Note: Even Architect-Designed Homes Need Inspections
It is easy to fall in love with a home designed by a celebrated architect or built in a beloved historic style. While these properties often showcase exceptional design and craftsmanship, they can still hide serious issues: Aging mechanical systems, outdated wiring, water damage, foundation movement, or renovations that do not match the original quality. A stunning façade or famous name does not guarantee sound construction today. That is why a professional home inspection is essential—even for the most admired homes. Home inspectors provide the unbiased, technical evaluation that ensures beauty is not masking costly problems.
Why people like it:
- Designed by Brigitte Shim & Howard Sutcliffe, a high-end, award-winning architecture firm.
- Includes a performance space built into the home: excellent acoustics, fluid spatial design mixing public and private uses.
- Sculptural, curving geometry (inspired by the mathematics of integrals) is visually striking; glass walls and dramatic forms that engage with landscape.
- Attention to natural light, material quality, and merging form & function.
Why people like it:
- A Gothic Revival mansion with castle-like grandeur, lavish architectural detail, towers, turrets, battlements, sweeping staircases.
- Unique in Toronto: it’s large, historically rich, a landmark. Many people find its historic character, ornamentation, and drama compelling.
Why people like it:
- One of the older surviving houses in Toronto.
- Example of the Second Empire style: mansard roof, dormer windows, ornate cornices, etc. Those features are rare, especially preserved ones.
- Its situation is dramatic: It will even be preserved while a high-rise is built around/over it. That juxtaposition draws attention to heritage and architectural value.
Richard West Houses at 104 John Street
Why people like it:
- A row of beautiful row houses from 1869.
- Gothic Revival influences (especially in the brickwork) and dichromatic brick — meaning there are colour contrasts built into the brick façades which pop visually.
- They evoke a sense of the old city: compact, historic, hand-crafted character, fine craftsmanship, and texture.
