Robert Street Residence I

This new 3,000 square foot residence is located on a unique street in the heart of downtown Toronto within a heritage district with mostly historically designated houses. Here, approval to build is tightly controlled by Heritage Toronto which generally mandates a traditional style. However, the lot was a rare double lot and the existing house on the lot was a 1960’s bungalow with no architectural merit. Michael and the client both felt that trying to build a new house to replicate the style of the adjacent old houses would not be successful, nor was it appropriate to try. However, they set out to find ways to reference the surrounding Victorian vernacular through scale, proportion and colour without mimicry. A distinctive feature of the old houses is a vertical gable and front porch. This was the inspiration to configure the front façade with a projecting 2-storey bay window that picks up on the proportion of these gables and to provide a front porch. Instead of treating these as two distinct elements, the porch and the bay window are unified into one composition. One of the goals was to hide the garage door, since this is so often an eyesore on the front of a house. The solution was to make the garage door flush with the wall and clad in the same material. A phenolic panel product called Trespa, made of layers of wood-based fibers impregnated with thermosetting resins was selected. The “oak” version, resembling real wood except that it is maintenance free, is used to clad all the surfaces of the ground floor facade - the garage door, walls, front door and the soffit of the porch. The golden shade of the oak colour creates a very warm, welcoming entry. The rear of the house at the living room opens up to the backyard with two large sliding glass doors. Outside at the patio, a deep sunshade trellis substantially cuts down the amount of heat gain from the western exposure. The stone hearth and wall of the indoor wood burning fireplace extend outside to become a bench and counter for the outdoor barbecue, further blurring the distinction between inside and outside. At the center of the house is a double height volume with a linear skylight that washes the dining room with natural light. The client worked with a kitchen and bathroom manufacturer to design and specify all the interior millwork and had very strong ideas about what she wanted for an interior material palette – oak flooring and Bianco Assiago marble, chosen because it is quarried near the Italian town of Asolo where her father was born.