Digging up the past at home: Detectives trace a house's pedigree
Globe and Mail

EVE LAZARUS

VANCOUVER -- Since researching the history of his house in east Vancouver several years ago, James Johnstone has spun his passion for uncovering the lives of past homeowners into a small business. Through his Home History Research Services, he scours city archives, census records, directories and cemeteries to provide clients with a detailed social history of their home.

"When you move into an older house, you see scratches in the walls and initials carved in the basement walls and you begin to think about who lived there," he says.

"All of a sudden, you feel like you are part of a long line of people, and you want to find out who was there before you."

Home histories are a new twist on genealogy research and are starting to catch on in various parts of the country.

Known as "home history researchers," "house genealogists" or even "house detectives," sleuths such as Mr. Johnstone trace the lives of past owners of a house -- their employment, births, deaths, marriages and even events that took place inside the home.

In Toronto, Dana King started a company called Every House Tells a Story in January. While some of her clients are homeowners, she deals a lot with real estate agents who purchase home histories as closing or house-warming gifts for a clients.

In her experience, "most people don't want to know about ghosts or if anything bad took place in their house. They want to know if anyone famous lived there or if any famous event took place in their house.

Su Murdoch, a historical consultant based in Barrie, Ont., has researched heritage buildings for several Ontario municipalities, and worked with dozens of private clients to discover the secrets of their houses.

"You can pass a house on a street and just not think twice about it, but when you learn its history and the evolution of its architecture, it just makes it so intriguing," she says.

A home history starts at around $500, but, depending on the work and detail required, can add up to $2,000 or more, according to Mr. Johnstone and Ms. King.

Mr. Johnstone has worked for private homeowners, for hoteliers, for a television production company, for real estate agents and for local developers.

In the last category is Brad Alberts, president of Inter Urban Land Corp., which specializes in restoring heritage buildings in the Vancouver area. He says having a written history of a building can increase its value and is a useful marketing tool.

"Anyone who is interested in heritage buildings has a tendency to want to know what the history of the building was, and depending on what actually occurred or who owned it or who built it, it does have some impact on the value or the cachet of the building," Mr. Alberts says.

"You might not see that value in terms of dollars, but you certainly see it in terms of interest, and maybe sales occur sooner [rather] than later, especially in a market that's been depressed or slow."

Mr. Johnstone worked on the history of a 1908 building on East Georgia Street in Vancouver's Strathcona community. He found early owners included the Scottish McLennan brothers, three colourful men dubbed "the Scots greys" because of their greying hair -- a rarity at that time -- who ran the Cabinet Hotel in historic Gastown.

Mr. Alberts notes that home histories have provided information crucial to convincing the City of Vancouver to retain a heritage building.

"What we try and do is get as much information as possible on the building -- both the people who were in there and the builder, and any occurrences that happened in or around it -- and tie it together with the city's heritage inventory," he says. "All of this increases the stock value of the building and is a stronger bargaining chip in receiving development bonuses and the like."

Going through Registry Office records, tax-assessment rolls, newspaper files and county directories, Ms. Murdoch has turned up decade-old murders, and former owners who claimed to have had paranormal experiences.

In the course of one project, she found that Arthur Peuchen, a wealthy Toronto businessman and one of the survivors from the Titanic, was a former owner of the client's home.

She also uncovered the fascinating history of her own 1849 house. The first owner was Frederic Gore, headmaster of a boarding and day school established in Barrie to educate the "sons of gentlemen." The school and the building that housed the boarders were located nearby. The latter, which is now a private residence, still bears the name of the famous physician Sir William Osler etched in the plaster of the stairwell.

Later occupants of Ms. Murdock's house included Benjamin Walker Smith, the first sheriff of Simcoe County, who, in 1870, had a heart attack and died on her front lawn. "His wake was in our front room," she says.

The Murdoch's bought the house from the sheriff's grandson, Lloyd Smith, who lived in the house until 1971.

"I think of myself as the temporary custodian of this house," she adds.

"Although I might own it, it's going to be here a lot longer than me."

Ms. Murdoch also delved into the history of Leslie and Scott Millson-Taylor's house, built in Barrie in 1873. When they bought the dwelling seven years ago, it showed the effects of a succession of renters and two decades of neglect.

But Ms. Millson-Taylor says the house "spoke to her," particularly a bargeboard on the front that incorporated a trefoil and the same upside-down star that appears on the Trinity Anglican Church where they attend and her grandmother's Eastern Star ring.

As they renovated, the history of the house started to tell itself. They found 3½-inch metal women's hairpins and a vet's bill for setting a horse's leg. Research revealed that not only did the house have fascinating architectural features; it housed an intriguing social history.

Ms. Millson-Taylor also made the surprising discovery that her small children were the first children to ever live in the 2,400 square-foot house.

On a more grisly note, it was found that in 1977, the then-owner, 86-year-old Maude Bonney, was murdered in the living room.

"All the people are gone and the stories are over, but the house is still sitting there. It's the only tangible evidence that we have," Ms. Murdoch says.