A brewery in St. John’s has been recognized with an award and not just for their beer.

Bannerman Brewing Co. has recently been awarded with a Southcott Award for Historic Trust of Newfoundland for their adaptive reuse of the East End Fire Station.

Established in 1984, the Southcott Awards are awarded annually to honour outstanding achievements in heritage restoration, design in context, heritage stewardship, adaptive reuse, heritage trades, and lifetime achievement in the preservation of built heritage in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The fire station was constructed after the Great Fire of 1892 and it was rebuilt in the 1950s. It is located at the corner of Duckworth Street and Ordnance Street.

The brewery, which has only been open for 8 months, has been in progress for about three years.

They took to their Facebook page to say that it was important for them to restore and preserve rather than knocking it down and starting over. They wrote that although it was hard, the stories from retired fire fighters and their families about times at the fire station make them glad they did not tear it down.

Bannerman Brewing Co. says the building is only half of their story. Their logo, a tent, is a tribute to the 11,000 people who lost their homes in the Great Fire of 1892. The residents at the time banded together with nothing more than a few belongings and set up a tent city in Bannerman Park.