. We know where all the creaks are. Everyone is comfortable,” House said.
With an amazing view and parking, the council hopes the building — a brownstone that survived the Great Fire of 1892 — will be a quick sell.
O’Dea’s Realty and Auction Room Ltd. listed the building about two weeks ago, at a price of $999,000.
