The home of Ethan Miller and Aki Ohtsuka in Baden, Ont. The 1856 structure had been in the Miller family until 1988 when it was sold to a trust. Mr. Miller bought the home in 2020.Photography is courtesy of Ethan Miller
It had always been a dream for Ethan Miller to restore the 19th-century Georgian-styled brick house that sat abandoned on a large plot of farmland for more than 30 years in his hometown of Baden, Ont.
The land was first purchased by the Miller family in the 1820s, when they settled in the township before it was officially established, after journeying north from the United States. In 1856, the family built the original red-brick home that stands today.
The last time Mr. Miller set foot in the house, he was just six years old. He recalled walking around the property with his grandfather while exploring all of its nooks and alcoves. These childhood memories left a profound impact and spurred his decades-long quest to acquire the estate.
“All of the trappings from those years were still on site and still in this house. … [It] was like opening up little capsules of our family’s heritage,” Mr. Miller said.
The Miller family is pictured around 1900.
The house, along with its hefty acreage, was sold in 1988 to a trust, and for many years it sat empty.
As he grew up, Mr. Miller, now in his 40s, watched the home decay, its foundation sag and the untamed brush around it grow wild. From the time he was in high school, he had his eyes set on pursuing the estate.
The property was finally brought to market in 2020 and Mr. Miller, alongside his wife, Aki Ohtsuka, made an offer, which was accepted.
“We’re happy to say that it’s back in the Miller name, and we’re hoping it stays that way,” he said.
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While the restoration journey spanned five years, the couple said they were guided by a passion for the heritage of the house.
The 2½-storey Georgian-style house is set back from a long country laneway, lined with heritage pine trees that the settling family originally planted.
The family immigrated from Lancaster, Penn., where the Georgian style was popular at the time.
“It feels almost very old American, which is what Georgian is really,” Ms. Ohtsuka said.
If you were to wander down the narrow path leading to the front door, you would notice the portico is slightly left of centre of the façade, a feature of the original house and in contrast with the classic Georgian style, which is usually marked by symmetry and proportion.
The early Millers added multiple additions to the back of the original 1856 structure to accommodate a growing family. Mr. Miller and Ms. Ohtsuka were able to restore two of those additions.
The layout of the house is simple and efficient, they say.
There are large rooms on both sides of the home's staircase that have open-hearth Rumford fireplaces.
Again, unlike traditional Georgian house design, in which a grand staircase ascends to the second-floor bedrooms from the entry foyer, the staircase in the Miller house is in the back of the house instead. Large rooms sit on both sides of the staircase which feature open-hearth Rumford fireplaces.
“We love the simplicity of the design, and I think that’s kind of what they were going for back then,” Ms. Ohtsuka said.
The couple wanted to ensure that they were honouring the era in which each section of the house was built.
Original plank flooring was restored in the Georgian house, which was made of eastern white pines native to the land, and double-hung windows were replicated with exact proportions.
The early Millers added multiple additions to the back of the original 1856 structure to accommodate a growing family. Two of those additions have been restored.
According to Mr. Miller, there was no detail that the couple was not uninterested in. When contractors often made assumptions based on modern specifications, they would be ripped out and done again to perfection.
Even details such as the paint were chosen based on what was available at the time of original construction. Considering pigments and colours weren’t widely available in the 19th century, the couple opted for pale walls.
“We were able to bring the house back to its – at least the earliest part of it – back to the original glory of 1856, the way it would have been when you walked through the doors in 1856.” Mr. Miller said.
The other additions to the original house were built somewhere in the 1890s. So, of course, the Millers reflected this in their own restoration, but allowed themselves to take some creative liberties in doing so.
The kitchen in one of the additions has botanical wallpaper, a pressed tin ceiling and free-standing cabinets.
The kitchen in one of the additions – built in the Victorian era – is adorned with botanical wallpaper, a pressed tin ceiling and featured free-standing cabinets and a modern stove reminiscent of the era.
Even the washrooms – there were none in the house until the early 1900s – were renovated with subway tiles that would have been appropriate for that time.
“It really has been a process of rediscovering family history, but at the same time creating a future for ourselves,” said Mr. Miller.