H6 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | FRIDAY,SEPTEMBER13,2019
THE BACK STORY
In 2005, the ravine property at 83
Bin-Scarth Rd. in Rosedale had
fallen into disrepair after years of
use as a rooming house.
The circa-1912 house had a tra-
ditional gambrel roof and a char-
ming turret, but the red-brick ex-
terior was coated in grime and
paint was peeling from the old-
fashioned porch and wooden
soffits.
From the end of the Second
World War through the energy
crisis of the 1970s, many of Rose-
dale’s stately mansions and cen-
tury homes were divided into
apartments and rooming houses,
explains James Warren, real es-
tate agent with Chestnut Park
Real Estate Ltd.
The Toronto-based design
firm Studio Pyramid spent more
than a year returning the dilapi-
dated building to a single-family
dwelling, with a thorough reno-
vation inside and out.
The newly remodelled home
was on the market when Richard
and Rana Florida made the deci-
sion to move from Washington
to Toronto in August, 2007.
At the time, Mr. Florida had
just accepted a post at the Uni-
versity of Toronto, where he
joined the Rotman School of
Management.
Looking back, Ms. Florida re-
calls the couple trying to decide
whether to settle in Rosedale or
the Beaches neighbourhood on
Lake Ontario. They opted for the
quiet enclave of Rosedale when
they found the house set in a cul-
de-sac at the end of Bin-Scarth,
she says.
The couple liked the original
plaster mouldings in the century
home and the fact that it is filled
with light, Ms. Florida says. For
the professor and urban theorist,
the location means he doesn’t
have far to travel to U of T’s main
campus.
Friends who visit from New
York’s Upper East Side and Con-
necticut are amazed that Toron-
to has neighbourhoods with so
much land in the centre of the
city, Ms. Florida says.
“All of our friends who come
to visit think it’s one of the most
gorgeous neighbourhoods in
North America,” she says. “The
trees alone make it so magnifi-
cent.”
THE HOUSE TODAY
Today, the house has six bed-
rooms and five bathrooms in ap-
proximately 3,761 square feet of
above-ground living space.
Studio Pyramid turned a maze
of units into a more open and
modern home with 10-foot-high
ceilings and elongated windows.
The main floor has a formal
living room with a wood-burning
fireplace and French doors that
open to the exterior, where a ter-
race with wrought-iron railings
replaces the original front veran-
da.
There’s a formal dining room
at the centre of the home and a
kitchen with built-in appliances
and a marble countertop.
The combined breakfast room
and family room have lots of
built-in cabinets and a wall of
windows overlooking the
garden.
“You can see it’s a really happy
family home because there arelots of places to sit and enjoy,”
Mr. Warren says.
The newly renovated house
didn’t need more than a few
tweaks after the couple moved
in, Ms. Florida says.
They upgraded light fixtures
throughout the house and in-
stalled communications wiring
that allows the sound system to
be controlled from a smart-
phone.
Many of the closets have been
remodelled. The couple had a
new hardwood floor installed on
the first level and added the
thick marble countertop in the
kitchen, she says.
The couple also did some re-
decorating when, several years
after they settled into life in Can-
ada, their daughter Mila was
born.
A year later, baby Valentina
came along.On the second floor, the girls’
bedroom has French doors open-
ing to a Juliet balcony.
Another room at the front of
the house is currently used as a
play and dressing room for the
children, but could be turned in-
to another bedroom, Mr. Warren
says.
The master suite at the rear is
cantilevered over the backyard.
A large bedroom has doors open-
ing to a deck overlooking the
garden. There’s a sitting area
with a gas fireplace and built-in
shelves.
The ensuite bathroom has a
free-standing oval tub and a
walk-in marble shower.
Upstairs, the third floor pro-
vides three more bedrooms and
a bathroom, but the Floridas
mainly use that level for writing
and other academic pursuits.
Today, Ms. Florida runs the
couple’s Creative Class Group
consulting company from her
third-floor office.
The two have each authored
several books in their third-floor
studios: Prof. Florida revisited
his 2002 bestsellerThe Rise of the
Creative Classand wroteThe New
Urban Crisis.
Ms. Florida wrote her 2013
tomeUpgrade, while the house
provided the backdrop for many
of the couple’s intimate dinners
and elaborate fêtes, which were
photographed for her bookCre-
ative Entertaining.
Outside, the sheltered porch
at the rear provides shade in the
summer months while heaters
make it cozy heading into fall.
The former garage was falling
down, so Studio Pyramid winter-
ized the structure and turned it
into a pool cabana with a stone
floor. French doors open to the
garden.
The red brick driveway that
once led to the garage is now a
sheltered spot for alfresco dining.
Up to 12 guests can sit at the large
outdoor table, Ms. Florida says.THE BEST FEATUREThe couple hired Mark Hartley
Landscape Architects to trans-
form the backyard with the addi-
tion of a swimming pool, sur-
rounded by a terrace and
gardens.
The saltwater pool and spa sit
right atop a leafy slope that de-
scends from the pool’s edge to
the valley floor below.
Pools on the ravine are hard to
come by, Mr. Warren says, be-
cause they have to be construct-
ed in line with conservation
rules designed to protect the nat-
ural setting.
Today, rows of 50-foot Europe-
an Beech trees stand in the gar-
den, which has been the setting
for many parties, Ms. Florida
says.
Ms. Florida says she and her
daughters take regular afternoon
swims in the summer.
“Every day, we’re in there after
naps.”Theonce-dilapidated83Bin-ScarthRd.inTorontowasrevivedandremodelledintoasingle-familyunitbythetimeRanaandRichardFloridamovedinfromWashingtonin2007.Ms.Florida
saystheirfriendsfromsouthoftheborderareamazedthatTorontohasneighbourhoodswithsomuchlandinthecentreofthecity.PHOTOS BY SILVERHOUSE REAL ESTATE PHOTOGRAPHY
ightfilledhomeinaRosedaleenclave
RanaandRichardFlorida’searly1900shomeinTorontohasplentyof‘placestositandenjoy’
CAROLYNIRELANDTORONTO
83Bin-ScarthRd.,Toronto
ROSEDALE
Asking Price: $7,495,000
Taxes: $27,151.32 (2019)
Lot Size: 36-by-437 feet
Agents: James Warren, Christopher
Killam, Gary Goba (Chestnut Park
Real Estate Ltd.)
Sincetheintialremodelling,thecouplehavemadeupgradesoftheirown.Theyinstallednew
hardwoodflooringonthefirstlevelandaddedathickmarblecountertopinthekitchen.All of our friends who
come to visit think it’s one
of the most gorgeous
neighbourhoods in North
America. The trees alone
make it so magnificent.RANAFLORIDA
HOMEOWNER$!$T: