Bold Moves Breathe New Life Into a Mid-Century Bungalow
At the front of the house, where a cramped kitchen once sat off the entry, is now a study filled with mod furniture, art and books. The room is lit by one of two new skylights. Photo by Ben Rahn/A-Frame Studio.
A freestanding fireplace separates the open plan kitchen and dining space from the living room. The coral pendant above the table is from Design Within Reach. Photo by Ben Rahn/A-Frame Studio.
Over the bed in the master bedroom – formerly a garage – hangs an oil painting by homeowner Anda Kubis. Photo by Naomi Finlay.
LGA Architectural Partners take on a mid-century modern house and give the 1955 bungalow property the royal treatment
“When we tell people where we live,” says Anda Kubis, “they always say the same thing: Oh, it’s that house.” Yes, the home that Kubis shares with her husband, Dean Martin, is an oddity of sorts. You may have seen it: a two-storey wall of windows just visible through the trees that rise above Mimico Creek, as you head north on Royal York Road. The Toronto mid-century modern bungalow with its zig-zagging sloped roof is smaller and cooler than its neighbours.
Right from the Start
When the bungalow, designed in 1955 by British-born architect Basil Capes, went up for sale in 2007, architecture buffs Kubis and Martin – who lived nearby – just had to take a look at the mid-century modern house. They fell for it hard. Its exceptional ravine site was a draw, and while others might have torn it down to build anew, the couple loved everything about it: its glam carport, cedar-panelled ceiling, exposed steel roofbeams and soaring windows.
“All of our homes have had a mid-century feel,” Kubis says. “That’s part of our roots. My father was a furniture designer from Eastern Europe, working in the modernist tradition. So, in a sense, we were the ideal people to own this place.”
After living in the house for a year, Kubis, a painter and department chair at OCADU, and Martin, a creative director in advertising, called in LGA Architectural Partners to update the house. The firm drew up plans for a major addition, but it was pricey and would have destroyed too much of the house’s character. “We decided to be much more modest, and the result suits us perfectly,” Martin says.
Step Inside
The main entrance was moved from the front of the house to the side, so guests now enter through the carport, immersing themselves in mid-century style even before they reach the door. And the main floor was gutted. Down came the walls separating the back of the house (which once housed two small bedrooms) from the living space at the front. The architects kept the original brick fireplace, which now divides the cedar-roofed living room from a new, all-white and wood kitchen. The original cramped kitchen, to one side of the living room, is now a study packed with paintings, photos and books.
Making Moves
In a bold move, the architects transformed the garage at the back of the lot – a slightly clumsy 1970s addition – into living space, linking it to the mid century modern house with a small addition. The garage is now a spacious master suite with French doors opening to a tree-covered back patio. A bedroom was updated for the couple’s eight-year-old son downstairs while a storage room was turned into a painting studio. And the rec room enjoys a leafy ravine view, now that an old deck has been pulled off the back of the mid-century home. The tightly planned home feels much larger than its 242 square metres.
The End Result
LGA partner Janna Levitt sees the modern mid-century home as a Toronto version of California’s Case Study houses. That is to say that it is an example of modernist domestic design for real people. “That way of living is still relevant when it is well executed,” she says. “Natural light, open space, an open plan, natural materials – it works.” And it works even better now. lga-ap.com
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