My Houzz: Modern Features Join Period Details in Toronto
A hundred-year-old home in Canada gets a new addition and modern updates, with respect for its beautiful original elements
I am a writer with a strong design convictions. I have a deep respect for the process of layering and curating domestic space. I live in a mostly-renovated, occasionally creepy and quirky, Queen Anne-style Victorian house in Toronto. My website, like my house, is a work in progress: www.abigailpugh.com.
I am a writer with a strong design convictions. I have a deep respect for... More »
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This welcoming 1905 Arts and Crafts–style home once belonged to two elderly brothers who had never remodeled during their decades of ownership. When purchased by architects Ginger Sorbara and Douglas Birkenshaw, the century-old home had beautiful period details, such as a grand stairwell and fine wallpaper, that they could combine with more modern elements. The couple set to work, extending and modernizing the storied house with a glassy addition while retaining and relishing its beautiful layers of patina wherever possible.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Ginger Sorbara and Douglas Birkenshaw, his daughter and their 2 sons
Location: High Park/Roncesvalles neighborhood of Toronto
Size: 5,000 square feet; 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Ginger Sorbara and Douglas Birkenshaw, his daughter and their 2 sons
Location: High Park/Roncesvalles neighborhood of Toronto
Size: 5,000 square feet; 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
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| From this vantage point at the end of the backyard, the century-old house and its glassy modern extension look like an island in a sea of green. Still in need of landscaping, the inviting backyard provides opportunities for outdoor dining and play. |
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| The rear extension's floor-to-ceiling windows create a glass cube that overlooks a huge wooded ravine lot. Sorbara confined her silk-upholstered living room furniture to a cream wool rug so that the set appears to float on the dark oak floors. While there were many late nights renovating, working together on their own family home was an easy collaboration for this couple. “We both wanted it to be the best it could be; there was no room for ego or being right,” says Sorbara. Furniture: Knoll |
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| Graphic, scientific and fine arts objects occupy a low bench running along one side of the living room. Sunlight pours through the sails of a model sailboat. |
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| The extension also features a modern fireplace and a custom crosscut Eramosa stone mantel. Sorbara designed the wall to protrude and to shelter the stone. |
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| The kitchen flows down into the dining room, since the original house was above grade. Thoughtfully mismatched chairs surround the dining table. |
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| In the kitchen, open shelves hold an array of treasured objects, including two lifesize felt rabbits on the top shelf. The kitchen and main floor hall cabinetry is made of rift-cut white oak. Sorbara's uncle and cousin — John and Dylan Barlow — did all of the millwork in the home. |
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A multifunctional cutout on the left side of the kitchen offers sitting space, a perfect frame for flowers and art, and a peek at the home's original Arts and Crafts staircase.
The home opens to a wide, classic front hall, with the original pocket doors leading to the original drawing room on the right.
The home opens to a wide, classic front hall, with the original pocket doors leading to the original drawing room on the right.
by Abigail Pugh
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Sorbara had the storied interior documented when the couple moved in. The images, taken by photographer Greg Pacek and Sorbara, were displayed at the Toronto’s Telephone Booth Gallery in an exhibit titled Call Home: Domestic Narratives. The photographs, combined with documentation of selected discarded objects from the previous homeowners, such as film stills and family snapshots, were published in a book that accompanied the exhibition.
Pacek's prerenovation photographs appear in each remodeled room. This particular image, capturing yellowing oil-painted walls and dark timber ceiling accents, is of the front room, which now serves as the kitchen.
Pacek's prerenovation photographs appear in each remodeled room. This particular image, capturing yellowing oil-painted walls and dark timber ceiling accents, is of the front room, which now serves as the kitchen.
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| The original stairwell — the spine of the house — unifies the three stories. Sorbara deliberately left the stairway as untouched as possible, letting its dark wood and hefty form contrast with the home's clean white walls. |
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| These pale wood sliding doors outside the master bedroom offer a dramatic frame to the landing and staircase. The children's bedrooms, a bathroom and a guestroom are situated to the left and right of the half-story rise pictured here. |
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| The two sons wanted to keep sharing a room when they moved into this new home. Their bedroom space is equipped with a bed big enough for both of them, so every night is a sleepover. The room has plenty of wall storage in stylish plywood cross sections. |
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| Upstairs, Sorbara's open-layout office space features heat-treated oak floors and alternately serves as a hive of activity for the boys and her haven. |
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A long custom-built cupboard runs underneath one side of the peaked roof. Colorful Plasticine clay testifies to how much the two boys love playing up here.
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| Since the house is on a ravine, the couple's application to renovate was initially turned down. "We had a one-year opportunity to consider and reconsider the drawings," says Sorbara. This resulted in a lovely coincidence of timing: The permits came through 100 years to the day after the initial construction permits for the house were approved. Pictured here is the building permit the couple finally obtained for the renovation. Photo courtesy of Ginger Sorbara |
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| The welcoming Edwardian exterior of the house is semitimbered in the Tudor revival style. The home sits on a magnificent 200- by 50-foot lot at the top of a small hill, surrounded by enormous sculptural old oak and maple trees. |
Ideabook published on Dec. 8, 2012.
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The exterior back is awesome. It would be a shame not to open the house to those beautiful trees.
Horrors .. is there no railing around the opening for the stairwell, in that area that's her office space, and play space for the boys?! I can't imagine anything more dangerous than a gaping hole like that!
Anyone who knows Toronto knows that the city is filled with homes that have taken similar renovation approaches. A heritage home with a very modern addition is often done and in my opinion looks great when done right.
Yes, the loft may not exactly be to code, but maybe they're waiting for the perfect idea to strike. That's plasticine, not play doh...so I doubt the boys are toddlers :)