Where the wood meets the water
Forest products executive wanted a home built on Cowichan Bay, so it’s on stilts
Bill Weber is no stranger to creating unique spaces — mega mansions, upscale restaurants and glamorous hotel lobbies.
He spent almost five years envisioning and designing the stunning home of hockey luminary Glen Sather in Banff, a project undertaken after he created reception rooms and special suites for the Post Hotel in Lake Louise and Buffalo Mountain Lodge.
So when longtime colleague Peter Fitzpatrick asked him to come up with a conceptual design and space layout for a modest stilt home in Cowichan Bay, Weber was intrigued.
“I have been very fortunate to work on many interesting projects over the years, but certainly Peter’s home was wonderful, as well.”
Weber was amazed when he first saw the beautiful location and although he noticed many older, somewhat decrepit buildings along the shoreline, he instantly connected with Fitzpatrick’s goal to “establish a standard where tasteful proportional buildings could be nested in there.”
Fitzpatrick, former owner and president of Coastal Pacific Forest Products, spent most of his career in the lumber business and had clear-cut ideas about what he and his wife, Cheryle, wanted.
Weber, who runs Artwood Design, has been a customer of Fitzpatrick’s for years, so they clicked.
“I showed him the lot and when he asked me what I wanted him to design, I just said: ‘Fill your boots,’ ” Fitzpatrick said.
Weber’s first thought was: “What an opportunity for anyone wanting to live in this postcard-perfect bay” with its gorgeous light, seascape and aspect.
“The whole place was just magical.”
He had never designed a stilt house before, although he designed a tree house when he was six — and that’s just how this project felt.
“It had that same wonderfulness about it and I thought: ‘Let’s draw a house and see how interesting we can make it inside and out.’ ”
One of his first concerns was curb appeal, so instead of designing a huge privacy wall, he opted for plenty of glass and various textures.
“When your entrance is close to the street, you want to give something to the street, for people who walk or drive by.”
He designed a gable roof over the entry and another smaller one beside the second-floor window, where he suggested hanging an old ship’s bell.
The imposing longhousestyle entry is accentuated by a continuous ridge beam above, which is overscale to the house.
“If you have the opportunity to do a grand entrance, why not?” he asked.
On the main floor, he offset the staircase for similar reasons.
“I like it when you have a couple of turns to get from one space to another, when you take a little journey, whether on a corridor or landing.”
Decks were proportioned for maximum space and flow.
“When you enter this house, you know you will end up on the harbour side. You can’t wait to get there, in fact, and it had better be good when you do,” Weber said with a grin. And it is spectacular. The harbour unfolds like a painting in glorious shades of emerald and aqua.
Weber said it was a delight working with Fitzpatrick because of his knowledge of wood and access to prime material.
“The only bad thing I can say about him is he retired. I’ve purchased wood from him since 1990, beautiful stuff, and am still scrambling to replace that.”
Thanks to Fitzpatrick’s long years in the business and contacts with experienced craftspeople, the home’s details and finishing are exceptional.
One of the most stunning aspects is its arbutus floors.
Arbutus is native to the West Coast, but notoriously difficult to work with. It has serious ‘attitude’ and when Fitzpatrick first told Weber he was using it, the designer thought he was crazy.
Because of its inner tension, the wood can pop, warp and twist, but Fitzpatrick found straight logs that had been felled in Nanaimo. He let them air dry for a year, kiln dried the wood and ran it through a moulder ( an eight- sided planer) himself before sending it to Vancouver for finishing.
“I’ve dealt with high- end woods my whole life and wanted to use a lot of wood for this home,” Fitzpatrick said. “All this wood came from my plant, everything from doors and window liners to flooring and vaulted ceilings.”
After Weber did the initial design, Fitzpatrick sent the plans to Bruce Johnson at Pacific West Home Design for drafting and engineering.
“We feel very lucky to have had Bill do the design. Everybody says: Wow what a beautiful house.
“Four or five lifetimes ago, I was a contractor, so I knew what I was doing and decided to be general contractor. We did the pilings at low tide in the spring and summer and at high tide, we now have about six feet of clearance.”
A large open gutter system drains all the rainwater into the saltchuck.
Built three years ago, the home is one of 14 stilt houses in the bay.
“The outline of the very front rests on a concrete wall, and all the rest sits on steel I-beams attached to 12 concrete pilings.”
All the home’s counters in bathrooms and kitchens are concrete, too.
“One of my employees used to work for a concrete manufacturer and he did all these for us. He’s an artist.”
The main living area is on the top with dining, kitchen and lounge areas, a large hidden pantry, guest room, storage, art room and bathroom. Downstairs is the master suite with walkout deck to the dock, a guest suite, office and more storage.
“We don’t have a basement or crawl space, so there is never enough storage room,” said Cheryle, who noted they added as much as they could with built-ins, window seats, bookcases and huge drawers that pull out to reveal hidden file cabinets in their office.
Decks and dock are made of yellow cedar, which is much harder than red cedar.
“It’s two inches thick and will last a lifetime.”
“I love the interplay of woods,” Fitzpatrick said.