River Heights - Rebuild 1

Imagine it's a warm summer night. You and your spouse are just getting ready to go to bed when all of a sudden there's a large explosion outside. You look out the front window to find out what has happened when your daughter screams from upstairs that it's you - your house is on fire.

That's exactly what happened to one Winnipeg family last July when arson claimed their River Heights house and their neighbour's homes on either side. All three stately old homes were destroyed beyond repair. Despite losing everything they owned, there is a good news side to the story. In just 10 months, the family of three was able to move back into their house. Well, not exactly their house, but a very close version of it.

KDR Design Builders Inc. met the challenge head on. With very few photos of the house, as most were destroyed in the fire, we recreated the house largely from the homeowners' description. Then KDR turned that dream into reality, rebuilding the house from the ground up - literally.

Using one of the few photos that wasn't destroyed, we rebuilt the grand staircase. We also recreated the original wainscoting that had once graced the walls in the formal dining room. The end result is a house that feels like it should be 100 years old, but isn't. It's a brand new, old home. We took a tragedy and turned it into something positive.

For another arson-stricken home in River Heights that KDR helped rebuild, see River Heights - Rebuild 2.

Project Article

Project Gallery

Entrance

Grand Living Room

Kitchen

[ print] [ back to top]