Celebrating Built Heritage (and other flights of fancy) in Saint John, New Brunswick
Our home has nice art glass – stained and leaded beveled glass – and I want to share what we have in the house and what we added when restoring our home. At the end of this blog are pics from some spectacular sample in Saint Awesome. I cannot strongly encourage you enough to snoop…
When we lived in The Netherlands we made friends with a couple from Texas. They had a small and functional apartment where they made use of all their space. They shared with us that in Texas they had a huge home where they did not regularly use many of the rooms and they thought it…
We needed storm doors on 3 exterior doors to our home. The doors to the side of the house and the kitchen had ugly 1960s storm doors and one blew off during a severe storm [edit – to be clear it was one of the ugly 1960s doors]. The basement had a single door with…
Landscaping is important, it makes our homes inviting spaces that are part of a neighbourhood. When I take a walk, of course I care about beautiful architecture, but what brings me back to a place is the vibe of the area. The plant life around a building is a necessary aesthetic. Good landscaping helps with…
I remember looking at a heritage home with my now husband in 2003 that we considered buying. I would have absolutely gutted the kitchen and the bathroom. Why? I was under the mistaken belief that renovating these two rooms were requirements when you bought a home. As I age and learn, I realize that there…
I have identified dozens of buildings constructed by the Fenton Land and Building Company. Not all of the buildings still exist and I do not yet have a comprehensive list. I see some homes, like the one below on Demonts St. where the columns, scale, roofline, and windows just scream Fenton but I have not…
I have noticed that when we discuss architectural heritage issues in Saint John, like replacing heritage doors, people immediately assume that being historically sympathetic and or using historical materials is astronomically expensive and certainly they assume it is more expensive than buying a new mass produced item like a door. This assumption is rarely challenged…
We proudly own a home built by the Fenton Land and Building Company in 1910. I read this great blog on the Lost Valley site and learned a lot about the Fenton Land and Building Company, its aesthetic, and commitment to what was a modern style of home at the turn of the twentieth century. …
During another pandemic related lockdown, I decided to stretch my mind and do some research. I had no idea that by investigating something random, I would uncover a connection to my own home at 5 Alexandra St. Staring at this map for close to a year, this weird little slip (or Slipp – pun intended…
The former owner kindly gave us this beloved recipe box he found when he bought 5 Alexandra in 2014. This was in the Munro family and clearly used by sisters Nancy Munro Walls and Mary Munro Colter and perhaps their mother Maude. I am in love with the art deco recipe box. I use it…