Fern Avenue

Riverside Drive

Fern Avenue

This home was an infill project, just east of High Park and was originally intended an investment property in which the owner could live in and rent out 2 additional apartments. The building was originally conceived as a tri-plex and was built to its maximum gross floor area. A critical feature of the design was to allow the client to take advantage of as much space as possible and maintain the appearance of a single family home whose character is in keeping with the context of the neighbourhood.

The interior was planned as three separate apartments, and the exterior was designed to appear as a single family home and to pick-up evoke the vocabulary of the neighbouring Victorian homes. Prior to completion the family decided to modify the interior and moved in themselves. This leaves them with a home that can easily be subdivided to allow privacy for the children and grandparents, as the family grows.

Riverside Drive

This concept was prepared for a client who wished to build a home next to their current home on an empty lot north of High Park. The contemporary design was intended to take advantage of views and afternoon light towards the west facing the Humber River ravine. Because of the winding residential road, and some disparate architectural elements on the street, the context of traditional homes was less obvious and the design of the building was meant to suit the neighbourhood from the point of view of scale more so than style. The building was built over the subway and had no basement. This meant that the main floor level was on the second floor and spaces like the furnace room, laundry, workshop etc. were located on the ground floor. The garage entrance, which had to be at the front, was set back (below the living room above), so as not to have too strong an effect on the main facade. This way the main facade would maintain a friendly appearance to the neighbourhood with the openness of the main floor (living/dining) and upper floor (bedroom) windows looking out over the roadway and onto the river beyond.