Those were the words of our friend Julie on the phone. Steve and I had decided to take the plunge and buy the stone house when she called with some bizarre news. She knew we hadn't been allowed to set foot inside the house before we made our decision. But someone had entered, she told me, taken photographs throughout the whole house, and posted them on a Facebook group called Abandoned Ontario. More on that to come. (Plot spoiler. This 'someone' is a genuinely kind man).
'Are you sure it's our house?' I asked. 'Send me the pictures, please!' Yup. It was our house and our first glimpse into what we were buying. Weather, animals, ransacking partiers? Heaven knows who or what had wreaked such havoc in there as the place sat vacant for 15 years.
The photographer had been in the house once before. In his Facebook post, he described finding water in the basement on his first visit, which was frozen solid on his second.
We didn't love that these photos were out there. Steve was worried about liability and others entering the house. And we were both sensitive to the fact that this had been a well-loved family home with deep meaning to someone. It seemed unfair to show the house in this state. We thought it might reflect poorly on the people who had lived there when the damage had clearly been done as the house sat empty.
We asked the photographer to delete the post, which he promptly and respectfully did. But Steve and I do appreciate these images. Unflattering as they may be, they capture a period in the house's history. (For this reason, we've chosen to use some in our blog to help illustrate the progression of the house's revival. We've been very selective about which interior shots to show.)
Curious, I went online to see if I could learn more about this mystery photo shoot. As it turns out, it's not that rare. Photographers enter abandoned buildings to take photos but don't disturb anything. Many of these places are historic and later get demolished. These images can become a valuable record of lost architecture and a lost way of life. Maclean's magazine recently covered a story on a similar artist. It's fascinating.
Still, it wasn't until a few years after Steve had completely cleared out the house that we wanted to see the images again. Julie found the photographer, Terrance Herron. In his last post on the Ennotville house, he mentioned taking the photos down out of respect for our request. He also mentioned our plans to restore the home. People left the most heartwarming comments in response, genuinely concerned about preserving this local landmark.
I contacted Terrance, invited him to stop by and see the progress on the house, and asked if he would allow us to use his photos. He thanked me for the invitation and, without hesitation, said we were most welcome to use them. He even kindly offered to find them for me if we didn't still have them. Thank you, Terrance. We're very grateful to you for these images.
Any more surprises?
Yes and no. As we weighed our decision to buy, it came to light that a drainage easement ran down one side of the lot. This had not been disclosed in the listing. We needed to know how it impacted the property. I learned from the Municipality that the easement would restrict any future expansions or additions on a small portion of the lot. We were willing to accept that with a slight reduction in the selling price.
We also wanted to know if the house was a designated Heritage Property. The selling agent didn't believe so, but we needed to be sure. A search for this information led me to the Ontario Heritage Act Register. The Register confirmed that the house was not listed, but several of the farms Steve and I had admired on our first visit were.
We made a few more trips to get to know the place better. Steve and I had been to Elora and Fergus countless times, but we now had a new focus. We were much more aware of the sheer number of stone buildings in the area and the impressive feat of building the stone structures that stood right at the edge of the Grand River.
Even having seen what was inside, we felt a pull to bring the Ennotville house back from the brink of ruin.