MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM — Don Lammle is the current owner of a beautiful heritage property in Drinkwater, Sask., located on Wenzel Street north of the highway. The house has quite a story to tell.
“It’s an Edwardian designed house… built by Dave Willett and his wife, Maggie,” Lammle explained. “It was started in 1904 and was finished in 1905.”
“A proper English house has a name,” Lammle said.
In honour of this tradition, he named the house ‘Willett on Wenzel,’ in recognition of both Dave Willett who built the house, and Wenzel Avenue, where the property is located. The acronym is also a nod to all the ‘WOW’ factors that came with the house, including around 50 items that Lammle recorded during his restoration project.
Originally from Alberta, Lammle moved to Saskatchewan in 2008 after discovering the house listed for sale and it became his retirement project.
End of renovations
On Aug. 6, he celebrated the end of major renovations. The day included a breakfast and presentation at the Community Centre in Drinkwater, followed by an open house and time capsule opening in the basement.
The Community Centre sits where the Grandview Hotel used to be. This hotel had been purchased by Willett in 1905 and was torn down in 1937.
“So, for that morning, (we named) the Community Centre the ‘Grandview Café,’” he announced.
Drinkwater was home to a church visible from the highway, but this was demolished a few years back. To remember it, Lammle put his birdhouse building expertise to work.
“I took wood from the church, stained glass, and I built a scale model of it,” he said.
Lammle presented the scale model building and his own history book as a gift to the Village of Drinkwater at the event. One week earlier, the 36-inch bell from the church was installed next to the same Community Centre.
Everything Lammle did with the property and the results of his research have been carefully compiled in the book he wrote.
In 2013, the house was granted heritage status. The designation came easily, as houses built with this level of opulence were unheard of outside of large centres such as Regina or Saskatoon at the time.
Mystery around Dave Willett
There’s a mystery surrounding the man who built the house. Dave Willett was born in Ontario on Manitoulin Island. When he turned 13, he ran off during the night with only the clothes on his back and a spare change of pants.
Willett had three days of schooling and taught himself everything he knew.
“Nobody knows how he made his money,” said Lammle. “We do know that he worked his way west, and he was in Maple Creek in 1902 when he met his wife and got married there.” He was also a math whiz.
“I suspect — and there’s nothing to back it up except the good math — that he was a darn good poker player,” Lammle said.
Willett was born in 1873, and in 1904, with no schooling or recorded career, he built a mansion and purchased the hotel beside the property.
No expense spared
When he built the house, Willett spared no expense. “All the woodwork on the main level is oak, and the baseboards are nine-and three-quarters deep. It was very opulently finished,” explained Lammle. Back at the time, people in rural areas typically lived in sod houses and tar-paper shacks.
The woodwork was imported from England, which was a noteworthy accomplishment at the time and wouldn’t have been cheap.
Another rarity for the time was the basement. The house sits on a poured concrete basement, which was originally built in 1905.
“It’s beyond belief that they even did it,” Lammle said.
Lammle poured his heart and soul into the house and did most of the work himself. With his background in electrical work he did the rewiring, and installed new plumbing, insulation, and replaced the lath and plaster walls with modern drywall.
Some features including the windows are all original. The exterior brickwork is immaculate and is finished with a pie crust design that appears to be novel.
Days away from demolition
“Before I bought (the house), it had gone back to the ING Bank. When I found it, nobody had been living in it for a couple of years. The windows were all in it, and it was a mess needing a tremendous amount of work,” Lammle said.
Lammle said a friend of his in town, George Jesse, heard that there were plans to find a farmer willing to dig a hole to bury debris from the house. “It was actual days away from being knocked down,” Lammle stated.
The only thing that prevented the house from being demolished was Lammle’s purchase of the property.
In search of a time capsule
One highlight of the event was an attempt to find a rumoured time capsule in the basement.
In the '50s, the house was owned by John Hagley. At the time, the original concrete basement was starting to cave in, so repairs were made. Rumour has it one hole used for an anchor bolt wasn’t filled in, and it was large enough to fit a bottle of wine and a few letters or bank notes.
When the attempt was made, there was only more concrete. The location wasn’t right, but Lammle isn’t giving up that easily. With the help of some equipment from his son, the search is on to find out if the rumours are true or just a tall tale.
Willett on Wenzel is a private property and isn’t open for tours but continues to adorn the Village of Drinkwater.
If you want to reach out to Don Lammle, you can email him at [email protected].
“It’s just endless stories with this house,” he concluded.
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