The first job, Keith explains, was to move the staircase back a couple of feet to give more space to it and the entryway. In addition, its original three-foot width was increased by a foot or more.

Since no one was certain about the original details of the house, research was required - and some of the design solutions came from interesting places. Among the best resources was "Homes & Interiors of the 1920s: A Restoration Design Guide," a document produced by the Morgan Wood Co. during the 1920s and reprinted by Lee Valley, the Ottawa-based woodworking and
gardening tools company. "It had marvellous information on details typically found in buildings of that time," says Jeannette. "It was very helpful in coming up with the design details for the staircase and for the hutch that was put in the hallway."

Keith Jakobsen proved to be another gold mine. Over the course of his career, the architect has worked on a number of heritage houses and has built up a healthy store of details of period Vancouver homes. He drew on his experience and came up with the Arts and Crafts-style design for the newel post, "with the big crown on top and the cap on top of that." The interesting pairing of the balustrades was Bill's idea, and was true to the other Arts and Crafts details. The open process, with ideas coming from every direction, is how Keith likes a renovation to unfold. "The way I like to work, for better or worse, is just to let things evolve," he says, adding, "I'm not one of those design fascists." All the research and effort paid off beautifully. "It's a big success," pronounces Jeannette. "It's made a fantastic difference to the house because the staircase is, of course, your first impression. It very much sets the tone for what you want people to see in your home."
By Nora Underwood
Back...
Vancouver Architect Keith Jakobsen jumped at the chance
to help homeowner Jeannette Hlavach recreate the Arts and Crafts staircase in her 1927 home.

"When people decide to make changes to their houses, they usually do so with the best of intentions- and the conviction that those renovations will not only improve the look but also the value of their homes." At least, this is Vancouver heritage planner Jeannette Hlavach's diplomatic defence of work previous owners had done to her 1927 English-builder-style heritage house in the city's west side. "They had done some work in the 1970s and 1980s at a time when certain things were very popular, and they embraced some of those trends wholeheartedly," says Jeannette, smiling. "With the hindsight of the current age, it doesn't look very sympathetic to the style of the house."

After Jeannette and her husband Bill, a lawyer, bought their home four years ago, they enlisted Keith Jakobsen to help restore the house to more of a period style. One of the tasks was the staircase (then covered in orange carpet), which had a low drywal retaining wall and a handrail that, Keith says, "looked like it was carved out of a 2-by-4 peice of oak - very chunky and ugly."