Step back in time: Antique collector turns Mount Pleasant apartment into 19th-century escape

Robert McNutt's Vancouver home looks more like a museum than a regular apartment, but that's the way he likes it — filled with antiques like china, silver and mid-century furniture, and dressed with stained glass windows.

McNutt's passion for collecting dates back to his childhood. At four years old, he said he would take home old equipment from his nursery school that otherwise would've been thrown out.

More than 40 years later, he continues to hunt and collect antiques and has turned his apartment into an escape to the past as he's replaced all the modern fixtures with items from the late 19th century.

"You're looking after it and with all these things, it's the joy of ownership and the joy of making a space very beautiful," he told CBC News.

In 1994, a 25-year-old McNutt moved into his current apartment building in Mount Pleasant. His landlord at the time told him he could fix the place up and make it his own, and so he did just that.

He says although the place might look like a museum, the items are meant to be "lived with and used."

McNutt didn't just decorate his own apartment; he's also taken pride in adding his creative touches to the building itself. 

"Through working on my own apartment, I decided to extend the beauty out into the hallway," said McNutt, "And the lady who owned the building, she was inspired and she asked me if she could have stained glass windows on the building." 

Since then he's also done the entrance and staircases in the building, often using his own money to get the work done. 

'There's a bit of lunacy involved'

But McNutt said he didn't mind since it was something he enjoyed and often his landlord would give him cheaper rent in return.

"There's a little bit of lunacy involved. You rearrange all your finances. Everything suffers to buy the beautiful things," he said. 

In 2017, McNutt became the building's manager, freeing him up to work more on his projects in and around the building. 

Laura Eveleigh was McNutt's neighbour for over 20 years and said she has never seen someone so passionate about his work.

"When I first moved down, my first thought was, who's that crazy person next door? He was in the process of renovating and tearing down, taking drywall down and doing lots of work. I thought, wow, I haven't met anyone like this before," she said.

But through the years, they built a friendship.  

"It was never boring. Every time I would leave my apartment or come home, there'd be ... something different," she said.

"He knows each piece individually, every detail, including the history of each piece, how it was made, the materials used and I do find that quite fascinating."

McNutt said it's hard to pick a favourite item from his collection because "everything is rare and wonderful."

But if he had to choose, he would pick his radiators from the late 1800s because of how unique they are. 

Some of the items he has acquired over the years have cost him a pretty penny, including a refurbished bathtub priced at nearly $12,000.

But even though the passion comes with a price, McNutt said it is well worth it as he plans to call the apartment home for the rest of his life.