Cobourg mansion’s heritage revealed
Elegance of $1.5M home returns with reconstructed original grand verandah
Almost 100 years ago, Mary Painter Howard had the front porch torn off her home. The widowed mother of seven thought it shut out too much light, according to the Cobourg Heritage Advisory Committee.
But when Anne Marie Cummings bought the magnificent mansion in 2017, she took a dim view of the demolition. It left her without an outdoor spot to enjoy the vista of Lake Ontario just 300 metres away.
So she paid $30,000 to have the porch rebuilt exactly as it looked when wealthy merchant Robert Mulholland built the house in 1878.
The structure, with creamcoloured gingerbread woodwork and decorative black railing, makes “this old house come to life on the outside,” said Cummings.
“I absolutely love my new grand porch.”
The retired technology sales executive “stumbled across” the heritage mansion — a fine example of Italianate architecture — while visiting a friend in Cobourg.
The distinctive villa-style residence had just gone on the market and Cummings, who’d recently sold her townhouse in Toronto, was instantly smitten. With large sunlit rooms, tall windows, carved woodwork and elaborate detailing, the house had a “ton of character,” she said.
Broker Janice Williams of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada calls it “one of the most beautiful, well-kept, stately homes” she’s seen. Its owners over the years have done a “fantastic job” of preserving the period details and rich history, she said.
Seventy-five minutes east of Toronto, Cobourg itself is “the next hot spot, a secret jewel” awaiting big-city escapees, Williams added.
When Cummings bought the five-bedroom home, her plan was to share it with other people over 55, but that idea was shelved when her ailing mother (who has since passed) moved in. Then she met a “beautiful man” who also owns properties, so she made the tough decision to sell “in the name of love.”
Despite its size, the house is “very cosy, warm and comfortable,” said Cummings, author of “Baby Boomer Bondings: Luxurious and Meaningful Lifestyle without Breaking the Bank.”
She’s renovated the bathrooms and half of the L-shaped double kitchen, and infused the rooms with her own personal style. She also landscaped the back garden and added wrought-iron fencing around the property, which faces the town’s waterfront park.
The host of “tremendous parties” pre-COVID-19, she particularly enjoys the kitchen and the living room where she plays the grand piano that was a housewarming gift from her mother.
The third-floor widow’s walk — suitable for a reading room, yoga studio or home office — offers a “spectacular view of the lake,” she said.
Because the house was designated a heritage property, the town imposed strict conditions when it approved the porch reconstruction. Everything from design to colour had to match the original verandah, demolished in the 1920s.
“It was challenging but enjoyable, for sure,” said heritage carpenter Keith Colterman, who became the centre of attention for passersby during the three months he worked on the project in 2018.
Replicating details from the bay windows as well as a couple of old black-and-white photos, he milled the posts, trim and millwork in the shop of his Port Hope company, Historic Carpentry Inc.
He was able to source the black iron cresting around the porch roof from the U.S. manufacturer that made the original.
Cummings was delighted with the finished product.
“He did a spectacular job,” she said of Colterman’s “incredible” attention to detail in recreating the original structure.