Walmer Residence

Toronto, Canada

Photo © Peter Legris

Architects: PLANT Architect Inc.

Location: Toronto, Canada
Year: 2009

This project transformed a three-storey, 1890s house into a duplex with two, two-storey units for a brother and sister. The addition to this residence presents the home’s highly detailed heritage façade to the street, while the rear of the house has been opened up to the garden with a large, framed glass opening focused on a large Japanese Maple.

The hodgepodge of deteriorated balconies and screens and damaged brick at the rear of the house was redesigned as a complex and unifying quilt of additions with large areas of glass, balconies of translucent polycarbonate panelling and wood panelling, and a three-storey wood privacy screen providing shelter from the neighbouring property. The main form houses the dining room – which, like a sunroom, is flooded with light that carries through to the newly renovated kitchen.

The entry to the upper duplex occupies the smaller addition. The entry stair has plenty of built-in shelving, cabinetry and seating, also acting as a library or sitting room. This redesign efficiently utilizes the stair space so that it functions as more than a mere space of circulation for the duplex.