This Strathcona home was built in 1892 by Adolphus Duclos, a carpenter and saw filer at the Hastings Mill. Designated Heritage B, the structure is an extraordinarily tall and narrow Queen Anne that we restored in 2012. We were tasked with improving the performance without compromising on heritage details, and the home will be featured on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Heritage House tour in fall 2020.
The house had been badly neglected and never extensively renovated, so it retained many of its original wood elements. We carefully removed and set aside the ornate wood mouldings, gutted the home to its studs and rebuilt the rear wall to accommodate increased floor space on the top level. The mouldings, doors, and double-hung windows were carefully restored, and the fir flooring, cast-iron tub and sink, and simple brick chimney were brought back to life. Reclaimed beams from the demolition of the nearby Drake Hotel were used on the main floor to structurally support a new open floor plan.
A separate, modern, garden-level loft suite was finished with soaring 11’ ceilings, and on the exterior, a layer of asphalt shingles was removed and the facade restored, including reconstruction of lost brackets and details based on historic photos and hints in the old paint outlines. A high-efficiency boiler was installed to feed in-floor radiant heat in the basement slab and hot water baseboard heaters upstairs, and HRV ventilation and a new sprinkler system were put in for comfort and safety.
design: Architrix Design Studio
