Murray Premises, National historic site and warehouse in St. John's, Canada
Murray Premises is a group of three connected waterfront buildings in St. John's constructed with thick masonry walls and sturdy timber frames that have endured for generations. Today the structures contain a hotel with roughly 69 rooms, multiple dining venues, and boutique shops that occupy the spaces along the waterfront edge.
These structures were built between 1847 and 1849 to serve the fish trade and maritime commerce that flowed through the port. They survived the Great Fire of 1892, one of the few buildings in the downtown area that withstood that major disaster.
The site sits within the Water Street Historic District and reflects how the city's identity was shaped by the fishing trade and maritime commerce of earlier centuries. Visitors notice how the architecture speaks to the practical needs of merchants and workers who once moved goods through these very corridors.
The buildings sit right on the waterfront and are easy to walk through, with multiple entrances leading to different restaurants and shops. You can explore the spaces freely and enjoy the historic setting while accessing hotel services, dining, and shopping all in one location.
The interior walls still display the original stone fill and exposed wooden beams from the 1800s, holding up without modern reinforcement methods. This construction technique survives nowhere else in the city, making it a rare example of how builders created durable structures using only timber and masonry.
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