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Native Torontonian Kyra Clarkson met her partner, Tri-State-Area-Boy Christopher Glaisek, while the two were studying architecture at Yale. Ten years followed in Manhattan where Kyra worked with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Christopher worked on New York Olympic bids and the re-planning of Lower Manhattan post-9/11. The issue of affordable living in an urban environment came up for the two city-lovers when their second child was on the way. The answer? A return home to Toronto for Kyra and family, where they could find the urban living they desired at a more reasonable cost.
Since returning, Kyra has worked for much-admired modernists Shim–Sutcliffe while Christopher is Vice President for Planning and Design at Waterfront Toronto.
The two have long wanted to develop. While modern condo towers are available to those wanting to live on main streets, that style is not what they have seen on the family friendly side-streets and neighbourhoods that they are interested in. "The incredible proliferation of neo-traditional houses springing up in brownfield sites across the city are not well thought out, and are not site-specific", and they have not jived with Clarkson's desire to see newly built houses reflect today, instead of the jumbled simulacrum of yesterday that they normally refer back to. Clarkson expanded: "It should not be that hard to do modern in a considered way."
MODERNest, and House 1 is Clarkson and Glaisek's response. Reflecting the scale, setback, and natural materials of its neighbours, this sensitive modern insertion on a Leslieville street offers clean lines, lots of natural light, flexible space, and up-to-date technology to those who seek this aesthetic, in a more affordable way than has normally been achieved in Toronto. We'll tour through the home while considering the vision Clarkson and Glaisek bring to MODERNest.
House 1 is an all-new build; the previous house on the site was abandoned, rotted out, had no basement, sloped six inches within its 15 foot frontage, and was the home to racoons. Very close to its neighbours, the house required hand demolition. With its removal, there were no hindrances to creating a totally modern house.
House 1's front is friendly simplicity itself, presenting wood and glass to the street, with a brick walk/parking pad. The warmth of the materials challenges those who see modernism as cold.
Inside, the ground floor presents open, flexible space: put the dining space facing the front or the back, living space in the other, while the kitchen anchors the middle of the room. Light floods in from east and west as well as above: a skylight atop the stairs illuminates the centre of the home.
A simple glass wall divides stairs, up and down, from the floors.
The precision required and achieved in the house is evident, and not something which is always translated properly from blueprints to build: a very good contractor is needed to realize modernism well.
The 1,800 square foot house, (1,260 sq ft above grade) is located at 154 Rhodes Avenue, and is on the market now, listed at $699,000. Architecture is by MODERNest partners Kyra Clarkson and Christopher Glaisek. Landscape Architecture is by Elise Shelley landscape Architect. The contractor was Collaborative Ventures Inc.
If you are interested in House 1, contact Susan Delean at Sutton Group Associates Realty Inc. at 416-966-0300 or sdelean@sutton.com. You can view more details at www.154rhodes.com
Clarkson and Glaisek are looking forward to House 2. Depending on the site chosen, House 2 may be another two-storey model, or if it's on a street with taller homes, it would represent the chance to create a three-storey model. MODERNest seeks to provide turn-key solutions for those who want a modern lifestyle, while still allowing the homeowner much latitude for personalization of the space. We look forward to what comes next, and are wondering about getting in on the bidding this time 'round: can you find an architect-designed home in that neighbourhood and in this market at that price? Not that we've seen otherwise…
