Merlot Motif_naturehumaine restores and expands a 1920s duplex by threading red accents throughoutByKelly Pau March 10, 2025Interiors, International (Raphael Thibodeau)SHAREIn Montreals Plateau Mont-Royal district, Le Petit Merlot is a two-unit duplex dating back to the 1920s. Built jointly with its two neighbors on a 1,640-square-foot lot, the duplex is enmeshed within the sites historical vernacular. Local firm_naturehumaineapproached Le Petit Merlot with the spirit of these adjoining plexes in mind, restoring the building to be at scale within the neighborhood while expanding and modernizing the units. A merlot red motif unites these two temporalities. Restoration began with the street-facing facade where the architects prioritized a return to the original architectural characteristics: red clay brick cladding in a metric modular format, red-painted hemlock lintels, French windows, and Saint Marc stone spandrels. The architects also restored the original molded wooden cornice, repainted in red.Read more about the duplex on aninteriormag.com. Montreal