Can two houses save a neighbourhood?
Artists Oliver Dawson and Lisa Johnson think so.
Woodbridge's Monsheen, Tayok and Wigwoss Drives were once a picture-perfect example of a modernist subdivision. In the late 1950s, builder Jack Grant prepared a wooded and hilly canvas, and then asked architects Jerome Markson and Michael Bach to "paint" their bricks-and-mortar masterpieces.
The result, Seneca Heights, was a unified composition of small, architecturally interesting homes on big lots that sold quickly to upscale purchasers.
Remaining lots were picked up by other, equally talented modernists, such as the one at No. 82 Monsheen, where architect Stanley Bennett Barclay built a long, low, California-style post-and-beam home for himself and his wife, Mary, in 1957. One of the partners at Mr. Barclay's firm was legendary University of Toronto architecture professor Eric Arthur, who taught generations of students how to wield the modernist drafting pen.
Impressive, isn't it?
Mr. Dawson, an opera singer, now lives at Mr. Barclay's house with his wife, Lisa Johnson, an abstract painter. Mr. Dawson's older brother lives in their childhood home across the street; probably designed by Michael Bach, it's an interesting shed-roof design with a rear elevation of mostly glass that was advertised as having a "five-mile view." This view so impressed their parents, they bought it and never left.
But many people in this neighbourhood did leave, and by the late 1980s many of the homes had been renovated beyond recognition. When the Barclay residence was put on the market in 1990, a few members of Mr. Dawson's family purchased it: "They decided to go in on it and save it," explains Mr. Dawson.
"But not really with any purpose," interrupts Ms. Johnson. "They didn't want to rent it out, I guess they just thought that one day, maybe, one of them would live there, I don't know."
"I think that the thrust of it was a preservationist sentiment," finishes Mr. Dawson.
The couple has been living at the Barclay house since returning from an extended stay in Italy in the early 1990s; unfortunately, this means they've also had front row seats from which to witness the "carnage" that McMansions have wrought in those two decades.
Because Mr. Dawson grew up here, he refers to surrounding homes by the surnames of the original families that lived in them even though most have gone and, in some cases, so too have their houses. Luckily, the homes on either side of his are intact; in fact, the one to the east –featured in the August, 1960 issue of Ontario Homes & Living magazine as the "House with the holes in the walls" to describe the tiny, windows in the children's bedrooms – remains in the hands of the original owners.
In October, 1966, the Barclay house joined its whimsical Markson-designed neighbour when it made the cover of the same magazine. Described as a "house that looks to nature," the writer gushes about how the dramatically sloped and wooded lot affords such privacy that "it is hard to believe the crowded city centre is only a short, suburban drive away." Much of the furniture, it goes on, "was designed and built by Mr. Barclay."
It is for these reasons – and certainly not a lament for a lost childhood landscape – that Mr. Dawson has been compelled to act. First, he educated himself on Mr. Barclay's possible influences: "In trying to understand this house a little better I've dabbled in architectural history, and [Richard]Neutra comes up big time for this house in particular." More recently, he started the process of having his home designated as a heritage building. Last autumn, he spent two hours with representatives from the City of Vaughan's Cultural Services Division to gauge their interest.
In an e-mail, Vaughan Cultural Heritage Co-ordinator Lauren Archer confirms that her department has "initiated the process" of listing the Barclay residence. She writes that the house is "a fine example of mid-century modern architecture in Vaughan, and we will continue to work towards the designation of the structure, which will require the approval of the Heritage Vaughan Committee and City Council."
Ms. Archer also confirms that No. 46 Monsheen (also known as "the television house," a nickname coined by its creator, Mr. Markson) has already been listed on Vaughan's Heritage Inventory. "There are number of modernist buildings on and around Monsheen Drive that have been noted for inclusion," she finishes.
Encouraging, isn't it?
Hopefully, the much stronger designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act will follow before any more of this pretty modernist picture is compromised. Mr. Dawson has been keeping his next-door neighbour abreast of what he's done "because, as far as I'm concerned, that [house]should also be designated." He'd like to see his parents' home protected as well – "I've put that to [my brother]" he says – but admits it may not be as architecturally significant as the Barclay house.
Two little houses, yes, but they could save a neighbourhood by pushing a heritage snowball down a wooded Woodbridge hill.
"If we can get a few more of them designated then I think we've done something."
Dave LeBlanc