Climbing the steep San Francisco- style hills north-east of St John’s, out of the seaside city’s bustling downtown core, you’ll pass a graffitied street sign that reads: “this way to hell”.
Your destination is Georgestown, a neighbourhood roughly the size of three city blocks, that has long occupied an uneasy position between the centre of this Newfoundland city and its suburbs and that clearly still has its detractors.
Yet an increasing number of homebuyers and developers now views the area as a diamond in the rough – conveniently located, with a variety of relatively inexpensive housing options and a distinct maritime charm.
Over the past five years, Georgestown house prices have showed steady increases, rising to C$55,000 (£24,000)-C$333,500 (£140,000) from C$51,000-C$156,000 in 2002, according to local estate agent Harry Stone. But the area is still considerably cheaper than elsewhere around St John’s. Just a few blocks down the street, for example, prices are almost double, with the smallest houses starting at about C$100,000.
“It’s a great secret that you can live in a house worth hundreds of thousands that costs a fraction of that,” Stone says.
Newcomers to Georgestown are looking for more than just bargain property, however. Most say they also like the neighbouhood’s diverse and close-knit feel, which is due in part to some concentrated rebuilding after a catastrophic fire in 1892. “With the fire, 5,000 people were left homeless overnight, so, when they rebuilt the area, wherever there was empty space there were houses being put up,” explains Sheila Coates, who recently moved to the area and is now an active member of Georgestown’s neighbourhood association.
The proximity of the residences creates a sense of community not only physically but also socially, she adds. There are annual flea markets and barbecues and neighbours get together more regularly at venues such as the Georgetown pub with its Monday night karaoke, “You can rarely walk the streets without chatting with someone you know, especially when you visit somewhere like the bakery.”
In fact, the Georgestown bakery was Coates’s introduction to the neighbourhood. Its trademark chocolate-and- cranberry bread is a favourite throughout St John’s and both locals and outsiders queue up for it on weekend mornings. “I only moved to this area last May and never really ventured into it except for the Saturday foray to the bakery but now I am settling in and am happily making it my home,” Coates says.
Another point of Georgestown pride is its tradition of houses being painted in an array of vibrant colours, from turquoise with pink trim to yellow with deep purple accents. “My theory is that, back in the day, the way you painted your boat is the way you painted your house,” says Andrew Draskoy, a local resident. Draskoy paid C$90,000 for his four-bedroom, three-storey house in 1994 and invested another C$23,000 in renovations. “What I was looking for was the location. I wanted a nice old house that I could fix up and I also wanted a garden. Living downtown, that is pushing your wishes a bit,” he says.
Georgestown was perfect because it was historic and inexpensive but still only about five blocks away from some of St John’s amenities – important for Draskoy, since he does not own a car. These coffee shops, clothing boutiques and restaurants are less accessible in winter, when the city is hit with regular snowstorms and 5ft drifts are not uncommon. But even this can be a bonding experience for Georgestown residents; instead of complaining about the lack of snowploughs, they just grab their shovels.
Part of the reason for the recent growth in the neighbourhood’s population is a booming oil industry that has attracted many young professionals to Newfoundland and to St John’s. “It’s rather interesting because the oil people coming from Alberta with their young families tend to want to live in the suburbs,” Stone says, “but the workers coming in from Europe seem to like the older homes.”
Incoming buyers tend to be quite different from those who have been there for years and even generations. But locals say that the mix is working so far. Kingsley Lofts, a new development from Signature Homes, is a fine example of Georgestown’s fusion of old and new. Completed 18 months ago, it uses the shell of an old warehouse to house five heritage-style lofts with high-tech amenities. “We saw a lot more merit leaving the building in its environment,” says Andrew Ryan of Signature Homes. “But we did put a modern spin on it, while embracing what’s here in the neighbourhood.”
The lofts, which feature large windows, high ceilings, exposed industrial-looking wood beams, art deco concrete exteriors, parking and private entrances, were priced from C$240,000 for the smallest to C$395,000 for an upper unit with a roof-top deck and 360° views of St John’s and its harbour. Four of five have already sold. “The development worked well because this is one of the last areas that has the charm and the [proximity] to downtown that we wanted and there is an eclectic mix of characters in the neighbourhood,” says Ryan, who purchased and moved into one of the residences himself. “I have lived in and around this area for most of my life and it’s all about the location and the mixture.”
Other buyers have been “professionals but not really young professionals, more like couples in their 30s and 40s”, he adds. “It’s not necessarily families because it’s not really a family building.”
Not all of Georgestown’s conversion and development projects are successful, however. Another row of just-built houses on Catharine Street sits virtually empty. Some locals say it is too “cookie cutter” others think it is too highly priced.
More generally, the spectre of gentrification brings a mixed reaction. Some say the influx of new, wealthier residents is causing Georgestown to lose its gritty, eccentric character. Stone disagrees, arguing that St John’s neighbourhoods have always been mixed. “Historically the worker lived on one corner and the boss on the other,” he says.
Rising property taxes are another point of contention. “Houses sometimes deteriorate because [the owners] do not want to put money into renovations because they don’t want their taxes to go up,” says Elizabeth-Anne Malischewski, secretary of the Georgestown neighbourhood association. As a result, it’s easy to find a property in a state of abject disrepair next to one that is loved and cared-for and worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Malischewski thinks that is part of Georgestown’s charm. There are no clear dividers between prosperity and poverty. Of course, with house prices continuing to rise, she and other residents acknowledge that the neighbourhood might not stay that way for long.
■Harry Stone, tel: +1 709-753 7747; www.harrystone.ca
■Signature Homes, tel: +1 709-754 6000
