Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Article 30 of 74
This article first appeared in the "Houses of the Gatineau Hills" column in the November 28, 2012 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Home fit for a king has a history with Canadian royalty
By Lucy Scholey
You could almost say Sarie and Francois Mai's home is fit for a king. Actually, their Burnett waterfront house is fit more for a governor general.
When Ray Hnatyshyn - the former Canadian head of state - and his wife, Gerda, rented the residence on Maxwell Road, they brought RCMP officers for protection during the summer of 1993, shortly after the Mai family bought the property. The Mais needed time to sell their Ottawa home before moving to Chelsea, so they rented to Canada's equivalent of the royals.
"They were having renovations done at Rideau Hall," recalled Francois Mai, from the kitchen of the house that overlooks the Gatineau River.
It's no wonder Hnatyshyn chose "to settle here for a summer before he eventually bought land beside the Larrimac Golf Club. The Mai house sits on just under two acres down a Winding dirt road that may leave you wondering how anyone can get out in the wintertime (the Mais say the road is regularly plowed during colder months).
A spacious living room and huge sliding glass doors offer a view of the 160-foot shoreline as you come through the front door. Artwork by the likes of Chelsea resident David Fisher and Bruce Vinale, a double-sided fireplace and a grand piano provide additional visual treats. The mantel piece is a wooden slab with an acorn tree branch chiselled in by an aboriginal artist named T. Fishel. The year 1989, when the house was built, is also engraved on the side.
Alan Hopkins, the late Chelsea architect behind the design of the famous three-tiered paddle wheeler that is known to toodle around the Gatineau River, designed this house with its six-foot pine ceiling beams, oak floors and cabinets and a living room and kitchen big enough for dinner parties of 50 people - which the Mais have tested out.
"It's quiet and the river is absolutely, unbelievably beautiful all year round," said Sarie Mai, 75, a retired art therapist. Her husband is a psychiatrist who was once a professor at Ottawa University and is now working for the federal government as a medical advisor for the Canada Pension Plan.
When the Mais bought the house almost two decades ago, they were looking for space big enough to welcome their four children and 10 grandchildren. The 4,000-square-foot home includes an upstairs apartment they added in 2003. It's a "children's paradise," as Sarie Mai calls it. It's equipped with a stove, a fridge, two little bedrooms with sliding doors and a separate entrance. And best, it's soundproof.
The living room is only matched by the upstairs master bedroom. When you step through the door, you meet a vanity with full-length mirrors on the left and a little hallway to the right that leads to a closet and a bathroom with a Jacuzzi and heating lamps. If you walk straight ahead, you come to the bedroom with big windows that look out at the river. The Mats said they "fell in love" with the place, but in 2001 they downsized to condominium life in Ottawa and have been using the Burnett house on weekends.
Even though they are reluctant to leave Burnett, they said, they are now ready to sell the Maxwell road palace. The asking price is $969,000.
For more information, check out www.facebook.com/47MaxwellChe1seaQuebec or call 613-241-2225.