{"id":263612,"date":"2025-11-05T15:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/263612\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T15:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:43:10","slug":"a-laneway-house-that-mimics-traditional-suburban-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/263612\/","title":{"rendered":"A laneway house that mimics traditional suburban housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In this Broadview-Danforth home, both the main house and the laneway house have backyard space.Steven Evans Photography<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look back at the North American dream of home ownership. Specifically, that of veterans returning home \u2013 to a housing shortage \u2013 in the immediate years following the Second World War.<\/p>\n

Entire neighbourhoods, such as \u201cThe Wishbone\u201d in North York, \u201cSunshine Valley\u201d 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 \u2013 Warvet Crescent, Uno Drive, or Hearst Circle \u2013 and today\u2019s eyes likely see comically small saltbox homes on postage-stamp-sized lots. But, in 1945, as The Globe and Mail reported, a house with \u201cfour rooms, a roomy basement with hot-air furnace\u201d and \u201cbuilt-in cupboards and sink in the kitchen\u201d was a \u201cdream come true\u201d for prisoner of war camp survivor Robert Luxmore and his family.<\/p>\n

Now think about the challenge of home ownership currently facing younger Torontonians and the housing crisis the city faces 80 years later. Wouldn\u2019t four rooms and a yard (to plant dreams and, perhaps, tomatoes) be just the ticket? But that\u2019s impossible, right?<\/p>\n

Maybe we\u2019ve been looking in the wrong places.<\/p>\n

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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<\/p>\n

Quite serendipitously, architects Kyra Clarkson and Joe Lobko have come up with a laneway house that feels more homelike and suburban than anything that\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to lose those, so that brought us to \u2018Let\u2019s move it this way\u2019 and then \u2018Let\u2019s make two private [spaces],\u2019\u201d says Mr. Lobko. \u201cI remember one of the people on the [City of Toronto] committee [of adjustment] liked it because it had two gardens \u2013 they thought that was unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really supported that, and took the time to say that, which was good,\u201d adds Ms. Clarkson.<\/p>\n

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Steven Evans\/Steven Evans Photography<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth supporting and encouraging at City Hall \u2013 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 \u2013 which contains only a bedroom and bathroom \u2013 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).<\/p>\n

\u201cKyra had a sensibility of warmth where it\u2019s covered and recessed, and therefore weather-protected,\u201d says Mr. Lobko. \u201cWe could have wood where we touch and come into contact [on the exterior], and everything else is metal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 and the oodles of leaf-filtered light these allow to penetrate \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s hockey practice schedule.<\/p>\n

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The second-floor bedroom has a staircase half-wall.Steven Evans\/Steven Evans Photography<\/p>\n

Upstairs, the bedroom feels equally open and light-filled due to the staircase half-wall: \u201cThis wall, initially, was going to go right to the ceiling and have a door,\u201d says Mr. Lobko, who was originally concerned about sound travel. \u201cAnd then, in the framing stage, we said, \u2018Wait a minute.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t quite work out that way, Mr. Lobko says with a laugh: \u201cI 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. \u2026 We do want to live here as we age, but in the short run, we\u2019re just taking our time about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Steven Evans\/Steven Evans Photography<\/p>\n

Of course, this writer isn\u2019t 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 \u2013 the kind with welcoming features such as sheltering overhangs and private outdoor space \u2013 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 \u2013 meaning multiple party walls \u2013 and costs can be driven down even further.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving privacy in a downtown, dense situation is really valuable,\u201d offers Mr. Lobko. \u201cYou don\u2019t need big spaces, you just need to organize it in a [creative] way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a part of the solution,\u201d finishes Ms. Clarkson. \u201cIt\u2019s more housing.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: In this Broadview-Danforth home, both the main house and the laneway house have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[967,76,354,355,49,48,356,75,968],"class_list":["post-263612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-architourist","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}