The old Lougheed mansion in the Connaught area is being peeled. The painstaking procedure is happening inside the house as conservation and restoration workers find up to eight layers of historic wallpaper in the home.
The house was built in 1891 for Senator Sir James Lougheed and Lady Lougheed. Both were influential in the early development of the city, province and nation. It has had additions and been remodelled several times since for several uses.
The best known are its years as a Red Cross building from the late 1940s, and its Second World War service as a Canadian Women’s Army Corps barracks.
The Lougheeds called it Beaulieu, and probably pronounced it “Baloo,” says Trudy Cowan, president of the Lougheed House Conservation Society.
The work on the house is the second of two phases in bringing back one of Calgary’s historic residences, she says.
The first part of the $5.5-million project was the formal gardens on the east side of the house, the third will be the carriage house area behind it to the south. The province, city and federal government have supported the project.
The restoration isn’t intended to be exact. “This is a semblance of what was here,” says Cowan. You can’t take an 1891 private house with a 1906 addition and turn it into a public facility for the new millennium without making changes.
The fire and public safety codes are completely different, for one thing.
The plumbing and heating systems of the late 19th century used a lot of lead and asbestos. The radiators can be reused, but will need a new system to heat them. The exterior of the building is being repaired, including windows and roof work to be completed by June.
Meanwhile, the restoration crew is examining the wallpaper room by room and layer by layer.
In the back stairway, there is a raised, heavy paper intended to be painted. There are floral prints from the early days of the house and late-20th-century designs from its office era.
Cowan says the contractors include C & T Construction Management as lead contractor, IB Jensen Masonry repairing the sandstone work and Bock Roofing doing the roof.
A & C Ornamental Iron is repairing the wrought-iron cresting from the roof line and Avanti Glass the stained glass windows. Historical Preservation Services is doing the woodwork and windows.
The house will be a public heritage centre, with interpretive programs and exhibits. That role is bringing about some rearrangement.
You can’t put the admission desk, public washrooms and coat room at the front of the house. Visitors will enter the basement from the back of the house, she adds.
When the carriage house is redeveloped, the parking will remain at the back. “The horsepower will go where the horses were,” says Cowan.
The housing market should be able to weather any economic turbulence this year, say Toronto Dominion Bank economists.
The market is tighter than in any year since 1989, its peak in the last business cycle. But in 1989, it was overheated, with prices rising rapidly and mortgage rates high. Prices now are rising slowly and mortgage rates are low.
The Prairies have the brightest regional prospects and Calgary the best prospects within Alberta.
The overall picture shows a slowing in the market this year, after 2000 marked the best year since 1994. There is still upward pressure on prices, and the TD Bank economists expect things to pick up next year.
Genstar has officially opened its Panorama Hills subdivision, the city’s first e-community.
Builders have been putting up houses since last year, the first residents have moved in and the community intranet is up and running. In the e-community, houses are pre-wired for computers and computerized appliances through a central panel. Every address comes with an account on the neighbourhood net.
Ald. John Schmal told a gathering at the official opening that when he travels for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, people from other cities are interested in the concept. In a couple of years, it could become the norm.
“When I was shown some of the things you can do on the computers, I was really excited,” he added, “till I found out they could create petitions to city hall.”
Web Watch:
www.tdbank.ca
www.genstarcanada.com
