The Canal Terrace House in Ottawa, by architect Christopher Simmonds.Doublespace Photography
Sometimes, it’s not the addition of infrastructure – new parks, playgrounds, schools – that makes a neighbourhood desirable. It’s the elimination. Such is the case with the pocket just below Ottawa’s downtown, Old Ottawa South. Until the 1950s and 60s, the area’s enviable proximity to the Rideau Canal was rendered useless by train tracks running right beside the water.
Under the guidance of Parisian urban planner Jacques Gréber, who thought such infrastructure was unsightly for a national capital, the rail lines were removed. While that didn’t instantly turn the quarter into a new, ultra-covetable corner such as the city’s Rockcliffe Park, it opened opportunities for beautiful, waterfront properties minutes from downtown – some of which are only just being developed now.
Until recently, the canal-side, four-storey home of Dr. Moe Razavi and his partner, Celeste, was a modest reminder of the neighbourhood’s roots. A two-storey brick pile with eight-foot ceilings and cracked foundations, adjacent to a similarly understated place that is still used (for now, anyway) as off-campus rental housing for students at nearby Carlton University.
The home’s unobstructed view of the Rideau Canal makes it a prime spot to take in Canada Day fireworks.Doublespace Photography
The Razavis loved the area, though. “The location of the home allows us to enjoy the amenities of urban living,” Dr. Razavi says. It’s at the end of a dead-end street that’s mobbed by the community’s many kids, runners and cyclists (especially on Sundays, when its closed to cars). It has unobstructed views of the water, where skaters glide past in the winter, and is a prime spot to take in Ottawa’s spectacular Canada Day fireworks. Plus, it’s just a short walk from the boutiques and restaurants of trendy Bank Street.
To tear down and rebuild, they not only hired one of Ottawa’s most respected residential architects, Christopher Simmonds (who also works in other parts of Ontario, including Oakville and Muskoka), they hired a neighbour. Mr. Simmonds lives half a block away, so had a vested interest in adding a nice place to the ’hood. “I have to look at it myself, as I pass by,” Mr. Simmonds says wryly.
The house is a relatively tall, bold design in its context, but Mr. Simmonds worked hard so that it’s an elegant addition, not an ostentatious eyesore. “On the exterior, there are two main moves,” he says. “On the canal side, I stepped the main volume of the house back, so that the massing reads as two storeys, making it friendlier-looking to passersby. On the other side, I used a modern version of a mansard roof, starting on the second storey. It slopes away from street, so that house isn’t just a giant, flat wall.”
The architect wanted the house have a sense of ‘flow.’Doublespace Photography
The home’s subtle material palette – soft grey metal panels, light-coloured limestone and honey-hued wood accents – also minimizes its scale. “I wanted to build something harmonious,” Mr. Simmonds says, “something that has a positive energy.”
That desire carried through to the interiors as well. “I’m very interested in feng shui,” he says. “I don’t want people to think I’m superstitious. But to me, it’s important that a home have a sense of the flow, with open relationships between spaces and strong visual relationships to the outside.”
Mr. Simmonds has designed a number of waterside homes, but typically in more pastoral settings where the place can sprawl across a property toward the shore, with the principal living spaces open-concept, on one or two levels. The challenge here was to erect a residence with porosity and inter-connectivity, despite being broken up over four, relatively compact floors.
The home’s two expansive terraces allow residents and guests to soak up the scenery.Doublespace Photography
Mr. Simmonds used a wide, open-riser central staircase that corkscrews through house to tie everything together. It affords views from floor to floor, and is lined with windows to flood almost every space with sunshine, even the lowest level (where’s there a sports-themed man cave and a glass-walled wine cellar).
Almost every space has unobstructed views to either the leafy neighbourhood or the water.Doublespace Photography
The scant interior partitions throughout helps, too. As one winds up through the house, almost every space has unobstructed views to either the leafy neighbourhood or the water. There are also two expansive terraces – one on the second level, another on the forth, both of which face the water – that are prime spots for soaking up the scenery. This strong indoor-outdoor connection gives the Razavis the ability “to enjoy the serenity of the canal,” says Moe, from almost anywhere, anytime in their house.
But according to Mr. Simmonds, the home has two unbeatable “sweet spots.” One is the living room, which is the heart of the home and embodies his ideas of inter-connectivity. It flows off the kitchen and dining area, has a massive, concrete-panel hearth for winter fires and opens onto the lower patio during the summer. During the day, it’s so bright with sun pouring through the windows that the overhead pot lights seem totally superfluous.
The other is the master bedroom. It’s a simple and spare, glass-encased box that projects out toward the canal. The white walls and ceiling are minimal, focusing attention on the water moving past. Mr. Simmonds at first wondered if the master bedroom would be too open for the homeowners. When the blinds are open, little is concealed. In the end, though, the Razavis wanted to maximize the interior-exterior relationship. After working with Mr. Simmonds, they were really open to the idea of being open.