Members of the demolition crew said there were holes in the roof large enough to drop a car into.
In recent years the once elegant Waterford Manor had suffered fire damage. The roof openings, along with broken windows, caused extensive rain and wind damage. Anything of value left was apparently looted.
The 113-year-old Queen Anne-style manor at the corner of Waterford Bridge Road and Waterford Lane came down on Tuesday.
As the excavator bucket tore through the walls and turrets, the crumbled pile was a mix of aged-dark wood that made up the floors, wall frames and rafters, and modern gyproc, piping and pink insulation.
Sounds of cracking and crunching of wood and breaking of glass, and puffs of dust being kept to a minimum by hose water, caused traffic to slow and some neighbours to stop by for a look, and to take photos as the building fell.
Brian Harding lived in the neighbourhood all his life and said it will take a bit of getting used to with the building no longer there.
“My aunt worked for Peter Cashin, as a maid or something, when he owned the house,” Harding said. “I was only in it once.
“Government took it over and I remember it was a baby home. There used to be a big shute on the side as a fire escape, you could slide down, but that’s long gone. Then it went to a boys’ home and a girls’ home, or vice versa, and then the Badrudins bought it.
“It’s always been there in my time. It’s now something that’s gone out of the neighbourhood. I wish I had come out yesterday and took pictures before (demolition) started. It was some place in its day because the lot on the other side was once a part of it.”
According to the Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador website, the manor was designed by noted architect William Butler for Andrew and Anne Delgado. Delgado, a native of Spain, ran a successful candy and fruit emporium, and his wife operated a tearoom from the house at one point.
The Delgados sold the house to Sir Edgar R. Bowring in 1917.
Also in 1917, Waterford Manor was used as a convalescent home for soldiers sick or wounded in the First World War.
In 1929 Bowring sold the house to Peter Cashin. In 1936 the Cashins sold the house to Robert B. Job, another prominent businessman and politician. He kept the house until 1946, when he sold it to the government.
During the next 45 years the house operated as an institution for Newfoundlanders in trouble. The list of agencies that occupied the house includes a home for unwanted babies, delinquent girls, orphaned boys, a social services office and an abuse centre office.
The last owners were the Badrudin family.
In 1993, the manor was recognized as a registered heritage structure. It was also awarded the Southcott Award for heritage restoration by the Newfoundland Historic Trust.
The manor was severely damaged when fire broke out in it on the evening of July 7, 2016.
The demolition on Tuesday was being carried by Belfor Property Restoration.
