HOME&LIFESTYLE
HAUTE HERITAGE A Victoria heritage renovation honours original vision with contemporary fusion.
By Danielle Pope Photos by Joshua Lawrence
W
hen contractor Tim Agar first heard about the prominent Fernwood character home its owners hoped to restore, he realized this project would be different — most would have torn down the building and started fresh. The mustard-coloured structure sat faded, with moss growing in rooftop crevices and stray shingles missing. After nearly 130 years of residential wear, a duplex conversion in the 1940s, and sorely needed maintenance neglected over decades of renters, the house would need to be entirely disassembled and reconstructed to bring it back to life. Thanks to the dedication of owners Lisa Rogers and Hazen Gauthier, that’s exactly what happened. “There wasn’t a lot of life left in the materials, but we salvaged everything we could,” says Agar, of Horizon Pacific Contracting. “The building was structurally unsound, but the owners wanted to maintain the look, so we rebuilt it from scratch. There are a lot of complex parts to a reno like this — you want it to have modern conveniences but look like it’s always been there.” Today, the house stands as a dignified character restoration, closer to its original structure than the permutations it’s taken through the century. A bold awning covers the front porch, with carpenter ornamentation on the rafters. The classic flat-topped, hipped roof and gables contrast the modern windows, customized to match a house from its century. Decorative shake siding adorns the gable peak, and the cream yellow exterior exudes heritage charm. As devout world travellers and collectors of fine antiques, it was easy for the couple to overlook the wreckage to see what the house could become again, says Rogers.
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YAM MAGAZINE SEP/OCT 2018