An open, light-filled layout runs through the house, the result of renovations carried out over the past several years: full insulation, redone ceilings, heated floors in the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom, and a wood-burning insert added to the fireplace, code compliant and recently inspected. On the systems side, everything is current: 200 amp electrical service, a finished basement built under municipal permit, and a roof redone in 2025.

Built in 1926, the house carries its age in details worth keeping rather than replacing: original window frames, staircase, and interior doors.

The basement, with its own independent entrance on the side of the house, served as an intergenerational apartment for our son; with a kitchen added, it could also become a source of income.

At the back, a large deck offers plenty of room for entertaining, with a view over the garden; upstairs, a balcony off the second bedroom looks over that same space. At the front, facing south, a magnolia planted twenty-two years ago gives flowers in spring and shade in summer. Behind its own fence at the back, an organic vegetable garden is laid out in raised cedar beds, fitted with an automatic drip irrigation system.

Next to Montréal-Ouest, about a twelve minute walk from the train station, Hillcrest Street sits in a residential area of rare quiet, with its own online group. In its corner park, families with children and dogs cross paths every day; the neighbourhood occasionally organizes a party at the park, and everyone knows everyone.

Many visitors say it as soon as they arrive: in this house, you feel like you're in the countryside, in the city.