The Globe and Mail

Riding his mountain bike along the Tommy Thompson trail in Etobicoke's South Humber Park one day in 1996, landscape architect Peter Owen exited onto Stephen Drive and spotted a little challenge: a wild brambly mound that would test his bikemanship and perhaps even offer a bird's eye view of the surrounding area. As reward for his efforts, spread out before him was something vastly different from his own neighbourhood of proud, orderly Parkdale Victorians. A cluster of spectacularly sited yet modest 1950s-era houses were riding the roller coaster topography of the Humber marshes -- some snuggled into nooks and crannies and others perched on bumps and promontories.