Sitting at the edge of a secluded park in Toronto, House in the Park entailed an attentive renovation and addition of a new wing and penthouse storey to a majestic century-old home, celebrating its Edwardian spirit while introducing warmth, elegance, and comfort to elevate everyday life for a family of six.
Connected to the historical structure through a glazed link, the east addition complements and respectfully contrasts the materials and palette of the original house. The new façade, consisting of fibre cement and aluminum panels, glass, and contemporary brick, forges a graceful conversation with the preserved stone-and-brick exterior.
Inside, the new eat-in kitchen opens toward the landscape and a sunroom illuminated by generous glazing and an ocular skylight. Framed by custom-designed bronze screens and white steel columns with marble inlays, the sunroom provides a vista onto the home’s layered spaces: the kitchen, dining room, living room, and library all communicate with one another as they unfold discretely across the ground floor. The interiors were either meticulously restored, such as the living room’s original Zodiac ceiling, or reconceived: the sequencing of spaces honours the original floor plan while two new sculptural staircases, custom-built using wood and steel, reimagine former stairwells to admit more light and create statement moments.
A soaring blue spiral staircase unfurls like a wave, connecting the basement to the penthouse suite. The structure’s undulations play off the curves of the preserved Edwardian architecture; its shape and colour converse with the swirling brushstrokes in the dining room mural by Tisha Myles across the hall. Rising above a herringbone oak floor and mirroring the curved linen-clad walls of the double-height atrium, the sweeping feature stair — a reinterpretation of the grand central staircase — is enveloped by a statuesque white steel ribbon that torques to create a new second-storey lookover.