“Go big or go home” has been one of the de facto mottos in a several decade long wave of renovations across Toronto’s late 20th-century suburbs including Scarborough, Don Mills, and Etobicoke. Throughout these suburbs it has become increasingly common and often times lucrative to knock down the single story bungalows that made up the fabric of large pockets of these communities and build two and three story houses that maximize each property’s zoning potential. The resulting fabric juxtaposes countless examples of faux Victorian, neoclassical hybrid, or Tudor style multi-story mansions against their bungalow neighbors that, given the trend, perhaps await the same fate. Agincourt, a district of Scarborough and one of Toronto’s original late 19th-century suburbs, is no exception. The client wished to renovate and expand the exterior of their single story bungalow in Agincourt on a street where, true to trend, post war bungalows are frequently dwarfed by hybrid, eclectic, Greco Roman and Victorian mansions. The brief called for creating an enclosed entrance to replace the worn and tired entry and offer shelter from freezing winter temperatures, expand the old garage (that could previously barely accommodate a compact car), a new workshop for the handyman husband, and change ...
“Go big or go home” has been one of the de facto mottos in a several decade long wave of renovations across Toronto’s late 20th-century suburbs including Scarborough, Don Mills, and Etobicoke. Throughout these suburbs it has become increasingly common and often times lucrative to knock down the single story bungalows that made up the fabric of large pockets of these communities and build two and three story houses that maximize each property’s zoning potential. The resulting fabric juxtaposes countless examples of faux Victorian, neoclassical hybrid, or Tudor style multi-story mansions against their bungalow neighbors that, given the trend, perhaps await the same fate. Agincourt, a district of Scarborough and one of Toronto’s original late 19th-century suburbs, is no exception. The client wished to renovate and expand the exterior of their single story bungalow in Agincourt on a street where, true to trend, post war bungalows are frequently dwarfed by hybrid, eclectic, Greco Roman and Victorian mansions. The brief called for creating an enclosed entrance to replace the worn and tired entry and offer shelter from freezing winter temperatures, expand the old garage (that could previously barely accommodate a compact car), a new workshop for the handyman husband, and change ...