It was big. In fact, truly massive.
So much so it made the national television show of the same name.
The former historic 1,220-square foot home of esteemed Olds citizen Alex Zec made an arduous three-hour journey on Oct. 10 along county roads and then on Highway 27 by steel-beamed truck from its original location at 5001 54 St. to the former county hamlet of Harmattan, 18 kilometres west of Olds.
This caught the attention of HGTV Canada, which is also known as Home & Garden Television. The speciality channel produces the hit show Massive Moves. The big move to Harmattan was filmed and will be featured on the show later this season.
“It made us feel we were getting more attention than we thought we deserved for buying a house,” said new homeowner Stephen Barnsdale, a 32-year-old farmer and carpenter who works a quarter section of land with his family at the northwest corner of Harmattan.
He purchased the three-bedroom house last March at an auction for $12,000. The 1 storey Craftsman-style home on a 3 acre lot was owned by Zec for more than half a century. Zec and his wife Phyllis inherited the home from her father Joseph Zurawell, a former CPR foreman from Netook, who built it in 1944.
Phyllis passed away in 2008 and Zec, also a former CPR foreman, sold the house and property to the Town of Olds in 2011 for $362,250. The property, which will soon have a commemorative plaque to honour its history, is earmarked for a future civic centre for the town, which could include a new museum and tourist bureau.
Zec, who has no children, now lives at Sunrise Village at the age of 87.
“I spent so many years there,” said Zec, adding he is happy the home is still in good hands. “He (Barnsdale) said he is going to make the house bigger. It is an excellent house. It was well built.”
Although Barnsdale only paid $12,000 for the home he put up another $30,000 to have Calgary's McCann's Building Movers haul the house to Harmattan where it was mounted on a full basement. His investment doesn't end there. He expects to spend another $200,000 in renovations, which will include doubling the size of the kitchen and creating a new front entrance.
“It was livable when we bought it. The interior is in great condition for its age,” said Barnsdale, who originally hails from “Robin Hood Country” in England's Lincolnshire County, 170 kilometres north of London.
While he is spending a lot of money on the outside he and his wife Christine do not want to alter the character of the inside. He notes the house came with its original doors, locks and windows.
“It is a character house. We want to keep it as original as possible,” said Barnsdale.
In the meantime, Barnsdale, his wife and three young sons are living with family across the road from their new home. They hope to move into their grand new house by Christmas of 2013.
As for Zec, he is just grateful that the grand old house his father-in-law built will once again be the home base for a nice family who will always value it.
“I spent the best part of my life there,” said Zec. “I was a lucky man.”
