Not quite Durham Region, but close enough...
Couple works to restore Port Hope's heritage
Jan 13, 2006
By Peggy Foster
PORT HOPE - Uncovering the construction history of homes on the streets of Port Hope is a passion shared by Peter and Jane Rumgay.
Even on a cold, windy day in January the couple is ready to work a full day in an unheated structure on Ridout Street at Little Hope Street, the latest of their works in progress. Dressed in a one-piece snow suit, boots and toque, Mrs. Rumgay admits she's cold, but she doesn't mind spending 40-plus hours removing more than a century of paint and grime from a hand-made, all-wood flower uncovered above the front door of the house.
When the Rumgays stripped the exterior of the house of its vinyl siding they found what Peter believes is the first house built by Richard Coffin circa 1851 in the Georgian style with an ashlar finish, defined as a thin, dressed rectangle of stone for facing walls. Boards or planks were used to attain the effect of stone. Six over six windows were restored to the house and after several discussions and trials of colours, Mrs. Rumgay's choice of the colour grey stone proved to be the ticket.
When the Ridout Street house is complete in the summer of 2006 it will have three bedrooms on the second floor and double verandahs wrapping around the back of a large addition.
"We wanted to create something sensitive to the original part of the house so it is still the main focus," Mr. Rumgay said. "We dug down four feet in the back so the addition wouldn't be taller than its neighbours. The neighbours appreciate the extra effort we made to accommodate everyone."
He estimates there are about 15 of these early ashlar homes built by Mr. Coffin still in Port Hope, hidden under various exterior coverings.
When the Rumgays renovate an historic building they remove the original woodwork, save what they can and duplicate the style to restore the building to the glory it would have enjoyed when it was new.
"We don't work at the speed of light," Mrs. Rumgay says. But when the work is complete it's a proud moment for the couple knowing they have saved another building for at least 100 years.
It takes roughly a year for the couple to restore a home, doing most of the labour themselves, scraping paint, removing additions, getting to the bare bones of a structure before they can begin to restore it.
"This town has the best collection of homes in the province and half of them are still hidden," Mr. Rumgay said.
A case in point is a stucco covered house on the corner of William Street and Princess Street which the Rumgays bought last year. The original house was built between 1830-1835, Mrs. Rumgay says, and is an elegant five-bay, storey-and-a-half Georgian, owned by the Austin family since the turn of the century.
"We believe it was one of the (Elias) Smith houses from King Street because he owned this whole tract of land," Mr. Rumgay said as he showed off the large rooms in desperate need of restoration. "The house was moved from King Street to this location and sold to the Long family about 1870." There is no basement under the house. Preliminary investigations show there was a double-sided fireplace in one of the principle rooms on the ground floor.
Mrs. Rumgay is excited as she points out the original graduated clapboard on one side of the house where the stucco had fallen away. Knowing what to look for is the key to finding architectural treasures.
"We confine ourselves to frame houses, clapboard and our favourite style is Georgian," Mr. Rumgay says. "Anytime we get a chance to work on a Georgian we jump at it fast. When we buy frame houses we know we can do it ourselves.
"Our great love is to work on something together," he said. "We could sit and watch television every night but we prefer to work on houses and we do it seven days a week. When we come to the end of a project we say, 'Boy did we do a good job.' There's a sense of accomplishment. We could build custom houses but there's no passion in it."
The Rumgays are documenting the work they do on all of the historic houses they work on and plan to give the information to the archives, Mr. Rumgay says, so 100 years from now when someone else wants to know about one of the buildings the information will be available.
For the Rumgays, every house is like a mystery novel as they try to figure out what's been done to the original structure over the years and why.
"If we had one wish it would be to go back 150 years and walk this town," Mr. Rumgay said. "We'll never know what it was really like or what the colours were really like."
After living all over North America, Mr. Rumgay moved to Port Hope 16 years ago and says he wouldn't live anywhere else. He is the president of the Port Hope branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) and along with Mrs. Rumgay, gives seminars on restoring old houses.
"Anybody can do this," he says. "It's no big, dark secret. It takes fortitude and basic skills. If you don't know how to do it we'll tell you."
Peggy Foster is a freelance writer who lives and works in Northumberland County.
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