Award-winning restoration revives house’s Victorian spirit
‘I WANTED TO BE RESPECTFUL, take my time and do it by the book,’ owner says
For homeowner François-Pierre Gingras, the win is bittersweet. The gracious Victoria row house on Rue du Souvenir that he inherited from his grandparents is the winner of the 2012 La Maison coup de coeur prize, presented by Opération patrimoine architecture de Montréal (OPAM) for exceptional restoration work done to a residence.
For two years, Gingras and his wife of 21 years, Susan McDougall, committed heart and soul to the restoration of the building’s facade to its original 1893 glory.
McDougall died suddenly on Oct. 28, about three weeks shy of the presentation ceremony, which took place at the Notre Dame Basilica on Nov. 23.
The funeral service was held 21 years to the day of their wedding ceremony.
“I dedicate this award to her,” Gingras said with quiet composure while serving a reporter a cup of tea and describing the couple’s labour of love.
“I would have loved to have had her with me. It was our project.”
Gingras, a retired University of Ottawa political science professor, spent one year researching the history of the row house and its neighbourhood before launching the $140,000 restoration.
The research resulted in a detailed, 50-page document that includes a photocopy of the land’s original bill of sale, dated 1893 and signed by Canadian Pacific president Thomas G. Shaughnessy and business partner Richard B. Angus (who went on to become the president of the Bank of Montreal).
The business partners sold off the land in parcels, stipulating it be used to build “first class dwelling houses built of solid brick or stone on stone foundation,” and prohibiting the construction of a long list of types of structures, including saloon, slaughter house and oil factory.
Gingras also discovered that the street is home to the longest block of Victorian row houses, uninterrupted by modernization, outside the United Kingdom.
“I’ve been a university professor all my adult life,” Gingras said with a smile as he leafed through the binder of documents, text and photographs. “You can retire, but the university professor never disappears.”
The research was done in 2009. Gingras signed with a contractor in late autumn, 2010.
“I wanted to be respectful, take my time and do it by the book,” Gingras said.
His grandfather bought La Maison Gingras in 1949 and the house has remained in the family ever since.
When Gingras, who grew up in N.D.G., inherited the house three years ago, it was in decent enough condition, but small renovations and repairs over the decades had striped the facade of its Victorian charm.
He initially had no plans to restore the building. All he wanted to do was bring in a repairman to fix the dormer window’s half-moon roof. It was covered with a layer of tin and topped with asphalt tiles and in sorry shape.
But then the domino effect kicked, and before they knew it Gingras and McDougall were entirely committed to restoring every detail of the grey stone façade.
“The roofer … suggested we invest in a copper covering as was done back in the Victorian era,” Gingras said. “Our immediate neighbours had done it and it looked beautiful.”
Gingras asked if the roofer knew someone who did copper work.
Enter Christian Lavallée of Toitures C.S. Lavallée from Delson, who designed and installed the intricate copper soffit, fascia and dormer roofs and suggested they use era-appropriate slate tiles on the mansard roof.
He also encouraged them to recreate the elaborate wood detailing that gives Victorian homes their ginger breadhouse charm and replace the bland front door with a Victoria-era creation.
Antoine Pelletier from Ébénistre Pelletier et fils in St-Liboire was hired to design the double front doors and the intricate wood border that hugs the bottom edge of the mansard roof and flanks the dormer windows.
To get the absolutely perfect proportions and feel for the double front doors, Pelletier did rubbings of the neighbours’ restored doors.
Pelletier also designed the custom wood windows and brought in Martine Bonin, a stained-glass artisan from StDenis-sur-Richelieu, to replicate the original stained-glass transom over the front door and create identical stainedglass inserts for the upper third of each window.
Elements of the cast-iron banister on the front stairs were fabricated in Spain. The design was completed by Andy Hammond from Ottawa’s Majestic Metals and installed by Daniel Béland of Rénovation du Plateau. Béland was La Maison Gingras’ project supervisor.
Elaborate Victorian roof cresting was made with iron back in the day, but Béland recommended an aluminum replica that would better weather the weight of Quebec’s snowy winters.
The tiny front yard was landscaped by Josée Turenne from Atwater Market’s Angel Jardins.
The original home was a single-family dwelling, but was divided into two flats in 1985. Gingras lives in the two-bedroom, one bathroom upper flat and the lower, onebedroom flat, with its music studio in the basement, is rented out. (Gingras’s cousin, the late Thérèse Gingras, was a piano teacher for elite students and built a piano studio in the basement.)
Gingras has no plans to restore the interiors. “The interior restoration is way beyond the means of an ordinary person,” he said.
The flat is in comfortable shape and he will continue to use it as his Montreal pied-à- terre. He also has a home in Gatineau, which is close to half of his blended family of six children and 15 grandchildren.
It took an army of experts and a fat wallet to restore the row house’s Victorian grace, but Gingras is pleased with the outcome.
“I was a Scout leader for many years and we all learned that you must leave a site in better shape than when you found it,” Gingras said. “That’s what I feel we have done. … It’s good for the street as a whole.”
And he has advice for people who might be considering taking on a restoration project.
“Find out in advance, from the city, what the restrictions are for restorations and what permits are needed,” he said. “Visit the heritage website and read the guide. Consult the (website’s) list of experts who know old homes. It is very, very important to find a contractor who understands and has experience with old homes.”
Being nominated for the prize, which includes a plaque and a $500 gift certificate for Marché Bonsecours, was a complete surprise for Gingras, who was notified by email that his home was in the running.
This is how it happened. City architects and inspectors reported interesting restoration projects they had come across and, over the course of a year, a long list of 22 homes was compiled for Opération patrimoine architectural de Montréal. The public voted for their favourite of five finalists. More than 5,000 votes were tabulated this year.
“I am happy and proud of the work that was done and completely shocked that so many people voted for us,” Gingras said. To see photos of the other nominated houses, hear Gingras talk about his Victorian row house and learn more about the heritage contest, visit www.operationpatrimoine.com.