Farm house
The property featured the farmhouse at one side, with a smaller stone outbuilding, possibly the original stables but now used as a garage, on the other, and an open area between them. This gave Crane and Casey the inspiration to reimagine a new take on a traditional farmstead: to join the two old buildings with a more contemporary flat-roofed central section, giving it the rambling feeling of a collection of farm buildings. Linking old and new areas in this way would give Joan and her family all the room they needed, while freeing up the original farmhouse proper for a new purpose: a dramatic new two-storey grand salon, which was christened, appropriately enough, the Phoenix Room.
The creation of the salon began with removing the second floor – which was little more than charred joists anyway – and adding a new, gambrel-style roof, following the original pitch of the old roof. “We researched the ‘language’ of barn roofs and structures and came up with the gambrel shape, which is a common barn vernacular,” explains Crane. “We originally wanted to do it in timberframe, but cost considerations put that out of reach. So we came up with a more creative solution, which was to adapt standard scissor trusses reinforced with microlam rafters and metal struts, anchored to beams in the walls at the second-floor level.”
The finishing touches were to line the vaulted ceiling with reclaimed pine strip, and hang four crystal chandeliers along the peak. The 12-foot high doors to the new salon, which Casey had found at the Toronto store 507 Antiques but she guesses may have originally come from an old bank, are mahogany with brass trim, adding to the feeling of grandeur.
