When travelling through the village of Drinkwater, Sask., one house on Wenzel Street is hard to miss.
Nicknamed ‘W.O.W’ (Willet on Wenzel) by its owners, the 119-year-old house was originally set to be demolished by the previous owner, when it was purchased by Don Lammle.
Lammle, a retired electrician, bought the house in 2008 for$40,000.
“I mean it was weeks away from being done. It was that close and so, what a shame that would’ve been,” Lammle said.
After calling the demolition off, restoration of the home became Lammle’s retirement project.
“It has got so many features that are wow that would have been lost. It would have been awful,” he said.
He says the house was a trailblazer of its time, not only because of its architecture but because of its electrical and even plumbing features, which were advanced by 1904 standards.
Final restorations on the house draw near, Lammle says.
“This is the culmination of my retirement worked. I absolutely loved doing this job. I’ve got a million hobbies and I’ve used almost every one doing it. It wasn’t work, it was just a challenge and it was wonderful. I loved it,” he said.
While it’s not known exactly what the original owner, Dave Willet, did to fund such a state of the art build, he remembered as a cattle driver with a profound mathematic ability.
Lammle has his own theory; “I think (Willet) was just a damn good poker player and I’m quite sure that went hand in hand with it.”
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