Renovations underway

The first 2 rooms to be overhauled are the dining room and adjacent living room.  We had a meeting with our designers from Mhome in Halifax and came up with a plan.  In the dining room, the plate rail has met its end and wainscoting will be put up in its place, mirroring what already exists in the main hallway and up the stairs.  Then will come wallpaper and paint, new draperies and lighting.  Huge, very sparkly chandelier and wall sconces held up in production in Italy, so waiting on those...  We saw our new dining room table yesterday...HUGE!!  It is 11 feet without the leaves, 15 feet with all 3 leaves in place.  Should be enough room for Sunday dinners without resorting to folding tables.  Antique chairs will be reupholstered and a window seat cushion is being made for, you guessed it, the window seat!  In the living room, just fresh paint and window treatments.  The wall color, however, will be quite a dramatic change.  And the fireplace has a new high efficiency insert, and the tile in the hearth has been replaced.

Dining room wall, stripped of old wallpaper, plate rail gone

Wiring for wall sconces, waiting for wainscoting

New fireplace insert and hearth

Scott sitting at the end of the new dining table (still in the store)

Dogs checking out Mike's soon to be dressing room

The other "little project" underway is converting one of the spare bedrooms upstairs into Mike's dressing room.  Old house, little closets, not enough room for Mike's wardrobe.  So, to that end, the bed is gone and Ken is going to do one whole wall of rods for hanging clothes, built-ins, and an island in the centre of the room for ties, cufflinks, etc.  We found a slab of what we thought was marble in the basement.  Turns out it's limestone.  We are having it cleaned and polished so it can be re-purposed as the island top.  Wallpaper and paint bought for the walls and trim.  Oh, and a sparkly chandelier to hang above the island!

The beginning of the transformation

We decided, before we started with the transformation of Cedar Crest, that we would be smart to hire an architect. We didn't want to renovate one part of the house only to find out a year or two later that we had to re-renovate it to accommodate some other part of the project. The most sensible thing to do seemed to be to focus on the the big picture - and proceed in steps - phases - until Cedar Crest is complete. This would hopefully alleviate any chances of knocking down a wall that we would later discover we needed.  So we asked around and found the name of a local architect who had done previous work with renovating and remodeling old houses. We also knew of a couple of new constructions that he had designed and we had really liked them. So, we called Vincent DenHartog and asked if he would meet with us. We also mentioned that Cedar Crest was a Leslie Fairn house and I think that heightened his curiousity. We hit it off immediately. If you'd like to see some of Vincent's other work, check out his website:

http://www.denhartogarchitect.com/

We met with Vincent on a couple occasions and chatted about our lifestyle and our likes and dislikes and basically just how we lived. We had kept a scrapbook with lots of design ideas and we passed that on to him too. He and Dan, his architectural technologist, came and took some pictures of the property and went to work on the renovation of the main house (mainly kitchen and downstairs bathroom - the rest just will just have some interior design work) and the big project - the conversion of the barn into living space.  He called last week and told us he was ready to meet with us to show us some preliminary computer generated pictures of some ideas he had.  He came over at 7:00, set up his computer and rolled out some rolled up sketches across the dining room table and then proceeded to show us what they'd come up with.

We loved it!! There will be some fine tuning but, for the most part, this is very close to what we envision Cedar Crest to become. Here are a couple of the pictures he showed us. If you look at some of the "before" pictures in earlier blog posts you can see where the changes are going to happen.

The large windowed wall of the barn will look out over the gardens.

The large "lantern" on top of the barn is actually about 8'x8' and visible from the road.

The courtyard between the house and barn will have some boxwoods and small kitchen gardens for herbs.

In "real life" this view is actually obstructed by trees and shrubs but it does start to give a sense of the scale of the project.

Exterior Views of Cedar Crest when we bought the property.

Front of House

Barn showing carriage house and courtyard

In this picture you can see how the house and barn are attached

Large circular window in the dining room

The back of the barn which opens onto the acreage where the gardens will eventually be.

The side of the barn that has an incredible view of Blomidon.

It's official!

We took possession today - Aug. 16, 2011!

This was the first time we'd seen the house with no furniture in it whatsoever so we thought this would be a good time to take the "before" pictures of the rooms in the house. As work progresses over the months and years ahead it will be fun to compare this photos with new ones. I'll post a couple photos of each room.

laundry room

cottage room

cottage room

den

den

kitchen

kitchen

downstairs bathroom

downstairs bathroom

portico

port cochere

dining room

dining room

living room

living room

downstairs hall

downstairs hall

office

office

 

front bedroom #1

front bedroom #1

front bedroom #2

 front bedroom #2

Back bedroom

Back bedroom

Upstairs bathroom

back deck and pool

Another Piece of the Puzzle

In our ongoing quest to determine the age of Cedar Crest we've managed to come across lots of other information. While trying to find some more info on Percy Margeson and his wife, Eulalia, we discovered that they were actually married in Maine ,USA, on Sept. 21, 1916. This made sense since she was originally from Maine. At this time we haven't located the name of the town where they were married but it was a great help finding the date. We know, from the stamp on the blueprints, that Leslie Fairn's architectural firm was located in Aylesford from 1904-1932. We'll assume that Cedar Crest was built after Percy and Eulalia's wedding in 1916. So, this helps us narrow it down a little bit more.

