OUT OF THE ASHES
Rideau River home destroyed by fire is reborn as ‘a little piece of paradise,’ writes Patrick Langston.
Maybe it’s because our bodies are 65 per cent water, but we humans respond instinctively to rivers, lakes, oceans. That’s evident in the sense of belonging that envelopes you the moment you enter the waterside home that won a top design prize last year.
Built on the Rideau River, the home has a park-like backyard that affords water views from virtually everywhere inside. The theme is set at the front door: step through it and the spectacular main hallway, with its articulated wood ceiling and slate floor, draws your eye immediately through the glass doors at its terminus to the rear yard patio and river beyond.
“I like to bring the outside into the house,” says John Henry, president of Terra Nova Building Corporation, who designed and built the home on Rideau Valley Drive.
By stressing the home’s horizontal form on the exterior and giving it a slight bend in the middle, Henry has also suggested the flow and twists of a river.
I wanted the porch to look like you were going right out into the garden. I turn the fireplace and a couple of heaters on, and bring the family in.
— Rideau River homeowner
Stone and wood cladding as well as the home’s massing — low-slung in the front, for example — tie it to the natural environment. “It’s a very human scale,” says Henry. “I like to design homes that are not overwhelming.”
The project took the prize for custom home over 4,000 square feet at the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association’s 2014 Housing Design Awards. It replaced the client’s original house, which was destroyed by fire, likely caused by an electrical failure.
Building new, says the client, who didn’t want to be identified, “gave me a chance to do what I wanted in a home. I told John, ‘Give me stone and wood.’ ”
He had wanted a home on the Rideau River ever since he was a student at Algonquin College and drove along the river to get to school from his hometown south of Ottawa. He was heartbroken when the original, sprawling home burned, but he’s quick to point out that, “miraculously,” the contents of his wine fridge survived intact despite falling into the basement when the kitchen floor collapsed.
He took possession of his new home in 2012. It is, he says, “a piece of art” — an apt turn of phrase since Henry, in designing the home, drew inspiration from the fine collection of American southwest-themed furniture and art that the owner purchased after the fire.
Henry has created some wonderful spaces that would be the envy of any homeowner, art-lover or not.
Ceilings — tray in the dining room and breakfast area, for example — give individual spaces definition within an open-concept design. Wood finishes, including trim and doors made of B.C. fir and quartersawn American walnut floors, also help define the interior spaces in a warmly masculine fashion.
The kitchen, with its cherry cabinetry, black granite counters and curved island is, quite simply, a knockout. The smell of cooking bacon the morning we dropped by enhanced its grand-but-homey feel.
Henry has used the central hallway to divide the house into common areas (living/dining/kitchen, for example) and private areas (master bedroom, office). The latter includes a gym overlooking the backyard, pool and river, the view being just the thing to make you forget how boring exercise is (the owner works out religiously, in part because he wisely schedules a personal trainer to show up at his home).
Elsewhere, a bar/games room and private theatre in the finished basement offer their own cosy distractions, while the two secondary bedrooms, located on a second floor above the main living area, are joined by a rooftop patio overlooking the river.
One of the owner’s favourite areas — and Henry’s choice for No. 1 spot as well — is the sprawling seasonal porch off the kitchen. It overlooks the backyard designed by landscape architect Jerol Wheeler of Low, Que.-based Kallala Design.
“I wanted the porch to look like you were going right out into the garden,” says the owner. It’s his go-to spot at the end of a working day and, at Christmas, “I turn the fireplace and a couple of heaters on, and bring the family in.”
At 5,000 square feet, heating and cooling the rest of the home could have been pricey. But it was top-ofmind for the owner, who is a mindful business person, and Henry’s design includes a super-insulated envelope, geothermal heating/ cooling system and radiant-heated floors throughout.
All in all, the owner couldn’t be happier. Standing on his dock, he points out that he’s shielded from neighbours thanks to greenery and his six acres of property. “I have complete privacy here. It’s a little piece of paradise.”
“It’s a very human scale. I like to design homes that are not overwhelming.” JOHN HENRY, president of Terra Nova Building Corporation