Albert Tulk made a fortune just before the First World War. So he decided to hire B.C.’s top architects to design a Vancouver house befitting his stature. Samuel Maclure was known for his large mansions — he was the architect behind the Rogers mansion in the West End and Hatley Castle in Victoria. For the Tulk commission he joined with Cecil Croker Fox to build one of Shaughnessy’s landmark mansions, Rosemary. Named after Tulk’s daughter, the Tudor revival home was built on two lots at 3689 Selkirk that took up almost two acres of land. Construction began in 1912, but the building was so large it took several years to complete. In fact, there are two structures: a 2,200 sq. ft “carriage house” at the north end and a 14,200 sq. ft main house to the south. They’re joined by a second-storey bridge over the porte-cochere that leads into the home’s lush back yard. The porte-cochere resembles the entrance to a castle. === VIEW MORE PHOTOS HERE, or if you're using a mobile device, tap the story image and swipe. === Tulk moved into the carriage house in 1912 and the main house in 1915, but work apparently went on for several more years — his 1922 obituary said Rosemary “has only been completed recently.” After Tulk’s death, B.C.’s 14th Lieutenant-Governor, John William Fordham Johnson, bought the house for $75,000, which was probably a bit less than it cost to build. Johnson sold it to industrialist/horseman Austin Taylor in 1931, and in 1947 it was purchased by the Order of the Convent of Our Lady of the Cenacle, which operated it as a retreat. In 1994, the Sisters of the Cenacle decided to sell, and in 1996, the lot was subdivided in three, so new homes could be built on either side. In return, Rosemary was “designated” a heritage structure, which means it can’t be torn down. The mansion was sold in April for $11 million to “international investor” Mingfei Zhao. There has been a lot of controversy recently about offshore investors tearing down heritage buildings in Vancouver. But Zhao apparently loves the house, and has commissioned architect Ken Wong and FairTradeWorks construction to restore it. Zhao even let the news media in to have a look at the house, pre-restoration. And it doesn’t disappoint. “It’s a 16,000 square foot Heritage A home, almost in its original state. Very little has changed over the last 100 years,” said Jim Perkins of FairTradeWorks. “It’s really quite wonderful,” said Don Luxton, the heritage consultant on the project. “Extraordinary wood work and plaster work that just goes on forever, all through the house.” The wow factor begins when you enter the home and are greeted by a two-storey-high grand foyer with a “minstrel gallery” on the second-storey landing where musicians could set up to entertain guests. The foyer boasts its own fireplace, one of 12 in the home. There is also oak panelling most everywhere you look. The biggest space is the drawing room, which is 27 feet wide and 36 feet long. It features two banks of leaded glass bay windows, parquet oak floors, and an elaborate ceiling medallion.

The room was originally even grander, but was walled off by the Sisters when they used it as a chapel. “It originally looked over the back garden,” said Connor Doyle of FairTradeWorks. “That’s going to be restored. It’ll be opened up and looking over the back garden again.” The dining room is another glorious space, with mahogany panel walls and a stunning coffered ceiling. Across the hall is another showpiece, a library with wall-to-wall built-in leaded-glass bookcases. An even bigger library is on the second floor. The 26-foot long, 22-foot wide room is very 1915 — the walls and ceiling are covered in oak panelling, which gives it a dark Edwardian look. It was originally the billiards room, where Tulk and his friends probably cut business deals over cigars, whiskey and pool. “It’s quite extraordinary. You don’t usually see houses like this that have survived in this kind of condition,” said Luxton. “The surprising thing in the interior is that almost nothing has been changed. It’s still very intact. (But) the mechanicals are shot, the electrical, plumbing, the usual things that you would expect wouldn’t be in particularly good shape with a building that age.” The mechanicals will be upgraded in the restoration. So will the kitchen, which is quite modest, because back in the day the cooking would have been done by servants. Still, the house will largely be retained as is, with original touches like the lath-and-plaster walls. And there are no plans to insulate them. “We’re not going to drywall and make it all brand new,” said Perkins. “You’d be surprised. There’s actually no insulation on the exterior walls,” said Perkins, “which in this modern time you’d think was absolutely ludicrous. But we’ve been in here in the winter, and it’s surprisingly draft free, and keeps fairly warm.” The brass radiator system will also be retained, but there will be a new boiler. “One of our first jobs was to remove the boiler in the basement, which was riddled with asbestos and glowing green,” said Perkins. “We had to chop it up, contain it and get it out of there. Now we’ve gone from a boiler that’s the size of this room down to a modern, fuel-efficient, energy-efficient boiler, which is tied in to the existing heating system. Which is on one zone, if you can imagine — it’s radiators and one thermostat in the lobby, and really efficiently and nicely heats the house.” Everything about the house is grand. The first floor has 12-foot high ceilings. The master bedroom is bigger than most condos. The giant Sequoia tree in front is about 80 feet tall. You could have a football field in the back yard. There are 31 rooms on the first and second floors, and 16 bedrooms overall (five on the second floor of the main house, five in the carriage house, and six on the third floor, where the servants would have lived. As luxurious as the house is, it was originally supposed to be even more high-end.