We've also been told that the dogs that Eulalia raised at Cedar Crest were Pekingese.

We have also discovered that friends of ours, Jerry and Lesley Hardy, also live in a Leslie Fairn home here in Kentville. Their house was built circa 1932-33 so it may be one of the last homes he designed while working out of Aylesford or one of the first designed from his firm in Wolfville (where he moved in 1932).

Leslie R. Fairn - The Architect of Cedar Crest

Leslie Raymond Fairn (June 25, 1875 - August 13, 1971) was a Canadian architect whose career is notable for its longevity and for the range of styles it encompassed, including Beaux Arts  and Modernism. Most of his work was completed in Maritime Canada.

He attended Acadia University and later studied architecture in Boston, later apprenticing with Edward Elliot in Halifax. Beginning about 1901, he earned a living as Principal of Drawing and Manual Training at Horton College (Acadia University) in Wolfville. One of his first commissions was the Kings County Courthouse, completed in nearby Kentville in 1903, and in 1904 he moved to Aylesford where he began to practice full time. He became a charter member of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC) in 1907 and was made a Fellow in 1939.  He was also a founder of the Nova Scotia Association of Architects (NSAA).

In 1932 he moved to Wolfville where he continued to practice until his death at the age of 96. around 1946 he opened an office in Halifax which was managed by his son Laird L. Fairn. This company handled large projects and was known as Leslie R. Fairn & Associates.

His career lasted 65 years, earning him the unofficial title of dean of Nova Scotia architects. His style ranged from Beaux Arts to Richardsonian Romanesque to Classical Revival and Modernism.

His brother, Clifford William Fairn, also practiced architecture, partnering with Charles Hay and designing several schools in Calgary between 1911 and 1914.

 Some notable projects included:

• Kings County Courthouse, now Kings County Museum (1903)
• Digby County Court House (1910)
• West Highlands School, Amherst (1911)
• Administration Building, Acadia University, Wolfville (1924)
• Dominion Public Building, Amherst (Beaux Arts, 1936)
• Annapolis Royal Town Hall Memorial Building (Classic Revival, 1922)
• Halifax Public Library (1951)
• Henry Hicks Academic Administration Building, Dalhousie University, Halifax (1951, with E. W. Haldenby)
• Killam Memorial Library, Dalhousie University, Halifax (1971)

Administration Building, Acadia Univerity, Wolfville. Now called U Hall.

  

Kings County Court House - Now Kings County Museum. The triangle motif in the roof lines is apparent in the design of Cedar Crest as well.

Percy A. Margeson - The original owner of Cedar Crest

Chronicle Herald, Monday January 23, 1961  page 6

Percy A. Margeson Dies in Kentville

Kentville - Percy A. Margeson, C.A., 71, a former druggist and for 23 years , prior to his retirement in 1955, pharmacist and accountant at the Nova Scotia Sanatorium, but most widely known throughout the Maritimes as former manager of Kentville Wildcats Hockey team, died suddenly at his home here Saturday.

Son of the late Norris Margeson, former Dominion Atlantic Railway conductor, and Sophia (Fitch) Margeson, both of Kingston, he was born in Halifax. Mr Margeson received his degree in pharmacy from the University of Toronto and later also graduated as a Chartered Accountant. He opened a drugstore here in 1912 which he operated for eighteen years.

A musician of some note, he played in the Kentville Citizens Band with his father. He was also a talented pianist. Although he never participated as a player in hockey, he took over the managership of the Kentville senior team and christened it the "Wildcats", the name which has continued ever since in both senior baseball and hockey. In 1927 the club which he had assembled won the Maritime Hockey Championship.

At his home at the top of Prospect Avenue he assisted Mrs Margeson in the operation of the widely-known Cedar Crest Kennels, and they later organized the Annapolis Valley Kennel Club. In 1933, Mr Margeson joined the staff of the Nova Scotia Sanatorium as both pharmacist and accountant. He retired five years ago on super-annuation. Continuing his active life, Mr Margeson built and operated the "Arlene" apartments, Prospect Ave.

He is survived by his wife, the former Eulalie Arlene Davis of Lincoln, Maine, who is an internationally known dog judge.

Funeral services to be conducted by Dr. George N. Hamilton, pastor Kentville United Baptist Church, will be held from the W.C. Hiltz and Son Funeral Chapel at 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. Interment will be in Elm Grove Cemetery, Kentville.