Home at last
Woman approached owner on the street, and convinced him she belonged inside
A woman from Winnipeg dreamed of owning a certain century- old Victoria home every time she visited the city. It’s a dream that eventually came true.
This classic, century- old house overlooking Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park stood empty for six years while its owner, who lived next door, lovingly undertook a painstaking and extensive renovation.
Meanwhile, a visitor from thousands of kilometres away quietly yearned to live in that house. She walked by it every time she came to visit and often remarked to her Victoria friend: “Some day I’m going to live in that house.”
Winnipegger Bea Cherniack finally managed to meet the owner, see inside the house, and buy her fantasy house five years ago — and since then, she’s been the happiest of women.
“Every time I came to Victoria to visit my friend, we’d walk though the park and I would look at this house and sigh,” Cherniack said. “But it was never for sale.”
The retired social worker and her husband, a mediator and lawyer in Winnipeg, still own a modern house on the banks of the Red River, but the Beacon Hill home, built in 1916, beckoned.
“I’ve always loved, loved old houses,” said Cherniack, 62. “There’s something about them that’s incredibly beautiful. It’s partly what appeals to me about Victoria, this core of older homes, and why my husband, Lawrie, and I wanted to retire here.”
Her friend Nancy Martin, who lives near Beacon Hill, knew Cherniack wanted to live here and sent information from time to time about heritage houses when they came up for sale. “I kept walking by this place and seeing it empty,” Martin said. “I wondered what was going on behind the closed blinds. It drove me crazy with curiosity.”
Cherniack was coming to buy another house she’d seen, but she spent the night with Martin first, and while sitting on the front porch, the two friends from high school spotted the owner of “her” house strolling by.
Cherniack and Martin jumped up and brazenly accosted the man, asking if he would show it to them. He agreed and when they stepped inside, their jaws dropped.
“It was perfect,” said a beaming Cherniack.
“Absolutely perfect, with all the original woodwork, never painted. And all the features were amazing: the stained glass, the staircase and the built- in sideboard in the dining room. The owner had even replicated a suite in the basement [ also empty] and sourced all the same wood, copied the upstairs fireplace, sourced big doors, doorknobs.”
She made an offer and the deal was done.
The remarkable renovator and painstaking perfectionist was Graham Garman, who lived next door all his life in a house built by his father. Garman had bought the house in 2000 and spent the next six years repairing, rebuilding and restoring it.
“The house had belonged to only one family and I went to school with the children of the original owners,” Garman said. “We used to play ball over there in the park.”
When his senior neighbours died 10 years ago, he bought the house, thinking he would live there, but soon realized it was too big.
“I love old things, especially heritage houses, and I wanted to bring it back to its original state,” said Garman.
He used his meticulous skills to oversee every aspect of the work, which included gutting the old kitchen, raising its ceiling and combining it with a tiny pantry. All the new cupboards were custom made of reclaimed wood.
He also added a small bathroom on the main floor, refinished all the floors, insulated under the main floor, added storm windows and protective glass over all the stained glass, and designed a full suite in the basement.
Garman also had the home designated heritage.
“Renovating an old house is a huge project and takes a lot longer than you think. It costs more, too. I haven’t really added it up. I’m too scared.”
One of the challenges on this project was discovering a support post under the front porch that had rotted away. “There wasn’t very much holding the veranda up,” he said.
When Cherniack came along and made her offer to buy the house, he had almost completed all the work.
“Countless people had wanted to look at it, but the timing was perfect with Bea, and I know she and Lawrie love the house. We have become good friends.”
When Lawrie Cherniack called five years ago, to ask his wife if she had bought the first house, she said: “Er, yes, I’ve bought a house, but not the one you think.”
He was bemused at first, “but I trust her instincts. Bea has a good eye for property and I knew if she bought a different house, it would be a better one.”
And he loves Victoria. “It’s a really cosmopolitan city and the only warm alternative in Canada that appeals to me. I like the pedestrian nature of the place, being close to downtown, not really needing a car.”
He enjoys cycling here, visiting used bookstores and, being a keen cook, revels in the local seafood.
With such culinary talent, it’s small wonder the couple’s favourite spot is the dining room, with its built- in sideboard, stained- glass window with brilliant grapes and oranges, and original fireplace with emerald tiles.
But Bea Cherniack raves about every room.
“The whole house has such beautiful details: the special handles on the staircase for old folks; the original light fixtures, which we are slowly getting rewired; the five window seats that all lift up and are lined with cedar. And how many houses have two master bedrooms?
“When we bought the house, Graham had done everything, including putting in a basement suite. There were two of everything — fridges, stoves, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers — all brand new. We benefited from his meticulous work.”
There is very little to be done, but she would like to pave the tiny, eastfacing backyard with interlocking stones to create a cosy sitting area.
And though they don’t both live here full time yet, they have no need for alarms, “because we have Graham. I always joke we are co- curators of this house.” And an extra bonus? “Our social life out here is very rich — because half of Winnipeg is here.”