English Beauties:
Mayfair Walk takes inspiration from London neighbourhood above.
Another Brick in the Wall
Developer Bob Mitchell stands before what's left of an old church, demolished to make way for his new housing development. Many of the brick from the wall are being saved, to be incorporated into the new design.
"What entranced him (and her as well) was an uppercrust inner-city neighbourhood of London called Mayfair."
" 'Our hotel was located there,' Mitchell explains. 'We spent hours wandering the streets, snapping pictures and marvelling at how lovely everything looked.' "
"Mayfair, home to many rich Brits, is full of elegant Georgian townhouses fronted by wrought-iron window boxes and railings. Often, the boxes are set into low walls, next to the pavement - or they're incorporated into a flower-filled walkway that runs alongside the homes."
"Mitchell liked the look so much, he came home and promptly dubbed one of his new projects Mayfair Walk. He also decided that the three-storey townhomes to be built on the site would have classic Georgian exterior architecture - and that a bit of British gardening style would get injected into the landscaping."
" 'So we're putting in a raised walkway, like the ones I saw in Mayfair, alongside some of the townhouses - and every home will have built-in planters and window boxes,' he says."
" The aim is to 'get owners working together to create a feeling of an English garden mews.' "
"Mayfair Walk is located on Logan Ave., just off the Danforth, in a trendy part of Riverdale that's popular with the cappuccino crowd. When completed next spring, it will consist of nine exclusive townhomes (six of which have already been sold), all tucked onto the site of a 100-year-old church.
"The church, used by everyone from the Salvation Army to Chinese Methodists, was uninspiring architecturally and 'had nothing worth saving,' according to Mitchell. So it's been reduced to a heap of rubble."
"However, this relic of 'old Toronto' won't disappear entirely. Part of a wall on the church's north side was left standing - and a worker at the site, Kevin Urie, carefully cleaned and saved 10,000 more bricks from the demolition this summer."
" 'Phew. It was quite a job, in this heat. Took me three weeks,' says Urie, brushing brick dust off his brow one humid day recently. 'But you can't just throw these bricks out. They're special.' "
"What makes the bricks worth saving, Mitchell explains with a grin, is that they're John Price Reds."
" 'John Price is the classic Toronto reddish-brown brick, made at the brick-works in the Don Valley,' he says. 'We wanted to keep them, and find a way to incorporate them into the project, because of their historical connection to the city.' "
" So instead of winding up in a garbage dump, the church bricks are being stored in a suburban warehouse . Some will eventually be mortared into a long feature wall along the north perimeter of Mayfair Walk. The rest will go into the elevated walkway on the other side of the wall, which has entrances leading to five of the townhouses."
" 'We're basically extending the old church wall that's already there and adding the walkway, plus the raised planters and inserts for window boxes,' explains landscape architect Paul Ferris. 'It will look unique, at the same time as blending in well with the little city park next door'. "
"Mitchell and his partners in the project are adding some oak trees and shrubbery to the park, along with several maples along Logan Ave."
" 'It's important to make infill projects like these blend in with the existing streetscape,' Ferris explains. 'Our maples will extend the canopy of shade trees that already exists on Logan.' "
"It's also important to keep the customers satisfied and, so far, they are.
"Diane Barsoski, who has brought one of the townhomes, can't wait to move in.
" 'I currently live in another of Bob Mitchell's projects, which has a rooftop garden,' says Barsoski, who is head of human resources for Canada Life Insurance. 'I like his creative ideas - and I'm moving to Mayfair Walk because I'm a gardening fanatic.' "
"Barsoski's new townhome will have three decks to grow things on. She's also looking forward to getting involved in the community aspect of the development."
" 'I'm hoping we can extend the garden into the park, and make the whole place look really beautiful,' she says."
"That's exactly what Bob Mitchell had in mind when he returned from England with the idea of building a Canadian version of Mayfair Walk."
" There are still three townhomes available at Mayfair Walk, which have freehold ownership. Prices range from $379,000 to $429,000."
Floral Fantasy
New townhouses take inspiration from London streetscapes like this one.