National Post

The grace of a small, elegant house is a wonderful thing. The pressures placed on a house by dense population in and around it are enormous and constant; materials erode and finishes wear away. Over a lifetime, a house can lose everything that once made it elegant and interesting, as homeowner after homeowner tries to make it larger, warmer, easier to maintain and brighter. After a century or more of this sort of piecemeal -- albeit well-intentioned -- alteration, what began as a beautiful exterior is often left shrouded under a thick disguise. This series will examine several Toronto house types and delve beneath the layers to reveal the original facade. I recently bought a small teardown on a tiny, narrow street that is peaceful yet in the centre of town, edged with small gardens and well-loved worn-brick facades. The street is only one block long -- beautiful and perfect. As for the house, everything is wrong with it, and though I should know better, I plan to live here and make it work.