I suddenly stopped walking. But what is this little silo doing in the heart of Mile End? And is that a house that I see behind it? I immediately wanted to pull out my card “I write chronicles on intriguing residences in The Press » to find out more… Except that I never managed to find the door to said house (yes, it is original to that point). So I left a letter to its owners.
A few weeks later, an email. They came back from a trip and agreed to meet me. In the meantime, I had learned that an article about the astonishing construction had already been published in The Press in 2008. It was then for sale. Given its small surface area and its virtual absence of partitions, it was predicted that it would be of interest to “gays and couples without children”.
Barbara Jacques and Gilles Legault burst out laughing when I told them. They don’t exactly fit this portrait… In fact, the two creative directors moved here in 2009 with a 6-year-old daughter and a young teenager.
Gilles didn’t want to move. Barbara had been looking for a new roof for two years, distressed by the lack of light in their home. When the couple set foot in the building on rue Clark, with its high glass facade, Gilles immediately knew that he “was[t] do “. He explains to me with a smile that his girlfriend’s desire was so strong that a move was inevitable.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
The residence is a former mechanical workshop transformed by the famous architect Ron Keenberg.
“When I want to, I can no longer see clearly! she confesses. I would have done anything to live here, I would have slept in the kitchen! »
Yes, well, it was cramped for a family of four… Except that Barbara had long dreamed of a house that would not have the traditional configuration of a house. Too flat.
And she had just found the right fit with this old mechanical workshop transformed by Ron Keenberg. Inspired by his native Manitoba, the famous architect used steel parts specific to prairie grain elevators. Hence the small silo in front of the house. Behind him, an intimate and warm courtyard in which the pulley system of the old garage still sits. Then, finally, this house which has nothing classic about it.
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
The small silo in front of the house and the intimate courtyard
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
The semi-circle kitchen
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
There is nothing classic about this house.
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
The second bathroom is visible from the stairwell. So when we are on the steps, we can see the person who is in the shower or who is sitting on the throne…
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I could tell you about the semi-circle kitchen, the Frost fence that extends over three floors or the Memphis design, but I prefer to focus on the bathrooms. The ceiling of the one on the third floor is actually the metal roof of the building. Spectacular ! And that of the second is visible from the stairwell… In the sense that, when you are on the steps, you can see the person who is in the shower or who is sitting on the throne. Even more surprising, there are holes in the wall. Intentional holes. Goodbye, sonic intimacy!
Gilles describes the architect as “irreverent”. I nod.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
To access their bed, the young people had to go through the parents’ bedroom, on the second floor…
Afterwards, we had to find room for two children in this strange kingdom. The couple separated the third floor room into two bedrooms. To get to their bed, however, the young people had to go through their parents’ bedroom, on the second floor… Gilles and Barbara therefore had to get used to the schedule of the oldest, who came home at 4 a.m. due to bar work. They remember it with a laugh: “It was correct! It suited us! »
The Dolls House – so nicknamed because it was originally pink and had metal curtains – corresponded to their lifestyle.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Owners Gilles Legault and Barbara Jacques
We have a bit of a bohemian side that we found in the house.
Gilles Legault, co-owner
It is also transposed into decoration. The side table in the living room is a log, a remnant of a tree they loved and had to cut down. On the nearby wall are more than a dozen animal skulls. Finds from Morocco, Vietnam, India, the United States or nearby… Treasures, in Barbara’s eyes.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
The living room side table is a log, a remnant of a tree that the owners loved and had to cut down. On the nearby wall are more than a dozen animal skulls.
“Gilles thinks it’s because I’m fascinated by death,” she says. He justifies himself: “You already explained that to me and I remembered it! It’s not death that we show with the skulls, it’s the urgency to live. Finitude is boring… Here, we show intensity. »
I find them beautiful.
” You’ve been together for how long ? »
Since “23 years + one year”, Barbara answers me. The two designers worked for the same company when they fell in love, almost 30 years ago. Four seasons later, they left each other. When regrets emerged, they gave themselves a second chance. It was the right decision to make.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
“I would have done anything to live here,” explains Barbara Jacques.
“When I think that it could end, I could cry,” Barbara slips… “I’m in denial. » Suddenly, his eyes glaze over. I turn to Gilles to discover that his people are doing the same.
A flutter. I have tears coming up myself. Destabilized by this storm of tenderness, I have a suggestion…
“Think about your wall!” Urgency to live! »
Then I shut up, mentally congratulating myself for having become a columnist rather than a psychologist.