By Helen Braithwaite and Pennie Mathers
We’ve spent some time in our last few Muddy York Blog Articles exploring heritage designations and the various restrictions and regulations associated with them. Now let’s turn the discussion to some under-appreciated dwellings that many might consider to be the opposite of heritage properties: contemporary homes! Is Toronto ready for them?
A quick survey of some recent listings shows that many of these properties sit on the market for a longer-than-average period, often with multiple price-reductions. Many remain unsold. Maybe Toronto doesn’t quite know what to make of these homes? Or are our tastes just so conservative that we are unable to « think outside the box », especially if a house happens to be shaped like one!
Most of the houses in Toronto’s family neighborhoods are very traditional styles: Georgian, Tudor, Edwardian, Victorian, Neo-Classical, Art Deco, to name a few. In older neighbourhoods, brick is the dominant material, and roofs are often gabled with steep pitches. Due to the constraints in heritage neighbourhoods there are many homes with traditional facades and the contemporary interiors exist behind closed doors so not to disturb the streetscape. Yet, every once in a while a streetscape will reveal an infill project with clean, horizontal lines, lots of glass and wood, a flat roof, an open plan.
Toronto architecture is pretty conservative, understated even. Perhaps we associate cleaner, contemporary lines with more of a west-coast aesthetic? Toronto, with its economic roots in finance and manufacturing, perhaps feels its housing stock should be similarly traditional….
These dwellings though, if properly designed and executed by talented architects and builders, might just be the heritage properties of the future. Next time you stumble upon a contemporary property…..take a risk and give it a chance!
Helen Braithwaite and Pennie Mathers are both Sales Representatives with Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd./JOHNSTON AND DANIEL DIVISION, Brokerage. Helen and Pennie are regular contributors to the Muddy York blog. Their website is located at www.twoperspectives.ca
