High Park House

Charles bought a bungalow on Wendigo Way, at the northwest corner of High Park, in 1998. His plans doubled the house to 2,000 sq ft: an airy second-floor kitchen and living space above three cosy first-floor bedrooms.

Almost a year into the renovation, the house was torched in the night by vandals. The entire renovation was lost, and the project started over from the ground up.

The finished house brings a cottage feel to its corner of the city. Rugged, earthy materials — rough-edge limestone around the fireplace, Douglas fir left its natural colour on the screened front porch — complement the trees of High Park, which are always in view. The second-floor windows have no coverings at all: the green canopy that first drew him to the street provides all the privacy and shade the house needs.