115-YEAR-OLD HOME Restoring Personality and Character

When Sally Mitchell and Larissa Kiesman said “I do” to their North Park home three years ago, they had an idea that it was the start of a beautiful relationship. It’s a match that has refreshed a 115-year-old house; a two-year renovation stripped away a sad and tired 1980s feel and rejuvenated this gem to its original sparkle and charm. And the couple also made some new discoveries about their home’s past.

Historic Mobile Homes

The Alexandra address wasn’t always the domicile marker for Sally and Larissa’s house. Another dwelling used to occupy this spot; it was called the Witney House and was cut from its foundation and moved to a corner lot on the same street.

In turn, Sally and Larissa always thought their 1907-era house was moved onto the property having previously occupied a lot on Spadina Crescent. They had made guesses about where it might have once stood, basing hunches on nearby architecture.

A Diamond in the Rough

In the 1980s, the house was converted into a group home for people with intellectual disabilities and unfortunately—for not only the residents but for the house itself—it took on an “industrial, institutional” pallor. There were seven bedrooms for at least that many occupants over several years.

BY: KARIN MELBERG SCHWIER PHOTOS: LILLIAN LANE

Larissa grew up in Asquith, but had been a resident of the North Park neighbourhood for ten years before purchasing the house. Because of its grand stature amongst the war time homes, she had her eye on the property for some time. In 2018 she and Sally knew it had the perfect bones to become the home for their blended family that included five girls between the ages of seven and 15. They decided the house needed their mob and it deserved another chance.

“We got our hands on this poor sweet sad dated-to-theEighties beauty three years ago.” Eighties fashion was questionable, not only in hair and clothes but evidently also in some home decor choices. While Larissa always felt there were possibilities, the couple spent a lot of time convincing each other there was indeed potential in there somewhere.

“It’s such a beautiful house, but it was so unloved and mistreated,” says Sally, a marriage commissioner and owner of Your Ever After. “A neighbour told us they basically couldn’t give his house away a few decades ago.”

A year after they joined forces, a two-year overhaul began. It meant working on every single square foot of the property. They were determined to bring back and reveal its “glorious character.”

“We did most of the work ourselves,” says Sally. “Except for plumbing. We learned early on that is not our strong suit.” They were intent on keeping or replicating as much of the original character as possible.

“We still mostly have all the original windows. The one we did have to remove, we made into a hutch with help from a neighbourhood carpenter. The replacement looks like the original. We tore out a million feet of carpet. The hardwood couldn’t be restored, but we put in oak. We painted using colours to match the historical timeline and refinished the stairs to the original oak.” Two tiny upstairs rooms became a spa bathroom. A “tired old” fireplace with a trophy display case surround was refurbished.

What’s Old is New Again

“People are always commenting on how beautiful it is,” says Sally. “Even though it doesn’t really fit in a neighbourhood full of wartime bungalows. Infills are coming, but still it doesn’t look quite right because it’s an import.”

Sally was still intrigued. Where it once stood was based on a neighbour’s belief that it was moved from Spadina, “somewhere near Queen Street.” They only recently learned the real story. Enter City archivist Jeff O’Brien, who managed to pinpoint the original location at 324 20th Street East on the corner of 20th and Fourth Avenue. The house was moved to Alexandra on October 14, 1956.

Jeff not only discovered where the house once stood, but also unearthed photographs of the move and details of the owner, physician Herbert Dulton Weaver. He lived in the house for nearly 40 years from 1908 to 1942. After the Weaver house and one next door were both moved, a Royalite service station was built on the corner.

Originally from England and once a lecturer at Dalhousie Medical College, Weaver came to Saskatoon in 1905. He was deeply concerned with the “welfare” of the city and the first meetings for both a fledgling YMCA and a horticultural society were held in his home. As a horticulturalist, he was active in the “beautification of Saskatoon,” and created one of the first nurseries in northern Saskatchewan. He experimented with trees, shrubs and perennials hardy to the prairie climate. He was long-time member of the Parks Board; Weaver Park in the Exhibition area was named for him in the 1950s. In Halifax, Dr. Weaver installed the first X-ray equipment in Nova Scotia, and he was the first to introduce the X-ray to Saskatoon.

Sally and Larissa are thrilled to have the details and Dr. Weaver’s photograph provided in his Star Phoenix 1942 obituary, and with the photographs that show their house on the move down Saskatoon’s streets.

It looked a seemingly impossible feat for a small Westside Building Mover’s truck, dwarfed by the house on a trailer behind and men perched on the uppermost peak.

“One of the things that’s so great about learning this new information is that Dr. Weaver was a pioneering physician, some say revolutionary. In the same vein, Larissa is a doctor with a deep concern for the welfare of Saskatoon residents. Like Dr. Weaver, she also works on 20th Street.” How’s that for a nice coincidence?

The Perfect Celebration

In her work as a marriage commissioner, Sally specializes in “non-traditional” unions, couples who have been married before, who might be blending families, those with interfaith relationships, couples who are non-binary, gay, trans, anyone “who falls anywhere on the rainbow.”

The house, proudly refurbished and restored, adds its own admirable diversity to the North Park neighbourhood. It’s been the much-loved “sacred space” for many unions that Sally officiates.

“I host small weddings here now that the renos are all done,” she says. “The verandah and interior are beautiful for photos. We love our home dearly and I think people who celebrate new unions here feel that, and understand this house too has become what it was meant to be.”