EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
A 1883 Little Italy bay-and-gable semi becomes the perfect template for a conversion that makes the most of its handsome period features
The practice of subdividing a larger city house into separate living spaces for rental is hardly a new phenomenon in the city; but it has been growing in recent years. That’s because it’s an attractive solution to two daunting and related obstacles: a tightening rental vacancy rate, and Toronto’s stratospheric home prices, which make the idea of extra income to help with mortgage payments attractive.
Many 1920s-era Toronto housing styles actually accommodate basement apartments quite well — particularly those with high basements, separate entrances, and windows. Older stock, like this 1883 bay-and-gable semi in Little Italy, are especially popular for conversion, since it’s relatively easy to split them into a one- storey main- floor unit and a larger one on the second and third floors.
That was already the case when homeowner Joe Boccia bought the property back in the ’90s; he made his home in the upper two-floor unit while deriving income from the main floor unit. But it hadn’t been a particularly esthetic remodelling, and both spaces had needed updating for some time.
So, starting in about 2011, he began working in stages with Plant Architect principal Lisa Rapoport and her team to bring the house up to modern standards, while making the most of its handsome period features. The renovation also included reclaiming the unfinished basement; once little more than a root cellar and storage space, it’s now a bright and stylish bachelor unit.
The next project was to reclaim the basement and create a comfortable second apartment. Originally little more than a storage space, it nonetheless had a few interesting features of its own: the entrance from outside was accessed down a few concrete steps (which were continued inside the unit, to give one a certain sense of arrival), and the original brick foundation wall was still in good shape. “We considered refinishing it,” says Boccia, “but in the end we liked it just as it was, so we just cleaned and sealed it.”
The remodelling was tailored to give it the same loft- like feeling of the other units. The floor was lowered to allow for eight- foot ceilings, and a new polished-concrete floor installed, fitted with radiant heating. The bedroom is tucked behind a sliding door in the interior of the suite, and the front window was enlarged to let in more light.
The final touch was to paint the brick white near the entrance, creating a gallery wall of sorts for displaying an authentic artifact of the home’s past: a giant window frame, glass still intact, probably once part of a long-gone summer kitchen off the back.
These improvements gave Boccia and the Plant team the means to tackle the most elaborate part of the renovation, Boccia’s own unit. By the time he bought the house, the main floor of the space had been divided into rooms joined by large archways – the original bedrooms – that chopped up and darkened it. And the stairway to the top floor, with its apocryphal, pseudo- Victorian pickets, served mostly to obscure the charming brick wall.
First step: out went virtually all the interior walls. “Just doing that was like a breath of fresh air,” laughs Rapoport. Suddenly, light flooded in from several directions – the big bay window at the front, as well as a pair of smaller side windows, which added to the open, spacious feeling. The stairway was opened up, with open risers, glass and steel railings and reclaimed Douglas fir treads, imparting sleek, industrial- chic glamour.
All that space allowed for a new enlarged kitchen, but Boccia and Rapoport knew it was important to strike just the right tone. Too traditional would have been jarringly false; but making it sleek and ultra- modern against the home’s classic backdrop and exposed materials wouldn’t have felt right either.
The happy medium comprises white and dark- grey lacquer cabinetry, a generous peninsula, and a lowkey ceramic tile backsplash. But an eye for detail might catch a witty reference to the home’s Victorian provenance, tucked discreetly in the interior of the kitchen: ornately patterned-ceramic floor tile, an update of something the original owners might have chosen back in the 1880s.
While the overall look is securely 21st century, all three living spaces are infused with a subtle sense of the past.
“Much of the renovation was like a treasure hunt,” says Boccia, “uncovering fancy woodwork under decades of old paint, figuring out what was there before from clues.” As much as possible, he says, still- serviceable pieces displaced by the reno, such as wood joists or old clothes hooks, were salvaged and repurposed. “Doing that is environmentally sustainable,” he points out. “But it also honours the old house.”