BACK TO THE FUTURE
HERITAGE HOME RENO MELDS QUEEN ANNE-STYLE CHARM WITH CONTEMPORARY DESIGN
In a neighbourhood that wears its heritage status as proudly as Cabbagetown, the idea of an unabashedly contemporary renovation seems disruptive. Yet architect Christopher McCormack’s design for a circa-1905 house, set among carefully restored Victorian semis and row houses, fits so perfectly with its neighbours that it will be featured in this year’s Cabbagetown Tour of Homes on Sept. 17. ( Tickets are $ 35 each and are available at local vendors, the Cabbagetown Preservation Association’s booth on the corner of Winchester and Metcalfe, or online at cabbagetownpa.ca.)
Though it is registered in the heritage directory of Cabbagetown homes, the home’s era is a little later than the late Victorians that dominate the neighbourhood, and it’s detached, which is also uncommon. By the time Ann Pikar, her husband and two young children purchased it in 2010, it was a long way from its origins. Extensively renovated in the 1980s and carefully maintained since, it had fit the fashions of that era, but by this decade was as outdated as big hair and padded shoulders.
The problems lay in both interior organization and esthetics: the original brick facade was covered in pink stucco with pinky- brown trim, and there was a small oval window above the front vestibule. Particularly on the main floor, the layout was all wrong for a family with small children.
The centre of the house was spiked by a huge atrium in the dining room area that reached to a skylight in the roof. Mezzanine railings on the upper floors were treacherous for young kids and chopped up the upper floors. There was also a onestorey family room addition in the back with a vaulted ceiling — de rigueur in the Bowie years, but now little more than wasted space.
But the most problematic area was the kitchen. “Opening up the kitchen was a big priority for us. It originally was a U shape with no window, and cut off from everything,” Pikar says. “We have friends and extended family over a lot, so it was pretty uncomfortable.”
The solution was to basically remove all the main- floor walls and start over, creating a single long expanse that moves smoothly from one centre to the next and ends in a bright wall of windows overlooking a deck and lower pool terrace.
For McCormack, the most painstaking part of the project was to restore the front facade, since this is the area that heritage rules are most concerned with. But it soon became apparent that actual restoration was impossible: The method used to apply the stucco had destroyed the underlying bricks so thoroughly that they had to be replaced.
“We considered using heritage bricks,” McCormack says. “But nowadays, there are excellent reproduction John Price bricks available that replicate the colour and shape perfectly.” And it’s not just the bricks themselves that matter, he adds: “Getting the grout colour and composition right is very important as well. We worked closely with the contractors, Collaborative Ventures, and they did a great job of getting just the right look.”
To bring out its beautiful Queen Anne- style proportions, the bay and front vestibule were clad in black-painted wood and the top gable was shingled. The windows, including the oval, were replaced with double-hung wood versions, altered slightly to make them better fit the overall composition.
In the interior, McCormack took the same organized approach to all four levels. The main floor is the family and entertaining space, he says — the second floor, with master suite and a combination guest room and office, is the parents’ floor. The third floor has the kids’ rooms, with plenty of space for hanging out with friends, playing on the computer or doing homework in peace. And the basement, which features a sprawling sectional for games and watching TV, a home gym and smartly designed wine cellar with room for 400 bottles, “is kind of the family play area.”
Walnut, along with a limited palette of other low-key, attractive materials such as tempered glass and brushed metal, is used throughout the house, particularly on the main floor, creating a sense of cohesion that warms the interior. A large twopart sliding walnut door closes off the stairs to the basement. Wide- plank oak flooring, used on all three above- grade floors, adds a lighter counterpoint to the rich tones of the walnut.
Owner and architect agreed that the new staircase, since it was being moved from the back of the house anyway, was an opportunity for a bit of design expression. Made of cantilevered steel-and-walnut treads and en- closed behind glass side walls, it’s a sturdy and beautiful bit of modern sculpture, casting light from skylights high above all the way down to the basement.
The living room in the front is warmed by a wood- burning fireplace, which is fronted with an imposing slab of cold- rolled steel that extends up to the ceiling. Because the firebox extends into the room, the walnut cabinetry that encases it is deep enough for bookshelves and wood storage on one side. Further back, a side bay replaces the light lost when the dining room atrium was enclosed. The dining room table, a wonderful sculpture in its own right with reclaimed elm top and steel legs, is by furniture artisan Bernard Bieberstein in his Brickworks studio, Be Reclaimed.
(Pikar says while she and her husband chose this table themselves, interior designers CMID worked closely both with them and with McCormack throughout the design process.)
A change from walnut to ebonized oak cabinetry marks off the kitchen, which takes up the largest part of the main floor. But its most imposing feature is an 11-foot marble-topped island, with plenty of room for food prep, homework or lounging with a glass of wine and chatting with the cook. Despite its unfussy design, there’s a wealth of bespoke storage and equipment for any kind of cooking you like: from a handy built-in teppanyaki grill on the island, to steam and convection wall ovens, a microwave at hip level on one side and a well-designed five-burner gas cooktop in the side counter.
Amid all this light and openness, there’s a secret space tucked right at the topmost point of the house. Up a nearly vertical ship’s ladder, at the end of the third- floor hallway and through a small hinged skylight, is a tiny roof garden neatly planted with boxes of herbs and vegetables. From this aerie, the gardener can just see the downtown skyline jutting above the treetops of one of the city’s prettiest neighbourhoods.
“The Cabbagetown Heritage Designation has very significant controls on anything that is visible from the street, but they take a very balanced approach,” McCormack says. “They obviously want to respect the heritage rules and the nature of the street, but they also understand that we don’t live like the Victorians did.”
OPENING UP THE KITCHEN WAS A BIG PRIORITY FOR US. IT ORIGINALLY WAS A U SHAPE WITH NO WINDOW, AND CUT OFF FROM EVERYTHING … WE HAVE FRIENDS AND EXTENDED FAMILY OVER A LOT, SO IT WAS PRETTY UNCOMFORTABLE. — ANN PIKAR, HOMEOWNER