Historic house goes back to the future
A Victorian in Vancouver gets a pink paint job and bold infill addition,
Two little girls posing for a photo 90 years ago at a Vancouver home would be shocked to see it today after an innovative transformation.
The 1912 home is called Union after its street address and is located in the city’s historic Strathcona neighbourhood.
Its exterior Victorian-era charms and features were painstakingly restored while the interior and a new structure — for a total 5,800 square feet of living space in five separate units — employ open, geometric 21st century design.
Owner Mira Malatestinic, who bought the old house with her mother in 2014, told Canadian Architect magazine that she felt a great responsibility to the “Big House.”
“There was a lot of love poured into this house over the years, and love needed to be put back in,” said Malatestinic, who moved in last March.
Union’s main home is divided into two dwellings with the three-level, two-bedroom unit and a lower, one-bedroom apartment. The new, infill building at the rear includes three suites. The five suites serve multiple generations — the homeowner, her aging mother and her extended family.
Sustainable features include a heat-recovery ventilation system, radiant flooring, low U values on windows for reduced heat loss and high R values for exterior outboard insulation.
Union took four years to design and build and was completed in 2020.
Architect Harley Grusko, principal at the firm MA+HG in Vancouver, answers a few questions about Union.
How did you come up with the plan for Union?
The design was inspired by the history and lineage of dwelling typology in Strathcona, as well as the clients’ unique vision of cohabitation.
As the oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver, Strathcona is peppered with unusual additions, oddly placed infills, all behind the veil of traditional architecture
that fronts most streets. This project aimed to continue this neighbourhood defining typology, while at the same time diverge from the (right-angled) geometry and views associated with conventional massing.
Were there significant challenges working with a historical designation?
Under this zoning, additional density is awarded for maintaining neighbourhood-defining character buildings. The main challenge was how to plan for the additional density, while maintaining the original placement
and planning of the existing building.
Additionally, we found challenges in finding simple ways to bring a sense of openness and modernity to traditional-character house planning, while at the same time respecting the look and feel of the old house.
How did you create a building with two vastly different styles on the exterior and still make it work?
We believe that architecture should be reflective of its time. We found beauty in the old house, and looked for ways to bring modernity through the
use of colour and texture on the exterior. This gives the old house a gravitas, and can hold up to the modernity of the infill.
By carefully planning the siting the infill is allowed to “peek” through to the street, forming a composition with the old house. By keeping the material palette of the infill quite simple yet decidedly modern, we created an intentional contrast and dialogue between old and new.
How would you describe the colour palette?
It was inspired by the existing condition of the old house. Formally
wood-clad and painted, then asphalt shingled all over, we found pinks under the layers and decided to boldly embrace this evidence.
The staircase is amazing. What is it made of, and how was it installed?
The staircase is fully constructed of plate steel. To minimize fabrication, transport and installation cost due to offsite construction, the entire fabrication was done onsite during construction.
During this phase of work, the old house felt more like a welding shop than a future home.