Art among the trees

Although home is where your heart may be, there’s a home in King City that has a little more heart in it than most. A labour of love from the original owner not only gives the home character, but gives the heart a soul.

Original from Harrow in England, Basil Self apprenticed in Ontario as a carpenter. Basil utilized his skills to build his home, a labour of love that has stood the test of time. In 1964, Basil started building a house that decades later would be loved and admired.

Current home owners Pieter and Ann Thoenes have compiled a scrapbook of newspaper articles and clippings regarding the home, and the history behind the man who built it. Pieter said Basil was an incredible man, whose workmanship has stood the test of time.

The bricks that the home was built from tell a story in itself. Basil has salvaged the bricks from a farmhouse on the 17th Sideroad that had been reduced due to a fire. The bricks were brought to the site for building the home, but each had to be cleaned and the soot washed off before construction could begin. Pieter said Basil’s youngest child recalled sitting in the orchard on many occasions and wire brushing the soot off of the bricks. Pieter had a visit from Jim Self, Basil’s youngest, who could not believe how well the house looked.

Before Pieter and Ann purchased the home, it had seen better days and it did not have the eloquence it presently exudes. Pieter said he and Ann worked on the home, and when Jim Self popped in for a visit, he was quite pleased.

Entering the living room, one could tell the room itself was not only a true labour of love and but one of hard work as well. The living room is done entirely in pine – from the floor to the ceiling. “The wood paneling on the wall is pine from a mill up north,” said Pieter, who shows the home with great pride and a wealth of knowledge of the man who built the home Pieter and his family have shared for the past 14 years. He points out that the paneling is of various sizes, as some of their pieces had chewed edges due to mice.

The wooden beams highlighting the ceiling are from the former Crawford School House on the 17th Sideroad which Basil salvaged. The beautiful floor boards, which look as if they were laid only yesterday, came from one of the two Hammertown Churches. The floor boards were taken between 1964 and 1965, and were retrieved from the church before local kids burnt it down that Halloween. As the view from the windows highlight the sprawling grounds, the home fits in perfectly with its surroundings.

The main highlight of the room would be the fireplace, with the Latin phrase which translates to “A House Many Times Blessed”. The craftsmanship is flawless and the message was carved by a believer in his work, and a believer in the Lord. The house was indeed many times blessed as Basil and his wife Gwendoline have three children, Janet, Daniel and young Jim.

Of course, as Basil was a master carpenter, there is a large built-in wooden desk on one side of the fireplace, and on the other, shelves atop a box with large wooden hinges. These built in shelves allow for display of books, glass and more.

The kitchen is adorned with the cupboards originally built in the room, and is a testament to the skill of Basil. Most of the original kitchen is still intact, with a few moderations to allow for a new kitchen sink and larger refrigerator.

Looking out the back from the kitchen, the 12 acres of sprawling land remind you why Basil chose the location he did.

With bedrooms upstairs for sleeping, and yes, a functional laundry shoot for getting rid of those dirty clothes, there is an odd shaped room for the kid in all of us. A tiny attic like room, in which you need to duck to enter; a smaller sized bedroom. Pieter said it had taken him a few tries before he got the hang of how low to hang his head upon entering and leaving the room.

The outside of the house also tells a story and it should start with the plaque in the front yard with the name Crooked Thumb. Crooked Thumb was the name given to Basil, as his left thumb was crushed in a wringer washer when he was a boy and the thumb and nail became distorted. His crooked thumb became his trademark, as any carvings by Basil were marked by the burnt shape into the back or the bottom of any of his carvings.

Pieter and his wife Ann fondly call their home Crooked Thumb after the man who put so much into it.

The hoods over the windows, adjoining the house to the breezeway, are made of copper and were painted white when Pieter and Ann bought the home, It wasn’t until a visit from Basil’s son Jim that they realized that underneath the white paint, were beautiful copper hoods specifically designed for the still intact leaded bay windows. The garage was added to the home before the living room was completed. Basil originally built the garage as a shop, as he needed more room to work on his carvings. Evidence of that still exists, as half of the garage is planks on the floor. “We were told that it was easier for him to work on a wood floor as opposed to concrete,” Pieter said. According to correspondence between Pieter and Basil’s son Jim, the floor was originally planks and dirt until the business expanded. That is when the shop became the garage, and Basil built himself another shop. In more recent years, the shop was used as a guest house for those visiting Pieter and Ann. There is a big beam in the ‘shop’ which was obtained by Basil from a friend who worked in a construction company that specialized in bridges. Scaffolds were set up on each side of the big beam, with smaller beams running from scaffold to scaffold. Using the block and tackle method, the ends were raised until eventually the beam reached the correct height.

The outside of the home was worked on by Basil when the good weather permitted him to do so. As he was always traveling throughout Ontario, Basil was always looking out for the perfect stone for the front of the house. As Basil was both a carpenter and a contractor, he always had his splitting hammer on him to find the ultimate stones for his home.

While known in the area for the craftsmanship and love that built his family a home, he made a living selling his carvings. In the early 1970’s, a neighbour hired Basil to build a pinewood kitchen suite with wildlife scenes chiseled into each piece. That gave Basil the confidence and determination to pursue something he had a knack for. Carving beavers, partridges, moose, deer, foxes and more, Basil made a name for himself as a world class craftsman. A piece of his work can be seen today at the King Township office; a plaque commemorating the participation of King Township residents in the Rebellion of 1837 was presented to the Mayor’s Office in 1976.

An award winning carver, Basil’s piece of two old English chums won the 2nd Annual Canadian Agricultural International Wood Carving Exhibition at the C.N.E. in 1978. The prize awarded Basil and his wife an opportunity to travel to England for one week of tours and demonstrations. The second week allowed the pair to travel the country, one that Basil had not seen since leaving at the age of 12. Basil actually entered the competition at the C.N.E. at the last minute, and spent three weeks day and night working on the eventual award winning piece.

In 1985, as a resident of Oxtongue Lake, Basil again showed off his skills at the Stanhope Fun Day Craft Show. He brought a number of his larger pieces to the show, including a large coffee table featuring three likenesses of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. The piece, showing three side portraits of the former P.M., was borrowed by The John George Diefenbaker Library in Saskatoon for a three year period.

A craftsman in the true sense of the word, and a member of King Township history, Basil Self left more than just a home and some carvings behind. He left behind his history; that of a woodcarver who loved his home, loved his family, and loved what he did for a living.

And so do we.