The Globe and Mail

For house-owning couples whose children have flown the nest, apartment living can look pretty attractive. But such people shouldn't imagine their only option is a nook up in one of Toronto's new, glassy high-rises. Gracious old mid-rise apartment buildings dot the urban landscape, many of them offering spacious suites, and refined amenities that our newer towers can't touch. But there's something you should know about the apartment you are going to buy in one of Toronto's elderly buildings. The lady who lived there for 50 years liked vivid floral wallpaper, parquet flooring, and yellow ceramic tile in the bathroom. She didn't mind the dark, dead-end corridor at the middle of the apartment, and she made do with the cramped galley kitchen. Renovation, and perhaps more radical surgery, is badly needed before you can take up residence.