Charles Gane designs private cottages across Ontario's cottage country — one at a time, drawn by hand, working with you from the first sketch to the finished build.
Georgian Bay is where Charles Gane's cottage practice actually began. He designed and built his own family's cottage on Monument Channel — a post-and-beam, glass-walled retreat reachable only by water — and it's the standard he now holds every private commission to. Charles spent 27 years as a founding principal of CORE Architects in Toronto, working on more than 160 projects before narrowing his focus to private cottages and homes, and he remains registered with the OAA and AAPEI after 40 years of practice. Every design still starts as a hand drawing, and he takes on only one cottage at a time, seeing it through from the first sketch to the finished build alongside your builder. Georgian Bay's exposed granite, wind, and water-access sites present real design problems — foundations set into rock, materials barged or floated in, exposure on every side — and Charles has solved them for his own family's cottage before solving them for anyone else's. If you have a site on the Bay, he serves the region and would welcome the conversation.
Every cottage begins as a hand drawing — the slow, considered way — before a single line is committed to a screen.
Charles designed and built his own family's cottage on Georgian Bay. He designs yours to the same standard he holds his own to.
Condo-grade rigour applied to a cottage: durable materials, honest structure, and a design tuned to the rock, the water and the light.
We start with a call about your land, your family, and how you want to live at the lake. No commitment — just a real discussion.
Charles studies the site — rock, water, sun, trees — and draws the first concepts by hand, then shares a fee proposal and scope.
Design development and drawings, then support through construction with your builder, all the way to the finished cottage.
Architect's fees are usually structured either as a percentage of the construction budget or as a fixed fee for a defined scope. After an initial conversation about your site and goals, Charles provides a clear, written fee proposal — so you know what you're committing to before any design work begins.
Yes — Georgian Bay is one of the areas Charles serves, alongside Muskoka, Georgian Bay, Haliburton, the Kawarthas, and the Greater Toronto Area.
Both. Charles takes on new custom cottages, renovations and additions, and tear-down-and-rebuild projects in Georgian Bay and throughout Ontario's cottage country.
It varies with scope and approvals, but most cottages move from first sketches through design and permit drawings over several months, followed by construction. Remote and waterfront sites can add time for access and approvals — Charles will set realistic expectations early.
Yes. Charles works alongside your builder through construction, and can suggest builders experienced with cottage and Shield-site construction if you don't have one yet.
Tell Charles about your site and your idea — he reads and answers every enquiry himself.
Discuss your cottage project
