Midtown Residence, Toronto

This residence on a cul-de-sac in Toronto’s Yorkville district was originally a 3,500-square-foot, two-storey ironmonger’s shop. The conversion added a two-car garage, organized around an outdoor courtyard. The existing interior steel structure was exposed and painted black. New linear skylights and slot windows flood the interior with natural light. A glass floor running along the centre of the second-storey hall adds additional natural light to the ground floor. The façade was re-clad in black zinc, grey concrete block, stucco and clear anodized aluminum.

The courtyard combines a paving of local Ontario stone and Ipe (a Brazilian hardwood) decking. A low window runs the full length of the new garage, offering enticing views of the client’s automobile collection.

A large glass garage door opens the two-storey, open-plan living room, dining room and kitchen onto the courtyard, on axis with the pool. When opened in warm weather, the garage door links interior and exterior, culminating in a view of a stone-and-steel water sculpture by Reinhard Reitzenstein at the far end of the pool.

Chalmers: This house is magnificent.

Sorensen: I would die for that beautiful marble bathroom