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At the heart of Manotick, Moss Kent Dickinson built a large two and a half-storey clapboard building in 1867 located directly across an open green square from his grist mill. The building originally housed mill offices, a general store, and a post office. Born in New York State, Dickinson selected a New England architectural style and transplanted it to an Ontario setting. The Dickinson family moved into the house in 1870 and remained there for 60 years, until 1930. Dickinson House was designated as a building of heritage significance in 1979 under the Ontario Heritage Act of 1974.

As part of the 2019 Life Cycle Renewal Program, the City of Ottawa engaged CSV Architects to provide architectural and heritage restoration services to the exterior of the building. Execution of the restoration plan started in February of 2021 and was completed in June 2021. The process included the remediation of existing wood siding, trim, exterior doors, storm windows, and shutters.

Astele completed 3D scanning to develop accurate architectural base drawings for CSV to use to conduct a detailed dilapidation site survey and prepare construction documents. CSV sent paint chips and wood samples of each architectural element for analysis to determine the different heritage paint colours used over time, and the original species of wood used for construction. Madison Construction Ltd. undertook intense repairs of the heritage wood elements in their shop and on site where damaged and rotten wood was replaced with new wood stitched into the heritage fabric using the construction techniques and wood joinery of 1867.

The entire exterior of the house was prepped and repainted in the same historic colour scheme whose colour tones and shades were adjusted by CSV to produce a softer aesthetic.

Photo credit to Krista Jahnke Photography