McKenzie Mews is a new development on Dominion Street in the North Flats area. The McKenzie Sharland Grocery Municipal Historic Resource is located within the development and, while all units will be rented out, will be the only one furnished. Period-style furniture is being used in the grocery house.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
McKenzie Mews, a new development in the North Flats, has the McKenzie Sharland Grocery Municipal Historic Resource sitting front and centre on Dominion Street.
During restoration, both the main building and the detached icehouse sitting beside it, were lifted up and moved offsite so the old foundation could be dug out and new ones put in. The main house now sits about six inches higher, such that it now has an unfinished basement rather than a cellar/dugout.
The building was declared uninhabitable and, due to the years from having no heat, mould developed and plaster was collapsing inward.
“We really started with a major gut and hazmat remediation, we took it right down to the studs,” said Malcolm Sissons.
The original structure didn’t have any insulation so a 2×2 was added to the inside of the studs and filled with mineral wool insulation. The kitchen is modern and the main floor contains the original fir floor, which has been refinished. Some of the windows are original and others had to be replaced. A half bath was created off the kitchen that used to house a butler’s pantry. The rear door was taken apart by Sissons’ finishing carpenter and rebuilt using the same pieces.
The main floor was the store up until the mid-1930s.
“Back in the day Medicine Hat was under 10,000 people and there were about 35 groceries,” explained Sissons. “Nobody had cars, you would walk to the grocery. They probably had an ice box and not a fridge so bought food every two or three days.
“A store like this would have an account and they would pay at the end of the month. In the 30s people couldn’t pay their bills so the grocery had to close. The main floor was converted to the main living area and the Sharlands continued to live here.”
The stairs to the upper floor are steep and narrow. Some of the original features of the house remain, such as gas outlets on the walls, which would have had a mantle and globe on it as there wasn’t any electricity.
“From there they went to knob and spool wiring. In the 50s it was rewired again and then we did it again for the restoration. We left the knob and spool and original gas piping in the walls,” stated Sissons.
Upstairs are two bedrooms, each with attached bathrooms. One has a new shower and the other contains the original bathtub. Looking at the floor, which has inset pieces of matching wood in a different direction from the original floor, you can see how it was reorganized from the original layout.
The grocery house is expected to be ready for rental by November and a tenant, who wants one of the newer units that won’t be ready by next month, will move in.
For more information about McKenzie Sharland Grocery Municipal Historic Resource or the McKenzie Mews project go to mckenziemews.ca.
