{"id":32481,"date":"2025-07-29T18:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T18:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/32481\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T18:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T18:57:10","slug":"a-rare-erickson-home-in-cambridge-ont-seeks-its-next-steward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/32481\/","title":{"rendered":"A rare Erickson home in Cambridge, Ont. seeks its next steward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

This Cambridge, Ont. home designed by Arthur Erickson was completed in 1974.Supplied<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s day and age, it\u2019s fine to let it all hang out \u2013 every last jiggly bit \u2013 at your local nudist beach or colony.<\/p>\n

In architecture, however, if you decide to go naked and show off your posts, beams, walls and floors without the distraction of furniture and decor, you need to have achieved physical perfection. You need six-pack abs, the legs of a long-distance runner and the laser-gaze and jawline of Michelangelo\u2019s David.<\/p>\n

There are few Canadian sculptors of residential buildings that can pass the clothing-optional test: Ronald J. Thom, John C. Parkin, Eberhard Zeidler and Moshe Safdie come to mind. And Arthur Erickson, of course. But with two lone Ontario examples of single-family houses to admire, architecture lovers in the province might just give up and wander over to gawk at his \u201cKing\u2019s Landing\u201d<\/a> condominium at 360 Queen\u2019s Quay W.<\/p>\n

Unless one finds themselves in Cambridge, Ont., that is, where one of those single-family homes is currently on the market.<\/p>\n

Not far from streets filled with typical mid-century ranch style homes, tucked into the bend of Blue Heron Ridge as it approaches the Grand River, there sits a masterpiece by the man once called \u201cthe greatest architect in Canada and maybe the greatest on this continent,\u201d by U.S. architectural legend Philip Johnson. A 6,800-square-foot composition of planes, angles and voids that have been so finely tuned it takes one\u2019s breath away. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The home\u2019s current owner bought it in 2000 and sought to have it restored in a way that was sensitive to its original vision.Supplied<\/p>\n

The home was completed in 1974 for Richard and Laurette Hilborn (Richard Hilborn\u2019s father, Percy Richard Hilborn, was Mayor of Preston and owner of a successful furniture company). Current owner Jonathan Spaetzel says the Hilborns \u2013 already fans of West Coast Modernism \u2013 tracked the architect down while he was jet-setting in the early-seventies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story is that they met with Arthur Erickson at, well it wasn\u2019t called Pearson in those days, at [Toronto International Airport], and he sketched something out \u2026 and he chose the site apparently \u2013 there was lots of property \u2013 and chose the most awkward site they had,\u201d Mr. Spaetzel says with a laugh. \u201cAnd that was about 1972.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew it was going to be a substantial house and expensive,\u201d he continues, \u201cand they set the budget at about 10 times the average house cost, which was about $25,000 so they budgeted $250,000, and I understand they stopped at $640,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then again, fine art doesn\u2019t come cheap.<\/p>\n

And, thankfully, although the house has enjoyed (suffered through?) multiple owners over its 51-year existence, it found in Mr. Spaetzel the proper steward when he purchased it in 2000. After living with failing windows and skylights for about nine months, Mr. Spaetzel contacted then-director of the University of Waterloo\u2019s school of architecture, Rick Haldenby, to see who he\u2019d recommend for a full-on, sensitive restoration. He suggested a former student, Angela Tsementzis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [Mr. Haldenby] had seen some restraint in my work,\u201d says Ms. Tsementzis, \u201cand trusted that I wouldn\u2019t try to make my own statement here, and I really did let the Erickson design guide absolutely everything we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true: walking through Hilborn house today, it\u2019s difficult to tell that the enormous, floor-to-ceiling windows (walls of glass, really!) and sliding doors weren\u2019t always trimmed with warm wood (in 1974 aluminum was de rigueur), the kitchen wasn\u2019t always configured this way, or that the two enormous skylights \u2013 one over the Zen garden and the other over the currently covered-over swimming pool \u2013 weren\u2019t always constructed this way (Note: the pool is clean and intact and ready to be reinstated under that floor; Mr. Spaetzel took up ballroom dancing and needed a big practice area). <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Erickson\u2019s skylights were originally acrylic barrel-vaults, which had not weathered well: \u201cMost of the seals in the mullions had failed,\u201d says Ms. Tsementzis. \u201cI remember the first time I came [over] there was actually rain coming through.\u201d<\/p>\n

And quite serendipitously, after Ms. Tsementzis had implemented a more logical kitchen layout, a set of Erickson\u2019s original drawings turned up at the University of Calgary that were almost identical, says Mr. Spaetzel: \u201cSo I think we stumbled into \u2026 what he had originally planned; I think Mrs. Hilborn had a different idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would make sense that she might want control over at least one small space in a house with this bold a vision. No matter where one stands, the emotional experience, tactile feel, lighting and views have all been arranged and edited by Mr. Erickson. So much so it\u2019s hard to describe a walk-through using pedestrian language (pardon the pun). The spaces pull you in with ceiling heights and light. The house is a multi-split level, but the levels change so gracefully that one minute you\u2019re inside, the next you\u2019re on a portion of the roof or on a balcony. <\/p>\n

And while there was minimal furniture in the house when this writer toured it, Mr. Erickson\u2019s architectural bones are so very, very strong, it makes little impact (I had to contact the selling agents, Marco and Lamees Chiappetta of Sotheby\u2019s International Realty Canada, to refresh my memory a few days later: Was the house empty?). <\/p>\n

Something this bold, this magnificent, requires that the next steward be as thorough as Mr. Spaetzel. But, as a reward, that person will get a work of architectural art at the bargain price of $3.9-million. In Toronto, that figure would be three times the amount, maybe more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may not be catching the attention of some of the right buyers,\u201d finishes Mr. Spaetzel. \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t sell soon enough, we\u2019ll increase the price.\u201d <\/p>\n

1\/17<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

For more information, visit sothebysrealty.ca\/en\/real-estate-team\/marco-and-associates<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: This Cambridge, Ont. home designed by Arthur Erickson was completed in 1974.Supplied In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[967,76,354,355,49,48,356,75,968],"class_list":["post-32481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-architourist","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}