In this Broadview-Danforth home, both the main house and the laneway house have backyard space.Steven Evans Photography
Let’s look back at the North American dream of home ownership. Specifically, that of veterans returning home – to a housing shortage – in the immediate years following the Second World War.
Entire neighbourhoods, such as “The Wishbone” in North York, “Sunshine Valley” in East York (now known as Topham Park), and the Queensway Park area of Etobicoke, were built by Wartime Housing Ltd. to make that dream possible. But walk the streets of those neighbourhoods – Warvet Crescent, Uno Drive, or Hearst Circle – and today’s eyes likely see comically small saltbox homes on postage-stamp-sized lots. But, in 1945, as The Globe and Mail reported, a house with “four rooms, a roomy basement with hot-air furnace” and “built-in cupboards and sink in the kitchen” was a “dream come true” for prisoner of war camp survivor Robert Luxmore and his family.
Now think about the challenge of home ownership currently facing younger Torontonians and the housing crisis the city faces 80 years later. Wouldn’t four rooms and a yard (to plant dreams and, perhaps, tomatoes) be just the ticket? But that’s impossible, right?
Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong places.
The 1,000-square-foot laneway house features polished concrete floors and garden-facing floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding doors.Steven Evans/Steven Evans Photography
Quite serendipitously, architects Kyra Clarkson and Joe Lobko have come up with a laneway house that feels more homelike and suburban than anything that’s come before, and in the very urban Broadview-Danforth area to boot. And Mr. Lobko and his wife, Karen Powers, owners of the street-facing house, get to keep a reduced but still ample backyard while the 1,000-square-foot laneway house gets a backyard of its own.
And it all came about because Mr. Lobko wanted to save a pair of trees at the end of the property that he and Ms. Powers planted 20 years ago.
“We didn’t want to lose those, so that brought us to ‘Let’s move it this way’ and then ‘Let’s make two private [spaces],’” says Mr. Lobko. “I remember one of the people on the [City of Toronto] committee [of adjustment] liked it because it had two gardens – they thought that was unusual.”
“They really supported that, and took the time to say that, which was good,” adds Ms. Clarkson.
Steven Evans/Steven Evans Photography
It’s worth supporting and encouraging at City Hall – and using as a model by other homeowners. Why? Because, even from the main street, the peek-a-boo of this Lobko/Clarkson collaboration is warm and welcoming. Moss, thyme and creeping Jenny covering a new, four-foot-deep drainage trench direct the eye to a sheltered entrance clad in golden Douglas fir. A second storey – which contains only a bedroom and bathroom – is set back from the ground floor, but without the usual angular plane (something that the team also had to obtain approval for from the COA).
“Kyra had a sensibility of warmth where it’s covered and recessed, and therefore weather-protected,” says Mr. Lobko. “We could have wood where we touch and come into contact [on the exterior], and everything else is metal.”
Touch that front door to open it, and a visitor might be fooled into thinking they have stepped into a spacious, Don Mills-style home. While the width of the property helps, the simple architectural move of adding garden-facing, floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding doors – and the oodles of leaf-filtered light these allow to penetrate – makes the Don Mills/Modernist doctrine of blending indoors and out come gloriously alive. A long skylight over the kitchen area only increases the feeling of connection to nature.
Underfoot, a polished concrete floor mimics classic terrazzo, and a wooden screen beside the stairs reads as a mid-century modern room divider. On the other wall, a nook with built-in shelving allows for a small desk not unlike the kind Don Mills doyennes sat at to scribble out the grocery list or Junior’s hockey practice schedule.
The second-floor bedroom has a staircase half-wall.Steven Evans/Steven Evans Photography
Upstairs, the bedroom feels equally open and light-filled due to the staircase half-wall: “This wall, initially, was going to go right to the ceiling and have a door,” says Mr. Lobko, who was originally concerned about sound travel. “And then, in the framing stage, we said, ‘Wait a minute.’”
In another bit of serendipity, the view, although of an alleyway, is actually quite lovely due to mature trees and a beautifully weathered red-brick garage.
Originally, this laneway house was meant for Mr. Lobko and Ms. Powers as their empty-nest retirement home, and the five-bedroom, street-facing house was to be transformed into an income-generating rental property. This explains why the couple paid for more luxurious finishes and custom millwork.
But it didn’t quite work out that way, Mr. Lobko says with a laugh: “I remember when construction was over, Karen started to bring books and clothes over, and it started to dawn on us what a giant job downsizing would be; and then in talking to people it became evident that we could easily rent this. … We do want to live here as we age, but in the short run, we’re just taking our time about it.”
Steven Evans/Steven Evans Photography
Of course, this writer isn’t suggesting a fully custom, architect-designed, laneway jewel-box (on helical piles to protect the trees) is the solution to the housing crisis. But by thinking creatively about how laneway houses can mimic traditional dwellings – the kind with welcoming features such as sheltering overhangs and private outdoor space – and then building them with Ikea kitchens, vinyl windows, and click flooring will make for lower rental charges. Get two or three neighbours to agree to build at the same time – meaning multiple party walls – and costs can be driven down even further.
“Having privacy in a downtown, dense situation is really valuable,” offers Mr. Lobko. “You don’t need big spaces, you just need to organize it in a [creative] way.”
“It’s a part of the solution,” finishes Ms. Clarkson. “It’s more housing.”