LABOUR OF LOVE
A young couple brings vision and determination to a heritage house in Sandy Hill
They were engaged when they began searching for their dream home; they were looking for a modern turnkey house, something simple and spacious for a family. What they fell in love with 18 months later was the exact opposite: uninhabitable, heritage, and very complicated. One month after they moved in, their baby girl was born.
The only aspect that fulfilled the couple’s original vision was the location in Sandy Hill, close to their primary workplaces: Dr. Nawar Touchan, 38, is a periodontist, while Angela Caron, 32, is a clinical psychologist.
Their search began in the winter of 2017. They toured many newly built houses but felt they had an uninspiring sameness. By the time they married in May 2018, they had given up on new builds and were looking at older houses. But the ones they saw had dire deterrents: low ceilings, basements that hadn’t been fully dug out, foundation problems, bad renovations.
Then their agent showed them
461 Laurier Avenue East. It was ideally located on a corner lot facing Strathcona Park and Lord Strathcona Fountain. On the Charlotte Street side, the house was across from the Embassy of Russia. Good neighbours, they thought.
From the street, the house reflected Tudor Revival design with stucco and timber detailing, leaded-glass windows, and a recessed entry. The large backyard had plenty of potential. Built in 1938, the house made a great first impression. Inside, however, the house was “horrendous,” says Nawar. The carpet hadn’t been changed in 50 years, fixtures and decor were horribly outdated, and nearly all the interior heritage aspects had been removed. It was run down. Even worse, an inspection revealed lead pipes, inside and out, as well as asbestos tiles and insulation.
But they lingered. The house had good bones; the rooms were spacious, the ceilings high, and the original staircase provided a dramatic focal point. As a romantic bonus, it was two doors down from Signatures Restaurant, where Nawar and Angela had first met on a blind date.
“It was against everything we wanted to do, but we decided to do it,” says Nawar. “I thought, This is going to be an interesting project.”
The Laurier Avenue house, which is part of the Wilbrod/Laurier Heritage Conservation District, was custom-built for local businessman Hyman Berlin. He owned and operated two laundromats, Star Cleaners and Dyers, on Rideau Street in the early 1920s, as well as the Somerset Theatre at Bank and Somerset, which ran from 1937 until 2000. Berlin also built and operated the Nelson Theatre, which opened in 1947 and is now home to the Bytowne Cinema. All that history meant plenty of obstacles when it came to renovating.
When Nawar and Angela’s offer was accepted in June 2018, they immediately encountered their first stumbling block. Their lot was attached to the one next door on Charlotte Street. The owners had bought both with the intention of severing and selling their house to finance renovating the other. But severing was not straightforward: electrical wires and sewer pipes ran between the two buildings. Summer dragged on into fall, then early winter. Their offer kept on being extended, and the couple began to think the sale might not go through at all.
“But we were committed to the project because we saw the potential,” says Angela.
“We knew what we wanted, and we persevered,” adds Nawar.
Finally, the severance came through, and on January 1, 2019, they were ready to begin construction. The lack of heritage aspects inside meant they had a blank canvas. They could design the house they wanted, without compromise. They chose the style that suited them: light, airy, neutral, elegant. But they were also determined to retain any heritage elements that had withstood time. They hired Sanchez Homes as general contractors and Marina Medina as their designer.
“If you’re going to undertake such a project, don’t undertake it on your own,” says Nawar. “Get a designer and a contractor — people who will stick it out with you. Without Marina, we wouldn’t have been able to take this to completion.”
“She was fantastic, bar none,” adds Angela.
While they could do as they liked inside, changes to the heritage-designated exterior needed approval through the City
“It was against everything we wanted to do, but we decided to do it. I thought, This is going to be an interesting project”
of Ottawa heritage program. Angela and Nawar planned to restore the leaded-glass windows that adorned much of the house. They were soon deterred by a specialist who said restoring the windows would cost $150,000 and they would never be secure or function properly.
“He told us that even with restoration we could be inside on a windy day and our hats would blow off,” says Angela.
Replicas seemed the logical solution, and negotiations with the city began. Pella Windows and Doors helped with their applications and even arranged to tour city staff around homes where they had installed replica leaded-glass windows. “It was a lot of trouble for them to do that,” says Angela. “They were fantastic.”
It took six months of negotiating. Angela was writing exams to become a clinical psychologist alongside applying to the city for the windows. At last, the city agreed, and double-paned crank windows with leaded-glass replica panes on the outside were installed.
Meanwhile, work began inside, with the removal of asbestos in the plaster of the walls, the basement floors, and around pipes. That took three months. Then lead pipes were replaced, the house was rewired and reinsulated, and HVAC was installed.
The east side of the main floor required the most work. It was divided into three rooms: dining, small kitchen, and another eating area. Two walls came down in order to create an open-concept dining and kitchen area. During the reno, they discovered an old brick chimney in the kitchen; they kept it exposed, painting it white to match the decor. Innovative solutions were found for “problems” such as the bump-outs that once housed radiators — one solution came by way of an inviting claw-foot replica tub upstairs. “I always liked the charm of a bathtub in the bedroom,” says Angela.
They also restored the 500-pound front door with its distinctive curved top. Its twin, which had enclosed the front foyer, was moved to the back foyer. Both were
“If you’re going to undertake such a project, don’t undertake it on your own. Get a designer and a contractor — people who will stick it out with you”
meticulously refinished. The front door even features the original stained-glass address numbers.
One contractor initially said the staircase would be too difficult to restore and the couple considered tearing it out. But then they talked to a friend who had just completed renovating her heritage home in Montreal and realized it could be done. The staircase is now a gorgeous heritage focal point. Additional elements were added to continue the heritage look, such as panelled walls, coffered ceilings, ceiling medallions, applied mouldings, and oversized baseboards.
The basement was completely reimagined as an entertainment mecca, with a huge television screen, plush furnishings, and a built-in bar featuring an onyx bar top lit from underneath — after several attempts. “Everything took a couple of attempts,” says Nawar.
There were some pleasant surprises, too, during the 13-month renovation. Upon pulling up that old carpet, they discovered original — and relatively sound — red oak flooring. They wanted the same oak flooring throughout the main floor. Several flooring contractors said it couldn’t be done, but they eventually found one — “an artist,” says Angela — who matched the damaged boards and installed new ones through the kitchen. They were stained a greyish-brown to go with the proposed palette.
“I like things that are black and dark,” says Angela. “I like The Addams Family.”
The neutral palette, with white walls and warm floors, beautifully accentuates the heritage features. The effect is timeless elegance in a large open space: 3,500 square feet, plus the basement.
The furniture is mostly from LD
Shoppe. “We wanted light and neutral for the most part. Comfortable. Something that seemed timeless, not overly trendy that might go out of style,” says Angela.
“There were many challenges,” says Nawar. “If we didn’t have patience and perseverance we would have given up long ago.”
They moved into their new home on February 20, 2020; their daughter Maya was born March 17. “She’s the queen of the castle,” says Nawar. “This is all for her.”