Built to last

Threatened by encroaching suburbia, barn adapted to new role in Hillier

Ernie Margetson guides the construction of a new home that is being built around the structure of a large barn overwhelmed by suburbia.

The hand-hewn posts and beams, some as long as 48 feet in length, have begun to rise on the ridge that bisects Hillier ward. It is high ground affording views that stretch northward to the Oak Ridges Moraine. It’s easy to see why the owners chose this patch of ground to erect their new home. This is, however, no ordinary home.

The scale alone is impressive—60 feet by 48 feet—totalling 3,072 square feet per floor over three and half floors. But it is the story of this structure— once a magnificent and proud barn—that makes it a truly distinctive home.

The home has been designed and engineered by Ernie Margetson. He is also overseeing the construction. Margetson scoured the countryside all through the County and beyond to find the right barn, with the classic handcrafted features, scale and strength suitable to be reconstructed as a home. Unable to find anything locally, he widened the scope of his search.

The hunt ended in Bramalea—where the suburbs of Toronto are rapidly devouring rich and once highly productive farmland. There is, according to Margetson, a bitter irony in moving the magnificent barn from this fertile land to Hillier where he suggests the thin soil nearby might never have been able to justify a classic Ontario barn of these dimensions.

“The size of the barn—36 feet to the ridge—is indicative of the quality of farmland that surrounded it,” said Margetson. “The mows held very large quantities of hay and straw to support a large herd during the winter. The owners could afford more help as well.”

But that land is needed now to house an expanding city. Instead of growing crops and feeding livestock, the land now grows homes. The barn—once a soaring and imposing emblem of the place of farming in that once-rural community— is now in the way of progress.

In preparation for the move, each piece of the barn was dismantled gently and labelled meticulously. Now, piece by piece, it is being put back together on the ridge north of Closson Road on Chase.

Margetson designed the home for Michael McMillan. McMillan was a founding partner, with fellow Hillier resident Seaton McLean, in Atlantis Films. The company would go on to become Atlantis Alliance—one of the largest producers and distributors of television and movies in North America. The company was sold a few years ago and the founders parted ways with the company. Both are now partners in Closson Chase Winery.

“He wanted a big, airy barn,” said Margetson of his client. “The home will feature three levels as well as a lookout.” It will certainly be an impressive home—yet paying sincere homage to the rural traditions of the County.

Margetson has called upon the trusted support of Bill Beaton and Gene Powers of Loyalist Timber Framing of Colborne in the reconstruction of the barn. Two years ago Margetson contracted with Beaton and Powers to dismantle and reconstruct a much smaller barn from Picton Bay to his property near Melville.

Current insulating, electrical and plumbing and cladding materials will be used on the exterior walls leaving the structural post and beams fully exposed on the interior of the home. Ducon Construction of Carrying Place is acting as the general contractor.

Margetson isn’t, however, the sort to shine the spotlight on his projects simply for their own sake. He has another purpose in mind.

He has spent the past month or so overseeing the demolition of a 135-year-old church on Main Street in Picton—on behalf of the County.

He has witnessed the loss of a good building and worries about the message its demolition sends to the community and beyond.

“It was a very well-built and engineered building,” says Margetson. “The pressure on the outside walls from the very high and wide ceiling would have been intense. The design and construction, however, enabled the building to stand proud for more than 135 years.”

He says there are lessons we all must learn from these enduring buildings. He says that too many new homes and commercial buildings today are built as disposable structures—lacking character and distinction—unworthy of the heritage and traditions of the community in which they reside.

“We need to build today for future preservation,” said Margetson. “We need to build things that will last centuries, not decades. If we build for longevity and quality— our buildings can be adapted—just as this barn has been. This means good structure, good components and good building techniques.”

The grand home arising on Chase Road should be an enduring expression of Margetson’s beliefs.