In Montreal’s Plateau Mont-Royal district, Le Petit Merlot is a two-unit duplex dating back to the 1920s. Built jointly with its two neighbors on a 1,640-square-foot lot, the duplex is enmeshed within the site’s historical vernacular. Local firm _naturehumaine approached Le Petit Merlot with the spirit of these adjoining plexes in mind, restoring the building to be at scale within the neighborhood while expanding and modernizing the units. A merlot red motif unites these two temporalities.
Restoration began with the street-facing facade where the architects prioritized a return to the original architectural characteristics: red clay brick cladding in a metric modular format, red-painted hemlock lintels, French windows, and Saint Marc stone spandrels. The architects also restored the original molded wooden cornice, repainted in red.
But whereas the front focused on history, the rear facade embraces modernity with complete transparency across its four levels. The glass lies between red steel cladding to unite the facades. The glazing helps make up for the limited fenestration at the front, bringing in connection with the backyard and natural light.
Inside, the architects pick up this red thread. Window and door frames, shelving, and accents like the library in the upper unit and a Lambert & Fils pendant suspended in the dining room of the lower unit riff on the red color palette, adding brightness to the otherwise white and gray color scheme.
The duplex is divided into four levels with the first unit occupying the basement and ground floor, and the second unit occupying the second and new mezzanine, which was incorporated to add space while working with the building’s permit for only two floors. The basement was designed to act in unison with the back garden. The floor incorporates a bedroom and laundry room, featuring wooden furnishings to add warmth. It coheres with the planted terraces, sculpted into the ground outside the bedroom windows. Meanwhile, the social areas and primary bedroom are located on the ground floor.
The upper unit likewise takes advantage of the rear facade’s abundant lighting and the new mezzanine. This second unit of 1,634 square feet locates the living room, two bedrooms, and office on the second floor. A central wooden staircase connect this space to the mezzanine, enclosed with white-painted perforated steel. The textured guard enhances the spatial quality of the floorplan while adding a quirky diversion from the clean, smooth surfaces that dominate the interior.
On the mezzanine level, the kitchen and dining room are situated to take advantage of the new wooden terrace. Here more red steel cladding and planters cohere the design with the heritage of the building and its merlot motif, tying the red thread together, from outside to in, bottom to top.