Getting down to the architectural details
Mary Lamey
The Gazette, August 9, 2003
Version PDF (1.05MB)
Necessity leads to opening of antique shop
Restorer works magic on everything from ornate doors to stained-glass windows
Necessity is the mother of invention, or so they say. Necessity also lead Frank Valiante to open the mother of all architectural antique stores in Montreal.
Six years ago, Valiante bought a Westmount home built in the 1860s. He's poured his heart into restoring the home's original integrity. Finding vintage fixtures got to be a problem.
"I'd go to Home Depot or Réno Dépôt, but they either didn't have what I was looking for, or else the quality wasn't great."
So Valiante, a civil engineer by training, began haunting flea markets, demolition sites and estate sales, in search of everything from hinges to fireplaces.
His personal passion has evolved into Spazio Architectural Antiques. Valiante also owns Spazio, a design boutique on Notre Dame St.'s antique row, which customizes antique furnishing for the bathroom and kitchen.
The new store, located on St-Laurent Blvd. south of Crémazie Blvd., is a treasure trove of restored or transformed fitings. There are oak paneled ice boxes, antique faucets and showers heads, pantries, pews, columns, arches, wrought-iron gates and doors of all sizes and description. If you need a stained-glass window for the header over your front door, Frank's your man.
Not so long ago, building owners in old neighbourhoods like Villeray and Verdun, in a rush to modernize, replaced wooden windows with new-fangled aluminium. Beautifully worked stained-glass panels could be had for nothing, if you knew which lanes to trawl during renovation season.
"I've been told that people used to break them up just to sell the lead (solder)," Valiante said.
In Spazio's back room, restorer Frank Le Coroller works magic on ornate woodwork encrusted with layers of paint.
His biggest job to date was a maple and mahogany fireplace salvaged from a burnt-out Sherbrooke St. greystone. It tooks two weeks to uncover the intricate flower motif under the grime. The piece is now for sale at $3,500, Unrestored stained-glass windows start at $225.
"You learn something new with each piece. You improvise," Le Coroller said.
Valiante isn't the only game in town, though he has the widest selection.
For those on a tighter budget, Eco Reno offers an array of recuperated architectural elements, including doors, windows, pedestal sinks, tubs and cast-iron radiators. Doors start at $60. Stained-glass panels are priced in the $150 to $250 range.
The store was launched as a community project by SODER, the Société de developpement environnementale de Rosemont. It is one part job-creation program and one part environmental initiative. On a recent visit, Petite-Patrie resident Chantal Desrosiers was poking around in search of sconces for her dining room.
"I have this image of the fictures my grandmother had when I was little," the fifty-something shopper said. "I don't know if I'll find them."
Atelier Angus is another Rosemont entreprise with strong community roots. Its 10 workers create door frames, staircases, countertops, bookcases and shelves from recycled wood. The workshop, housed in what used to be CP Rail's Angus Yard locomotive shops, was also born out of necessity. What to do with all the salvaged wood that piled up when the train shop was turned into commercial condominiums?
"We work mostly with designers and architects, but occasionally we work with ordinary clients," said Johanne Lavoie, general manager of Atelier Angus.
Paradoxically, working with recycled wood is more costly than working with regular carpentry grade material.
"There is so much labour that goes into stripping the wood and removing nails," she said.
Finally, for the brave and hearty few who love to poke around a dump, the City of Montreal operates five Eco-Centres, where citizens can drop off still useful discards and buy equally useful items at rock bottom prices.
The Eco-Centre de la Petite Patrie on des Carrières St. was busy on a recent weekday visit, with renovators dumping loads of scrap metal, wooden palettes and distressed bricks and concrete blocks, all stacked for resale. In a corner, Jocelyne Rémillard, clad in an orange safety vest, presided over the family business, selling discarded households goods like computer monitors, melamine cabinets, boxy old TVs and the like. There was also a stack of old doors, between $5 and $25, and lengths of wrought-iron railing priced to move.
"We aren't here to gouge people. We provide a service and help reduce the amount of stuff that goes into the dump," Rémillard said.