Home of the Week: Summerhill house features treetop-level privacy

Asking price: $2.695-million

Taxes: $13,443.51 (2015)

Lot Size: 27.9 feet by 172 feet

Agents: Leeanne Weld Kostopoulos and Elizabeth Janak, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Johnston & Daniel Division

Barbara Moses and Andrew Weiner were already familiar with the midtown enclave of Summerhill Gardens when they spotted the house at number 26 for sale. They did a quick drive-by and quickly decided they had to own the circa 1914 house set on the escarpment.

“We’ve got to buy it – whatever it is inside,” Ms. Moses told her husband.

Ms. Moses, who grew up in Montreal, says the sloping streetscape reminded her of the borough of Outremont. The couple had met while they were both studying in London and the leafy canopy reminded them of their time in that city as well.

The Arts and Crafts-style house was a duplex, which appeared so rundown from the outside that Ms. Moses knew they would need to completely transform the interior.

“There were a whole bunch of pimple-like extensions,” she says of the exterior.

They purchased the property in the late 1980s and set out to design a modern, stylish house with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and lots of space for their young son and visiting family members.

Ms. Moses is an author and career counsellor who often meets with clients in her home office. Mr. Weiner is an author of magazine articles and science fiction novels who also writes at home.

The 3,300-square-foot house had to accommodate their dual businesses, Ms. Moses says, while also providing space for entertaining and cozy family time.

Visitors who climb the stone steps from Summerhill Gardens pass through a tiered garden with low-maintenance plantings. The trees that line the street carry on into the park a few houses away, and like-minded neighbours have kept the landscaping consistent.

“Everyone was kind of inspired to make this look like a park,” she says.

The façade of the house was refurbished but largely retains its original appearance.

Inside, however, the house is less traditional. A modern addition at the rear was designed to open up the house to the back garden and bring in lots of light.

Ms. Moses’s office is on the main floor with a view over the street. The arrangement works well, she says, because she can hold private meetings with clients in the office while family life continues on undisturbed in the rooms beyond.

The main floor has been opened up to create a living room and dining room with views through to the backyard and the green plateau atop Rosehill Reservoir.

“I wanted to have the feeling of the long view and the short view and to face the magnificent park view.”

The kitchen was updated during the original renovation and again in 2007, Ms. Moses says. The kitchen today has white oak cabinetry, a greenhouse window and a separate seating area.

A steel spiral staircase leads from the living area to the second-floor family room. A skylight brings light to the interior and a doorway leads to an outdoor balcony.

The second floor also has three bedrooms and a bathroom.

Another set of stairs leads to the third floor and the master suite, which includes a large bathroom with an air jet soaker tub and a bedroom with a door opening to a private balcony in the treetops.

An additional third-floor bedroom is currently being used as a home office.

The lower level contains an in-law suite with a kitchen and bathroom.

The cluster of streets near Yonge Street, south of St. Clair, is very community-minded, Ms. Moses says.

The neighbourhood feels secluded because it is bounded by railway tracks at one end and the park at the other, Ms. Moses adds.

“That’s what makes it special – it’s land-locked,” Ms. Moses says. “It’s a very private pocket.”

Ms. Moses says the house’s perch at treetop level provides a feeling of privacy.

“I love it because you feel like you’re part of the street but you’re not part of the street.”

Ms. Moses hired landscaping firms over the years but gradually she found that she preferred to shape the garden to her own taste. Low brick walls enclose a sitting area sheltered by a wood pergola and a Japanese weeping cherry tree. Ms. Moses points out a carefully tended Japanese maple in a curving bed of perennials.

“I did it all myself. I love gardening,” she says. “I’m basically a frustrated designer.”

Ms. Moses says that, although the garden is low-maintenance, she kept the plantings interesting through all four seasons.

“There’s colour all the time – there’s always something flowering.”

A laneway leads from the street below to parking at the rear of the houses lining the hill. The homeowners along the lane share the cost of winter plowing.

A gate at the rear of the property opens directly into Rosehill Reservoir and David A. Balfour Park, with paths leading down into a forested ravine and the Kay Gardner Beltline Trail.

“When our son was young he would just open the gate and go tobogganing.”