As it Happened: The Archive Edition - The Privy Episode

It is, perhaps, the most famous loo in the country.

The outhouse standing near late poet Al Purdy's cottage is a Canadian literary landmark, with walls once filled with the signatures of great Canadian writers including Margaret Atwood and Margaret Laurence.

In 1957, Purdy started building his cottage in Ameliasburgh, Ontario. It soon became a meeting place for poets and poetry lovers from across the country. Noting it's place in Canadian history, a project was launched to restore the Al Purdy's A-Frame, including his outdoor privy.

As Eric Lorenzen, a teacher at Trenton high school not far from Purdy's cottage, told As it Happens host Carol Off in 2011, the privy needed a lot of work.

"It was in a pretty dilapidated state because it sat for 40 years in a very swampy spot on the property, and it was quite rotted out from the bottom," explains Lorenzen.

Lorenzen and his colleagues set to work with their students to restore the Purdy privy.

"What our two tech teachers did is they literally took it apart, board by board," says Lorenzen. "They had to rebuild the roof entirely because it was completely rotted out and when they took it apart, they noticed that apparently Al had, at some point, repaired the roof with two kitchen cupboard doors."

Purdy was quite fond of his privy and continued to use it long after the cottage had indoor plumbing. He said it was a great place to think.

Visiting writers were given a pen and were invited to sign the walls of the privy, but those signatures were eventually painted over and weren't able to be restored. However, it's hoped that with developing technology, those names can one day be safely uncovered.

The restored Purdy privy was unveiled in Ameliasburgh in April of 2011.

"It looks fantastic," says Lorenzen. "Eurithe Purdy was there, Al's wife, and she said it never looked that good when Al had it there, so she was pretty surprised."

You can hear our interview with Eric Lorenzen, as well as these stories on The Privy Episode:

A woman retrieves Margaret Thatcher's former loo from a dumpster.

An Indiana man discusses his outhouse collection.

The best cellphone reception in a British town turns out to be beside the public loo.

An Edmonton city councillor is unhappy with the cost of building a biffy for the Queen.

A woman beats charges against her after using the men's room because the lineup for the women's loo was too long.