By Morgan Dumas and Diti Dumas
Toronto is a city filled with large houses, average sized houses and small houses. However, nothing to date in this metropolis is as small as “The Little House”, at 128 Day Avenue. This dwelling was built in 1912 by well-known contractor; Arthur Weeden. Weeden was born in England and came to Canada in 1902.
Following his position as the superintendent of the Old Lighthouse Mission for a short time, Weeden became one of the “pioneer builders” in the west end of Toronto. During the development of houses on Day Avenue, one of the lots (number 28 to be specific) was planned to be a laneway for the neighbour’s house but The Old City Hall never cut the curb to allow for passage from the street by a vehicle. Weeden, being the great contractor he was, noticed this and decided this land should be put to good use. It was after this revelation that he decided to build a tiny house on the lot. Once completed, Weeden and his wife lived in the laneway house for 20 years.
When Weeden was 77, his wife passed away, however he still remained in the home for an additional 6 years during which time he was an avid gardener and spent most of his day tending to his garden at the back of the house. Since its creation, people have challenged whether 128 Day Avenue is in fact the smallest house, and each time, the answer remains, yes! There is a very small house in Toronto located at 383 Shuter St. but not small enough as it is 8 inches wider than the Little House on Day Avenue.
Ironically, Casa Loma, the largest residence in the city of Toronto has been empty for years, whereas the smallest house on Day Avenue has always been occupied. Since Mr. Weeden left the house, many different people have resided in this small piece of Toronto’s history. Recently, at the beginning of 2007, the house was sold for $135,000. The new owners of this one bedroom, one bath home did a series of renovations to spruce and enhance the home and later went on to listing it for over $50,000 more. The house boasts a Murphy bed, fridge, bathroom, washer and dryer amongst many other attributes. In the fall 2007, the media began to take a vast interest in this house and a website was created so people all over the world could visit and learn about The Little House. On the January 8, 2008 episode of the highly popular “Ellen DeGeneres Show”, Ellen brought attention to the little house with a highly entertaining phone interview with the listing agent. To see the segment, watch the clip below:
Ellen is not the only media attention this little house has attracted. The Little House even has its own song by Maria Lee Carta called “Come Back to Me.” This single can be purchased on Itunes.
Despite its quaint size of approximately 312 sq. feet, this house is part of Toronto’s history and no one can put a measure on that. Good things do come in little packages!
Diti Dumas is a Sales Representative with Royal LePage R.E.S. Ltd./JOHNSTON & DANIEL DIVISION, Brokerage. Diti is a regular contributor to the Muddy York Blog. Diti’s website is located at www.ditidumas.com.
Morgan Dumas is an aspiring writer and journalism student from Ryerson University in Toronto.
