Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/130547
SHOW STOPPER (Left) Merrick won a Governor General's Award for the restoration of the Orpheum Theatre, now a national historic site. large-scale restoration project we did at a time when no one in Vancouver knew the meaning of heritage, including ourselves. The Community Arts Council of Vancouver was instrumental in negotiating its redesign when Famous Players, which owned the building, threatened to tear it down. BCH&G: The home you built for your family in West Vancouver in 1972 still garners accolades, cited by the B.C. Architectural Society as "one of the 10 best homes built in B.C. in the last 75 years." A recent newspaper article states that it "boasts fantastical multiple levels and a magnificent three-storey stone fireplace." Will you describe it? Merrick: The house has approximately a dozen different levels that meander and evolved as my family grew. It features lots of wood indigenous to the area. The ceilings are 30 feet high and then extend to a pitched third storey. I explored what I could do on a limited budget. For the fireplace, I first built it in brick and my two teenage nephews layered granite, sourced from the site, overtop. They had never laid stone before so the stonework evolves from rough and crude at the bottom to precise at the top. The front door was architect Ron Thom's old drafting table. A floor-to-ceiling Art Nouveau stained glass wall was purchased secondhand from Jack's New & Used Building Materials. BCH&G: Where do you live now? Merrick: My home is in East Sooke on Vancouver Island on 1 1/3 acres that overlook the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I rebuilt an English cottage-styled home, creating a new entry stairway from the central living area on the main floor that is open to the attic with three levels of bedrooms above. It features lots of timber recycled from logs originally from sturdy old logging road bridges and a south wall made entirely of glass. COMMUNITY BUILD Architect Paul Merrick has created enduring art and relationships TEXT CAROL CRENNA After 40 years, award-winning architect Paul Merrick has learned much about holistic design, heritage restoration, regulation hindrances and maintaining a little humility. BCH&G: You won a Governor General's Award for refurbishing The Orpheum theatre, now a national historic site. Was it challenging? Merrick: The Orpheum was an eclectic assemblance of pieces from various European artistic eras when built in 1926 by Marcus Priteca. It was the first BCH&G: What are your thoughts on building green? Merrick: It means a great deal and generates a lot of bafflegab. Energy management is a valid concern, but building codes now ask requirements that have become descriptive instead of prescriptive, not only telling you the required result, but how to do it – that can be a problem. Leaky condos weren't caused because people constructed shoddy buildings. They 26 | BC HOME & garden June 2013 p26-27_PaulMerrick.indd 26 13-05-02 10:07 AM