AN ARTIST’S SANCTUARY
Artist Pat Gangnon’s lifelong dream had been to live in a church. So when the congregation of Hillsdale United Church had shrunk to a handful of worshippers, she jumped at the chance to buy the beautiful old building.
She spent 28 heavenly years there and in the lush gardens she created around it, according to her daughter Lia Grimanis.
“Strangely, mom is an atheist, but these were her happiest years,” she says. “She loved the church, the space and how it brought people together.”
Gangnon, who has Alzheimer’s, is now in an assisted living facility in Montreal. So her 127-year-old home, with its soaring ceilings, stained-glass windows and slightly sloping spruce floor — built to boost congregants’ line of sight — is up for sale.
Located a 75-minute drive north of Toronto in Hillsdale, between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, the property is listed for $325,000, which Grimanis says will pay for her mother’s care.
Before putting the property on the market, she and her sister Alexandra immortalized it in a video and digital booklet, and created a website, oursanctuary.ca, to showcase the property.
“We wanted people to see the dream mom had and to pay tribute to her,” explains Grimanis, a Toronto businesswoman.
The main living space of 2,000 square feet, which served as a gathering place for other artists and gardeners, boasts a 27-foot ceiling with intricate woodwork, original beams and Gothic-style windows. Some of Gangnon’s artwork is still on display.
“The detail (in the space) is unbelievable,” Grimanis says. “The ceiling and windows are quite stunning.”
The 1,500-square-foot lower level, where Gangnon lived, features a spacious two-bedroom suite including a kitchen with colourful accents.
Outside, a third of a hectare is filled with Gangnon’s beloved sustainable garden, meandering stone walkways and brick patio overlooking two large koi ponds with waterfalls.
Her mother completely transformed the entire property over the years, Grimanis says, recalling the lack of plumbing, church ceiling covered in ugly tile and woodwork painted “barf pink, yellow and blue.”
The church, built in 1889, had been surrounded by grass, nothing else. “Every single tree and flower was planted by her.”