The listing: 14 Strath Ave.
Asking price: $2.2-million
Lot size: 40 ft. by 124 ft.
Taxes: $11,700.00 (2015)
Listing agent: Linda Tickins, broker, Sutton Group Old Mill Realty Inc., Brokerage
In the early 1990s, David Hanmer used to walk through the streets of the Kingsway, admiring the old English-style houses on the sleepy tree-lined streets.
At the time, he was working as a dentist in the area and was living in a two-bedroom, plain-Jane bungalow but was looking to expand. So, on those walks, he’d search out his next home.
Soon, he had narrowed down his hunt to a small stretch of Strath Avenue, between Kingsway Crescent and Prince Edward Drive North, and in 1991, he snagged a four-bedroom house with Tudor architecture: 14 Strath Ave.
“I knew this was the house for me right when I walked through the front door,” Mr. Hanmer said.
The back story
Shortly after that, Mr. Hanmer married his wife and they started their family. But by the early 2000s, they were realizing they needed more space.
It was during this peek into the market that they came across architect Richard Wengle and realized that with his help, they could stay in their home.
The Hanmers told Mr. Wengle that they wanted to expand their kitchen, add an eating-family room space and update three bathrooms. And so, in 2006, the renovation began and lasted for nine months.
“As part of our renovation, we wanted to preserve as much of the heritage as we could but modernize it at the same time,” he said.
Some of the modern luxuries he added included heated floors in the kitchen and an elaborate vaulted ceiling detail in the family room that blends the old with the new.
They also redid the basement, adding a black-and-white themed laundry room, a guest suite with a full bathroom and a comfortable rec room.
Mr. Wengle also added smaller details that Mr. Hanmer has really come to appreciate. For example, the architect suggested punching out a wall in the master bathroom to add space for a double vanity. It’s a small luxury but one that didn’t go unnoticed.
“That’s where architects are really worth their weight in gold because they can see these little details that you might not otherwise think of,” said Mr. Hanmer.
There were some original features that the Hanmers didn’t want altered, including the handcrafted, floral-patterned plaster moulding in the living room, the heavy wooden front door and gumwood wainscotting.
These are elements that pay tribute to the history of the Kingsway. Robert Home Smith, who developed the area at the turn of the twentieth century, built Mr. Hanmer’s house in 1930.
Mr. Home Smith was lawyer with a love for architecture but left private practice due to a hearing impairment believed to be the result of meningitis. But that propelled him into a life of civics, where he sought financing from abroad to build the then-rural Kingsway community as a luxury neighbourhood for the business class.
And in many ways, the neighbourhood has maintained much of Mr. Home Smith’s vision, with many of the Tudor and Georgian home still intact and the demographics being made up by upper middle class families.
For real estate agent Linda Tickins, it’s an area of Toronto that is sometimes overlooked.
“I really believe that the Kingsway is undervalued compared to properties in the city, closer to Yonge Street,” she said. “You get the same things here but it’s less expensive and it’s more expansive – there’s more space.”
Favourite features
For Ms. Tickins, the location is one of the home’s best features. And it’s not just the Kingsway’s community vibe or proximity to Bloor Street. It’s amount of nature that has been preserved in the area.
“I absolutely love the setting, it’s so peaceful. You look out on the trees and you just feel the warmth,” she said. “And the exterior [of 14 Strath Ave.] adds to that.”
Ms. Tickins praises the Hanmers for using a landscape designer to create low-maintenance perennial gardens in both the back and the front of the house that seamless blend into the natural surroundings.
It was yet another effort Mr. Hanmer made to make sure that the flavour of the neighbourhood was enhanced.
“I love the consistency of our neighbourhood,” he said, adding that merging the old with the new was the hardest part of his renovation.
But Mr. Hanmer believes that the addition achieved this balance and the cathedral ceiling in the family room is the perfect example.
“Ever time we walk in there, we still think about how it was such a great idea,” he said.
The ceiling is more than just a visual ornament to Mr. Hanmer; it defines to the ethos of the space.
“I think sometimes people walk into a room and they can’t put their finger on what looks so good to them but it just feels right,” Mr. Hanmer said.
It’s not something he can easily explain when it comes to why this one feature adds so much to his home, but as dentist, he does understand and appreciate the principles of good design.
“When we’re talking to people about smiles, there are a lot of technical measurements and ratios we use. But your average patient doesn’t want or need to know that. They just know what fantastic smile looks like.”
“It’s the same thing with good design. You don’t know how a person got there but you know it’s well done.”