Sask. man restores 118-year-old home

Jason Hattie was scrolling through Facebook when he came across a century-old home for sale.

When he saw the historic home in 2016, its “character” and “beauty” were overwhelming.

He bought it soon after and began fixing it up.

“This kind of showed up at the perfect time,” Hattie said.

“It seemed like a good use of my energy and something that I was instantly passionate about.”

The French-colonial style home was built in Hanley in 1906 by a man named Louis Amunds. It’s believed to be inspired by homes in New Orleans.

In 1975, the roughly 3,500-square-foot home was moved to an acreage just east of Saskatoon. The new homeowner added plumbing, electricity, and shag carpet.

“The whole house was covered in shag carpet from top to bottom,“ Hattie said.

He has spent nearly a decade restoring the home, trying to keep as much of the original material as possible.

He spent countless hours scrapping off old paint from the exterior.

“I just started by myself going out there with a barbecue scraper, because it fit perfectly on the sides of the siding, and hand scraped the entire sides of the home,” he said.

Now that restoration is nearly complete, Hattie has opened his home to the public for event rentals including weddings, dinner parties, and overnight stays.

The Canadian band ‘Spiritbox’ even filmed a music video there.

Hattie said meeting others through the home is a highlight.

“I usually get lots of stories of people that either knew somebody or have been in the house before,” he said.

He welcomes others to contact him through his website and tour the home.