Looking down the set of metal steps that leads from Upper Lorne Avenue in Chinatown to Primrose Avenue in the Lebreton Flats area, most of us would simply see a steep hill with a sheer rock face to the left. But creative thinkers Marc Dupuis and Amanda Crowther saw a challenging site just perfect for a cliff-side dwelling. Eric Darwin talks with Dupuis about how this spectacular four-storey house came to be.
This feature appears in the May 2012 print edition. Pick up the print edition on newsstands.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARC FOWLER/METROPOLIS STUDIO

The main entrance (at left in photo, beside the garage) is on Upper Lorne Avenue. To make the most of the views to the north, the couple situated their kitchen and dining room on this level and their living room and balcony on the top floor.
What attracted you to this site?
On the day I was checking out the site, there happened to be a utility vehicle working on Upper Lorne Avenue. I talked the crew into taking me up in the cherry picker. Here I was, 15 feet up and 15 feet out from the sidewalk, hanging over the edge of the escarpment. My eyes just popped out of my head when I saw the view.
This is a challenging site. Are you an experienced builder?
Actually, I’m an IT business analyst for the RCMP but I also operate Limestone Developments. My first fixer-upper was in 1996 — a semi on Lees Avenue. My second was a three-door row house on Lorne. As we gutted it, we discovered structural problems, so of necessity, I became a new house builder. Then I found this 23-by-50-foot lot.
Didn’t this lot seem impossible to build on?
One side of the lot is 30 feet higher than the other. The south side is on Upper Lorne; the lower (north) side stands at the corner of Lorne and Primrose Avenue. The sidewalk between is a staircase with 45 steps. Behind us, the huge stone monastery looks like a medieval castle, and nearby is a nunnery straight out of Europe. The view to the north made us think we were in a high-rise condo. There is no other site like this in Ottawa. I had faith that engineers could make it work.














