THE LISTING 270 Lisgar St.
ASKING PRICE $1,099,000
TAXES $4,664.46 (2016)
LOT SIZE 16.92 ft. by 93 ft.
AGENT Jen Tripp, Saleswoman, HomeLife/Realty One Ltd., Brokerage
When Amber Yu and her husband, Keyang, were demolishing 270 Lisgar St. back in 2011, they found the detritus usual in old, rundown Toronto homes: knob-and-tube wiring, rotted wood and the odd old coin.
But they also found bits of 1914 newspapers stuffed in as insulation in the floorboards in the attic. Instead of throwing the nearly-deteriorated scraps out, Ms. Yu meticulously collected them. Today, they hang – professionally framed – in her kitchen.
When asked why she kept them, she says that from growing in Beijing she learned to appreciate old things. These shreds of newspaper were a part of the history of their Beaconsfield Village home.
“These pieces of newspaper were my best inspiration when it came to renovating the house,” said Ms. Yu.
THE BACK STORY
Ms. Yu’s passion for design and decor came from her upbringing, when her father worked on building developments and her mother was an artist.
By the age of 18, her parents decided to send to her Canada (alone) to study and learn English. But instead of sending her to where she had relatives, her dad decided to pick a place where she would have to be independent and learn the language.
“Where was the least population of Chinese in Canada?” Ms. Yu remembers her father musing. “So I landed in Regina in a snowstorm in November, 2000.”
Soon after, she moved to the GTA and began studying economics at the University of Toronto, where she met her future-husband, Keyang Yu. And once they had graduated, they bought a triplex in the Upper Beach neighbourhood and rented out two of the three floors.
It was through being a landlord that Mr. Yu discovered his love of construction and realized they needed a bigger challenge, which sent them hunting for a new home.
The Victorian exterior of 270 Lisgar St., which is just west of Dundas Street West and Ossington Avenue, piqued their interest. But when their real estate agent, Jen Tripp, went inside of house, she wasn’t sure it was the kind of challenge they were looking for.
“The house was a complete wreck,” she said, adding the home was filled to the brim with possessions and much was covered in mildew and mould.
Beyond its unclean state, there were also some structural issues.
“We could see up between the floors,” said Ms. Tripp, describing a section of the home toward the back of the house that was exposed from the basement to the second floor.
“It was leaking,” explained Ms. Yu.
“It just dripped and dripped and dripped and rotted through the floorboards,” added Ms. Tripp. “I could appreciate how big a task it was to fix this home.”
But that didn’t deter the Yu’s, who set about renovating nearly every aspect of the house, with the exception of the windows that had already been updated. It took them almost a year before they could move in.
THE HOUSE TODAY
The home now has four bedrooms and four bathrooms on the above-ground floors. The basement has been turned into an in-law suite, which the Yus have rented out, earning them about $1,350 a month. They’ve also done short-term rentals through Airbnb and, this past August, earned $1,900.
And while the Yus used the home as a single-family dwelling, it is zoned as a triplex and could easily be converted, according to Mr. Yu.
“To me it would be almost a crime to turn it into a triplex because it’s so beautiful now,” said Ms. Tripp.
When asked to describe the style she was aiming to create in her home, Ms. Yu decisively calls it “modern classic.”
“I wanted to appreciate the Victorian heritage. I didn’t want [make it too modern] and condo-ize it,” she said.“But I did want it to function in a modern way for a modern family.”
FAVOURITE FEATURES
Ms. Yu’s favourite room, hands-down, is her kitchen. Taking up most of the middle of the largely open main-floor, it’s the hub of the home.
“I used to be a pastry chef, so having a good, big cooking area was critical,” she said.
Beyond using it to cook, though, she also appreciates the view of the home it gives her.
“You have the kids playing in the kids’ room and the grown-ups out here in the dining room. You can see everything,” she said.
And if there’s one part of the kitchen – beyond the six-burner gas stove – that Ms. Yu really loves it’s the light fixture above the table in the breakfast nook they built in off the kitchen.
“Light fixtures are my weakness,” she said.
But it wasn’t an easy find. She had Mr. Yu install four or five different pendant lamps before finding the absolute right fit. The problem with the other fixtures? They blocked the view of Ms. Yu’s most important piece of the home.
“I wanted to show off the newspaper, which is the soul of the house,” she said.