The word "palimpsest" derives from the Latin palimpsestus, which derives from the Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος (palímpsēstos, "again scraped"), a compound word that literally means "scraped clean and ready to be used again". That is in effect what we are doing with our house.
Everyone else who bid on the house intended to knock it down. The seller - who has became a friend - was relieved that’s not what we had in mind. 2654 Fernwood was her parents’ place - and one of the first houses built on Fernwood Road. We think the builders were the Parfitt Brothers and that our house is a standard “Number 5” model - a simple one and one half story house. I had a conversation with the Brigitte Clark | Executive Director of Victoria Heritage Foundation recently - she has called into question whether the Parfitt’s were the builders and if we do not live in Oaklands rather than Fernwood. These politely posed questions did not send me into a tailspin but did surprise me. It will be interesting to get to the bottom of those mysteries. The Heritage Foundation has issued a new guide Historic Oaklands Walking Tour which is excellent - even if our homely abode does not appear in it.
But I digress, to renew the house, we would have to scrape it clean and get to work on making it more efficient. The renewal began on September 27, 2019 - right in the middle of the United Nations Global Climate Action Week. We did not plan that - but it seemed like a good omen.
Here is something worth pondering that appears in Victoria Heritage Foundation materials.
How does heritage conservation contribute to sustainable development? Retention is the sustainable choice over demolition and replacement. The greenest building is the one already built. It takes at least 30 years before energy savings will be realized by building a new house rather than rehabilitating an old one.