THE THRILL IS ON
You never know what you’ll find in a laneway — it could even be a sensational upside-down converted warehouse, one that’s for sale
Look, laneways — or alleyways, if you prefer — aren’t for everyone. They can be littered with half-eaten sandwiches and dog doo and other run-of-the-mill detritus left by lazy people. And the buildings are sometimes wonky, with backsides sporting strange graffiti and unfinished paint jobs. But treasures, as we all know, can be found in the unlikeliest of places.
Such is the case behind the heavy black door of 126 Sears St., which from the exterior — a patchwork of cinderblock and glass and red bricks — looks like it should house machinery. It is in fact an exciting 3,250-square-foot factory loft residence with a rooftop deck that provides 360- degree views of the city. It’s just been listed for $1,950,000.
This special place will appeal to those who want a departure from the prescriptive condo model or standardissue low-rise house. “I like to think of this as a hybrid between a single- family house and a raw loft. It presents the best of both worlds,” says listing agent Michelle Walker of Re/Max Hallmark, though she admits it may initially confuse. When she recently hosted an agents-only open house, many of her colleagues driving up to the building thought it was a warehouse that had been converted into condos.
It is in the city’s east end, near Leslie and Queen streets, tucked south of Memory Lane (yes, a real place).
A knock on the door, and there’s the homeowner (he prefers his identity to remain as mysterious as his home) standing in a bright and airy white entranceway. Wearing thick- rimmed glasses, he looks every bit as cool as his place. Beside him, a portly yellow lab named Thai (he’s fine with revealing his identity) lays in a frog pose, warming his belly on the heated polished-concrete floors.
Apart from the floors, there are other traces in the foyer and beyond that hark back to the building’s factory roots: a steel beam lashed in white paint rises beside a central steel-and-glass staircase (not itself old, but industrial), rolling barn doors and exposed ductwork.
“The stairs are cold-rolled steel treated with bluing, which is the same process used to blacken shotgun barrels, so it will never rust,” the homeowner says. “It creates a patina, it locks ( the finish) in place.”
He also explains the story behind the large and gorgeous arched window in the hallway. “That was once part of the Bank of Montreal building at the corner of Yonge and Queen,” the homeowner says. “It was already here but on the second floor, so we removed it, reinstalled it and re-glazed it.”
Such knowledge was gleaned firsthand when he and his wife — they have a teenage daughter in university — oversaw the building’s transformation in 2010 with the help of Elevation Architects.
“In its earliest life ( the building) was a TV-antennae factory and, when we acquired it, a warehouse for movie props,” the homeowner says, adding it was a far cry from its current civilized state. “We couldn’t see the walls,” he says of the interior that was stuffed with junk, and, as they probed further, rotted out, effectively making the place inhabitable — not exactly suitable for a young family.
Such rawness is precisely what attracted them to the space. “We looked for four years for this property. Our design criteria was difficult because we told the real estate agent we were looking for an industrial space that was zoned residential.”
The agent fulfilled the promise: It was residential with a variance that allowed it to be used for light industrial ( they removed the variance). “They took on such a big challenge,” Walker notes. “They gutted the space to the studs and then created this spectacular interior. It is so well thought out.”
For one, the layout defies convention. Most homes have a kitchen on the main floor. “This is weird and unique in the sense that it is upside down,” the homeowner says. All the bedrooms are on the main floor and the public spaces are upstairs. The natural light was better there, he explains, which meant that at night the bed- rooms would be shrouded in country-like darkness.
The daughter’s is a teenage dream: a sleeping loft over a work area and an ensuite makes it feel like a selfcontained apartment. The master bedroom holds its own with a spacious walk- in closet that makes good use of the 11- foot ceilings, while a transom window over the doorway filters in light.
But the real thrill happens on the top floor. From the staircase leading to the mezzanine, you start to appreciate this magnificent residence. The living area spills out in an explosion of light and liveliness.
What to admire f i rst? Maybe the cute and unusual square windows with the lime- green sills ( a colour in the pantry, too) that act like portholes offering tightly framed glimpses of the cityscape. The decorating itself is in a category of its own. The couple has a killer trove of mid- century modern furnishings and artwork. Or the white, glossy kitchen cabinetry topped with Caesarstone counters with an island big enough to start a pie-making business.
“Olympic Kitchens came to us with a solid acrylic product from Germany called Parapen. We were the first people in Canada to have it, so we were the guinea pigs, and it’s worked out well,” the homeowner says of the hardwearing plastic with the solid colour that runs all the way through it — the very opposite of flimsy, nick- prone lacquered jobs.
But the homeowner himself is most impressed that “during the daytime ( the upstairs) is flooded with natural light,” which means you don’t have to use the artificial variety until late in the day. Another positive is the beauty of the building’s skeleton. “With steel I-beams, we have clear spans, so where possible we kept it exposed because we like the vibe,” he adds, before heading up the stairs directly from the living space to the roof deck.
The terrace doesn’t disappoint — it’s expansive and private with a simple wraparound scheme, upstaged only by the blue skies and the motley of trees. A vantage point you can’t really appreciate from the laneway below.
IN ITS EARLIEST LIFE THE BUILDING WAS A TV-ANTENNAE FACTORY AND, WHEN WE ACQUIRED IT, A WAREHOUSE FOR MOVIE PROPS. WE COULDN’T SEE THE WALLS (BECAUSE THE SPACE) WAS STUFFED WITH JUNK, AND IT WAS ROTTED OUT — HOMEOWNER