The home’s location is both an advantage and a challenge to its preservation, as ostentatious mansions slowly replace the modern homes built in the postwar period.Evergroup
Entering Carol and Don Carruthers’s 3,488-square-foot home in southwest Calgary is like travelling back to an era when a building’s form was not only contingent on its function, but also when simplicity and attention to detail successfully co-existed.
Built in 1953, the couple’s home is an impeccably maintained example of atomic ranch-style, as the original layout and most design features remain unchanged.
However, the home’s location in Scarboro, an affluent inner-city neighbourhood, is both an advantage and a challenge to its preservation, as ostentatious mansions slowly replace the modern homes built in the postwar period.
“This is a unique home in Calgary,” Mr. Carruthers says, pointing at the scant number of homes of this era that have been preserved. “I think the reason this house is still here is that we weren’t really interested in a quick change of money and a flip because we felt that we could express ourselves here.”
But after more than two decades stewarding the mid-century modern gem, the Carruthers are ready to pass on the baton to a new owner, and listed their home for $1.28-million in October.
The lower storey contains an unexpectedly spacious rumpus room that shares an open layout with the kitchen.Evergroup
The Carruthers’s property is a representative piece of atomic ranch-style design, which took off in the postwar period across North America, and fit Calgary’s “futuristic aspirations” at the time, as a 2013 study noted.
Riffing on the principles of modern architecture, atomic-style homes combine typical modern features, such as access to natural light and open layouts, with Googie elements that give houses of this style a futuristic character – and the Carruthers’s home is no exception.
Vibrant colours, textured accents and oblique angles permeate every aspect of the house, but it is in the layout where its true character becomes apparent.
Facing a cul-de-sac, the property’s front courtyard creates an inviting outdoor space that, counterintuitively, also serves as a buffer for privacy. While the floor-to-ceiling window spanning the entire length of the vestibule blurs the line between indoor and outdoor space, the protruding massing that flanks the courtyard on two sides limits indirect sightlines into the home.
Moreover, extended eaves discretely control sun exposure of the south-facing façade, softening the harsh autumn light of Calgary while flooding the living room with sunshine.
Inside, the curved lines of three half walls (one of which ingeniously conceals a coat closet) adjacent to the main entrance direct one’s view across the living room, and towards the backyard, where a private forest of sorts is framed by an elongated corner window, a typical feature of modern architecture.
The elevated volume of a portion of the main floor creates a separation between the public and private spaces within the home, and allows for clerestory windows, which bring additional sunlight into the living areas.Evergroup
The elevated volume of a portion of the main floor, where the two bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms are located, indicates a separation between the public and private spaces within the home and allows for clerestory windows, which bring additional sunlight into the living areas.
Unlike typical ranch-style homes, usually contained within a single story, the layout of the Carruthers’s residence takes advantage of the site’s topography, adjacent to a landscaped slope and distributes the living areas across two main levels.
A spiral stairway, whose stairwell’s original wallpaper reflects the natural light that comes through the vestibule’s expansive window, leads to a cedar-clad hallway downstairs.
The lower storey contains an unexpectedly spacious rumpus room that shares an open layout with the kitchen.
This unconventional setup, which includes a built-in bar and a billiard room, maximizes the property’s expansive views of the city, while an assortment of colourful accents, shapes, volumes and textures collude to create a hygge effect.
The home's unconventional setup, which includes a built-in bar and a billiard room, maximizes the property’s expansive views of the city, while an assortment of colourful accents, shapes, volumes and textures collude to create a hygge effect.Evergroup
If a house is “a machine for living in,” as Le Corbusier, the precursor of modern architecture famously said a century ago, the purpose of this house is entertaining.
“The uniqueness that the house offers us suits us very well,” Mrs. Carruthers says. “Because we’re different and unique – we’re not a cookie-cutter kind of people.”
The Carruthers hope to find a buyer who, like themselves, appreciates the architectural value of the property – and they might just do that.
Over the past month, interest in the property has been consistent, says Mark Evernden, the Carruthers’s realtor, noting that about 700 people have viewed the house so far.
“It’s been an incredible response from the market,” he says. “People absolutely love it.”
Although the ideal buyer is someone who wants to preserve the architectural integrity of the home, Mr. Evernden is also positioning the property as a future redevelopment opportunity. “It’s an 85- by 175-foot long, so it’s an extremely large piece of land for inner city.”
The one and a half bathrooms have an added layer of privacy thanks to the separation of public and private spaces within the home by an elevated portion of the main floor.Evergroup
While the Carruthers’s home is a rare find, modern architecture is rather ubiquitous in Calgary, a city that boomed in the postwar period. However, the number of houses from this era is dwindling.
“A lot of houses have been demolished to make way for newer buildings,” says Graham Livesey, professor of architecture at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. “It would be good to designate a lot of these ordinary buildings, especially the fine examples of residential buildings from the 50s, 60s, into the 70s, maybe even into the 80s.”
The reason for this is that modern architecture represents Calgary’s quest towards a unique architectural language, which would eventually lead to the emergence of Foothills architecture in the 1960s. Much like the Carruthers’s home, this regional style emphasized siting and views, and embraced materials like brick and wood.
But preserving Calgary’s modern history remains a challenge, Prof. Livesey says. “We should be preserving a cross-section of our entire history. But getting people out to protect buildings is a difficult thing in Calgary.”
Ultimately, the city’s reliance on homeowners choosing to designate their property as a heritage asset is a significant barrier to the protection of postwar architecture. Heritage Calgary, an arms-length subsidiary of the City of Calgary, includes 17 homes from this period in the city’s heritage resource inventory, but only six of them are protected.
“Calgary is mainly a modernist city. For good or bad, the way it’s laid out is as a modern city,” Prof. Livesey says. “That’s not to say that all the modern architecture is good, but we need to embrace the best examples of modern architecture in the city.”