Shirley and John Westeinde are smart sizing, selling their riverfront home for a luxe two-bedroom condo perched on the 20th floor of the city’s greenest tower, Cathedral Hill.
They are trading their contemporary 7,500-square-foot home, the indoor pool and the pontoon boat bopping on the Ottawa River for a 2,400-square-foot condo with a bird’s-eye view of the Parliament Buildings to the east and the Ottawa River to the west.
The move is about stairs and convenience.
John Westeinde, a fit-looking 76-year-old who has been intimately involved in the Ottawa construction industry for decades, has had back and hip surgery. Shirley Westeinde, 73, family matriarch of two boys, one daughter and 10 grandchildren, has had foot issues. Stairs are becoming difficult for both.
And the Loch Isle house has lots of them. There is the raised dining room, the central staircase and the wide steps leading to the master bedroom with its panoramic views of the river and the Gatineau Hills.
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![The Westeindes' 7,500-square-foot family home was built in the 1980s.]()
The Westeindes' 7,500-square-foot family home was built in the 1980s.
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![John and Shirley Westeinde love their riverfront home, but need the simplicity that one-level living offers.]()
John and Shirley Westeinde love their riverfront home, but need the simplicity that one-level living offers.
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!['John has windowitis and balconyitis,' his wife says of their home, which takes advantage of the views, including in the living room.]()
'John has windowitis and balconyitis,' his wife says of their home, which takes advantage of the views, including in the living room.
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![The Westeindes bought the double lot three decades ago. A sandy beach stretched down to the water and all around there were tiny cottages.]()
The Westeindes bought the double lot three decades ago. A sandy beach stretched down to the water and all around there were tiny cottages.
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![An elaborate central staircase that stretches up to their master suite is also their laundry chute, Shirley Westeinde jokes.]()
An elaborate central staircase that stretches up to their master suite is also their laundry chute, Shirley Westeinde jokes.
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![The couple likes to entertain on the many balconies or in the nearby boathouse and all three of their children were married on the beach.]()
The couple likes to entertain on the many balconies or in the nearby boathouse and all three of their children were married on the beach.
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![The couple's home (as well as their partially finished condo) have a distinctive modern flair and a green pedigree. Shown is the dining room.]()
The couple's home (as well as their partially finished condo) have a distinctive modern flair and a green pedigree. Shown is the dining room.
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![Shirley Westeinde says she’ll miss the indoor pool, where she likes to swim laps.]()
Shirley Westeinde says she’ll miss the indoor pool, where she likes to swim laps.
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![The couple has spruced up the home for the sale with new granite in the kitchen, and new hardwood and carpeting throughout.]()
The couple has spruced up the home for the sale with new granite in the kitchen, and new hardwood and carpeting throughout.
Photos: Deciding to downsize — John and Shirley Westeinde
Stairs and convenience are behind the move to relocate from their 7,500-square-foot home to a 2,400-square-foot condo at Cathedral Hill.
The condo will be a similar layout to the main level of their current home, but no stairs, says Shirley, who remembers three decades ago when they bought the double lot in the west end. A sandy beach stretched down to the water and all around there were tiny cottages.
Today, the cottages are long gone, replaced by a varied collection of large, imposing homes. Some are modern, like the Westeindes’, others are more traditional, while a handful have an urban cottage flavour.
The Westeinde home and their partially finished condo have a distinctive modern flair and a green pedigree.
The house, designed by John and Ottawa architect Alex Rankin three decades ago, has green smarts. A solarium at the front of the house sucks in solar power, storing excess heat in a rock face in the basement, circulating the heat when temperatures drop. The new condo is several green generations ahead of the riverfront house, yet there are many similarities, he says.
“I like to think the boys, Jonathan and Jeff, were conscious of building green from a young age.”
The Westeinde boys, founding partners in Windmill Developments, a Canadian firm dedicated to changing conventional development and committed to green real estate over the long term, are the construction smarts behind the senior Westeindes’ new condo, Cathedral Hill. Windmill is also taking on the redevelopment of the former Domtar lands linking Ottawa and Hull at the Chaudière Bridge.
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“The move is a hard decision,” Shirley admits. There are more than 30 years of memories wrapped up in the Loch Isle home.
“Alex wanted us to build a Cape Cod-style home, saying it would be timeless,” says John, who is a confirmed modernist, insisting on modern lines, a huge number of windows and assorted balconies.
“Every room has a view of the river,” he says.
“John has windowitis and balconyitis,” adds Shirley, who also prefers bright, open, clean spaces to a cottage style.
“There must be others like me,” says John.
It’s listed for $2.395 million on Grapevine and both are aware it will take time to sell. They hope to move into their condo next spring.
The two have been busy getting the house ready for sale. The exterior wood has been stained, new granite counters were added in the kitchen and there’s new hardwood and carpeting throughout.
Yet this is a family home, where for years a birch tree stood in the central staircase, decorated by keen grandchildren for Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
This is the same staircase where Shirley regularly flings laundry down to the lower level. “It’s our laundry chute,” says the first female president of the Canadian Construction Association, money manager for the Westeinde Group of Companies, recipient of the Order of Canada, supporter of many health groups in the city and proud grandmother.
She’s going to miss her indoor pool and hot tub. She swims lengths and has a full library of workout tapes for regular aqua fit sessions. She is looking at pools in nearby downtown hotels to keep up her fitness regime after the house-to-condo transition is completed.
“The thing that made this move alright was our cottage,” she says. “I don’t think I could be in a condo without the cottage.”
In fact, John, who loves the outdoors, campaigned for a condo on the fourth floor because he could see the trees and still feel a connection to the ground. Shirley had another opinion. “Why would you live in a condo in the city without a view?”
“I lost,” says John, who loves to entertain on one of their many balconies or outside in the boathouse.
“We have held a July 1st party every year and friends come every Christmas Eve,” says Shirley. Their three children were married on the beach and their daughter was spirited away on the pontoon boat when the party was over.
“Our children were upset, but they understood. Julie, our daughter, really wants a family who loves the house as much as us, to buy the house. I agree,” says Shirley.
