Clinton News-Record, 1970-07-23, Page 11linton ecor
105th YEAR r No. 3Q W.(\ITGIN,9NTrATO -71-.10.1iSPAY,4061 23;100: SECOND $ECTIQN,
••••\\,..•0..\‘‘‘.."\\*..\•••• ........ \‘‘%N.N‘‘\‘'00.."•••,..• %%%%%%%% •S"\%.•%,.....%,..\\\%\\*.\\•%\\•\\,..N.N.V.,,0%..0,0....N•\‘‘,."\\\\\,.1.11%*04,\•,..\\•\\,.\\N\N.S.N.,00..1\\N\l"\\NNW..•
A Special Section
of the.
News-Record
The farm house, which took five years to restore, is full of
•
Five years of hard work, love, talent make showplace of an old house
BY KEITH RQUI,STON
Lotte Zonnenberg does some of her own weaving on a hand loom in the upstairs of the farmhouse
where the family has spent about every second weekend for the last five years.
antiques like this candelabra.
An oil lamp hangs from a rough wooden beam in the kitchen
of the Zonnenberg's restored home. In keeping with the period
of the house there is no electricity or plumbing. However the
couple did install electric wiring in the walls in case they
should ever wish to sell.
While their mother was busy inside the art gallery and craft
shop, the Zonnenberg children provided pony rides outside for
the opening-day visitors on a rented pony at 15 cents a ride.
An opening-day guest examines some of the pottery and
hand-crafted jewellery on display. An old spinning wheel and a hand-built writing desk occupy one corner of the kitchen, the main
exhibit area for paintings.
Take a 105-year-old farm
house, loving restoration by a
civil engineer, his wife and two
sons, add the paintings and
crafts of 30 top artists from the
London area, and you have
Brigadoon on Maitland.
The restored farmhorm
showplace for arts and crafts
opened on Saturday and will be
open every day until August 16
from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It's the
special project of Lotte
Zonneberg of London. She and
her husband William discovered
the old house in 1964 in
Colborne township seven miles
north of Clinton. It had been
standing empty since 1939 but
even then in its dilapidated
condition William said, they fell
in love with it.
The couple bought the house
and 25 acres of land surrounding
it • and running down to the
Maitland river. ,Then began the
long hard job of restoring it to
its former glory. The family has
been coming to their country
home about every second
weekend, winter and summer,
ever since.
They immediately gutted the
interior of the building and
started from scratch. They
scowered the countryside to find
beams and lumber from old
barns that would match the
atmosphere of their old house.
They even had some lumber
specially cut to the awkward 6"
by 3" size that was used in
buildings of that period. This
however, required the kind help
of the owner of the Auburn
sawmill.
With the materials on hand,
William and his sons Dwight, 11,
and Roger 7, went to work.
Gradually they went to work,
installing a new roof, new
flooring throughout the house,
then restoring one room at a
time. By this spring the upstairs
and kitchen had been completed
and only ' the livingroom
remained to be restored.
With the project almost
finished, Lotte began her special
project for the summer, turning
the house into an art gallery and
craft shop open to the public.
Born in Holland, she had spent
six years in Indonesia before
finishing her education in
Holland. She immigrated to
Canada in 1952 and met her
husband William, who was also
born in Holland, while working
in the Netherlands Consulate in
Toronto.
She isn't a babe wondering in
the wilderness of art like many
arts and craft shop operators.
She has a degree from the
Chicago School of Art and
studied under Gerald Trottier at
the University of Western
Ontario. She has also attended
Summer School of the Fine Arts
at Elliott Lake.
She has gathered the works of
30 artists, mostly from the
London area, for showing and
sale at the house during the four
weeks of the family's holidays
when the gallery and craft , shop
will be open. Painters such as
Rick Garner, Tilde Pedersen and
Jane Vogan, who recently won a
Canada Council award, are on
display along with pottery by
Desmond Shepard batiking by
Doris Kanter and several other
artists. Oil paintings, etchings,
sketches, pottery and batiking
are all on display and for sale
along with such crafts and
tie-died cloths, and
hand-weaving.
Prices at Brigadoon on
Maitland range from less than a
dollar for home-made jams, to a
Rick Garner seascape at $600
and although prices may be a
little on the high side for the
ordinary pocket, the looking is
free and the scenery in the
rugged Maitland valley section of
Colborne, is beautiful.
Mrs. Zormenberg is a painter herself as well as exhibiting others paintings, She has a degree from
the Chicago School of Art. She is shown beside her own painting.
will be open to the public While Mrs. Zonnenberg operates an art
gallery and craft shop,
This it Origadocin on Maitland, the 105-year-old farm house
restored by Mr, and Mrs, William Zonnenberg of London after
five years of hard work. For four weeks this summer, the house
a
Pc' a Photo
a
Story
kr,
by Keith
0
ROUIston
FD
p0000 -