Architecture: Past Glory Restored

Originally printed in the Globe and Mail. Read the full text here.

Inside a restored art-deco home that once belonged to a Leafs legend

In the first half of the 20th century, Calgary’s Bridgeland neighbourhood, near where the city’s two rivers, the Bow and Elbow, connect, was dotted with workmen’s shacks. Among these modest structures, one stood out: an opulent one-and-a-half-storey dwelling made of old-growth timber.

It had been commissioned by Bridgeland’s resident celebrity, David “Sweeney” Schriner, the all-star NHL left winger who, in the 1940s, helped take the Toronto Maple Leafs to two Stanley Cup championships.

In 2016, Ryan Schmidt, principal of Ryan Schmidt Architecture Studio and a fourth-generation Bridgelander, noticed a for-sale sign outside the Schriner house and bought it for $565,000. It was the first of what would turn out to be a string of impulsive decisions. The second was his choice not to flip the property when, a week after he’d acquired it, a local developer offered him $50,000 above what he’d paid.

By this point, Mr. Schmidt was invested, personally as well as financially. Throughout 2017 – with the assistance of his wife, Meghan, and his father, Lyle, a retired contractor – he did a step-by-step restoration, returning the property to its former glory and salvaging a piece of Alberta’s art deco heritage.

This is an excerpt. Read the full text here.