Upon approaching the esteemed age of 80, many people begin to ponder the idea of downsizing, of moving into a lock-and-go condo or perhaps a retirement home.
Patricia and Peter Clark had a different idea.
They wanted to downsize but decided to design and build a smaller new home — and while they were at it they upsized to 10.5 acres in Central Saanich.
“Everybody thought we were insane because this was exactly the opposite of what everybody does, or is supposed to do,” said Patricia with a chuckle.
“But we definitely didn’t want to feel cooped up in an enclosed condo, out of contact with the natural world. We wanted one-level living with forests, fields and wildlife to enrich everyday life.”
After extensive planning and design work, they now have an exquisite home that is half the size of their previous Tudor-style mansion on Gonzales Hill.
The structural frame was designed, prefabricated, shipped and built by Timber Frame Homes, a company based in Nelson. The crew took just two weeks to put the kit together and the work was fast, efficient and kept the site clean and mostly undisturbed as the pieces arrived ready for assembly.
Once framed up, the local contractor oversaw all the interior finishing including doors, windows, stairs, kitchen cabinets and floors.
Patricia and Peter, who is now 85, were thrilled with the entire project, and give kudos to the team that finished the interior, led by contractor Bui Thordarson, originally from Iceland, and finishing carpenter Hikmet C. Sakman (Chico), who hails from Turkey;
“Our two builders were central to the house construction,” said Patricia, who is a retired classics professor at UVic whose specialty is the traditional history of medicine in the Greco Roman period.
Her husband also taught at the university and was formerly a city planner in Toronto.
The couple purchased this property in 1974 and while they both worked in Toronto they leased some of the land to a farmer who grew flowers for seeds. When Peter retired early, they moved to Oak Bay, back to his old family home where he’d lived off and on from age two.
They would often picnic or camp on the Peninsula property and originally had plans to build a cottage there. Instead, when the kids left home, the Clarks decided to sell the big house and escape to the country.
Peter, who is passionate about wood and timber, and had previously finished the interior of their 40-foot sailboat, was in heaven as they planned their unique home.
“The house looked good even before the walls went up,” said the enthusiast, who wanted the home built the traditional way with ancient mortise and tenon techniques and solid oak pegs.
They also wanted a home to grow old in so the doorways are wide enough for a wheelchair. Showers have no sills and there are two master suites, “one each,” that are accessed through generous hallways or double Dutch doors to the outside.
Windows are enormous to let in lots of light, and glass insets above doors and between bedroom walls allows for even more.
“That was the influence of our Icelandic builder,” said Patricia, who noted that having grown up in Iceland meant Thordarson was very aware of light. “He was such an advantage to work with.”
Designing and building the structure cost about a third of the total price, while interior finishing, plumbing, electrical, appliances, cabinetry flooring and the rest cost cost two-thirds, said Peter.
“Fortunately, we managed to have the house up and most of the wood installed before it rocketed in price,” he added.
“We dodged a bullet there, but we did get hit with COVID,” which caused extensive delays with supply chains and required endless protocols that cost even more time.
The 3,000-square-foot home was designed for one-level living but has a full basement so there’s lots of storage, said Patricia, who has collected many memories on her travels and while doing a lot of field work in Crete and mainland Greece.
“For both Peter and me, and for our whole family, continuity is very important, so we brought many things from our old house, and from our respective parents and grandparents.” For that reason their appealing home is decorated with many artworks, sculptures, Armenian carpets and more — all set of by the warm, honey-tones of natural wood.
Their contractor, also a lover of wood, excavated the site, built the foundation and put in the first floor, over which Purcell Timber Frame Homes built the timber structure. Thordarson also built the farm equipment building which has a carriage-house look with garage doors recycled from the owners’ previous garage, and posts made from trees cut on site.
He said the whole project was one of his most enjoyable experiences ever. “We had a fantastic time.
“It is rare that you get a customer who puts the quality of the work first and wants to go all-natural … wonderful to work for people who love wood and want to restore and preserve things.”
He said the staircase was very special as, “the Clarks are getting up in age and wanted stairs with particular risers” and the front door “is a fantastic story.”
He made it out of a giant slab of cedar that the Clarks had been given more than 30 years ago and they had preserved for a special purpose. “I think wood is in our genes,” said Patricia.
Timber-frame house put together on site
Purcell Timber Frame Homes designs and builds everything from beach bungalows and mountain chalets to carriage houses and luxury residences using age-old authentic mortis and tenon joinery and solid oak pegs
The company delivered just such a prefabricated, sustainable, low-maintenance structure to the Peninsula property of Patricia and Peter Clark on a full, 53-foot flatbed truck and put it together on site, with minimal disturbance and mess.
“It keeps a site very clean and we put up the entire frame package, the whole structural shell in two weeks,” said company designer and owner Hart Wintraub, in a telephone interview from Nelson.
He said it was a huge pleasure working for the elderly couple.
“You don’t meet too many 80-year-old couples like these …Peter has the manner of a young energetic kid who absolutely loves traditional, authentic, old world ways of building,” said Wintraub who creates 20 to 25 “frame packages” for clients around North America every year.
“They are popular on Salt Spring Island, Tofino and in States like Wyoming, Montana, Hawaii …”
He added that in conventional homes the roof joists and other structures are buried in the ceilings or walls, but in a timber frame they are exposed so owners can enjoy the home’s “honest architecture.”
“What a great story this is,” he effused.
“Building a home from scratch, at any age, can be daunting, but the Clarks are a great couple and they knew what they wanted — a traditional, timeless, craftsman home with authentic mortise and tenon joinery, a system that developed before nails.”
