Historic Richmond Cottage demolished

One of the oldest properties in St. John's has been torn down.

Historic Richmond Cottage, located off Shaw Street in the west end of the city, was built as a merchant house in 1848.

Demolition crews were on the site at 7 a.m. Sunday.

The Richmond Hill property was mired in controversy for years. On May 1, after a year-long reprieve for the city to find a new buyer to restore the house, the deadline came with no salvation for the structure.

The property badly deteriorated over the years and was in need of major repairs, including $69,000 to remove mould.

The cottage interior was documented in the past year, and various pieces of architecture were salvaged by interested parties.

Richmond Hill was designated a municipal heritage building because its historic and aesthetic values.

As a testament to how sturdily the cottage was built, one of the construction workers on site Sunday told CBC News that "She was stubborn right 'til the end, she had good bones."