Notes from the Cavanna site

Halfway through the demolition phase of the Cavanna Residence, our contractor called us from the site with a question. They had removed a layer of mid-century plaster from the second-floor stairwell wall and found, underneath, a band of original 1920s stenciling — a small geometric pattern in dark red and ochre, running just below the picture rail, perhaps fifteen meters in total.

Nothing in the heritage report mentioned it. The previous owners hadn't known it was there. As far as we could tell, it had been covered up sometime in the 1960s.

A discovery, not a requirement

The brief had been clear from the start: a clean, contemporary interior. Our clients didn't want a period restoration. They wanted to live in a 21st-century home that happened to be inside a 1920s shell.

But this was different. This wasn't a heritage requirement — it was a discovery.

The building's way of asking to be remembered.

We stopped work in that area and called the family for a site visit. They came that afternoon, looked at the band of stenciling for about ten minutes, and asked us to leave it.

Holding what survives

So we did. We rebuilt the rest of the stairwell with the contemporary materials we had planned, but kept the original stencil exposed — protected by a thin layer of conservation glaze, but otherwise untouched. It now sits as a small horizontal punctuation mark on what is otherwise a calm white wall.

The family tells us it's the first thing their guests notice.

We've started thinking of it as the building's way of asking to be remembered. We were glad we listened.