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Columbine Ave.

The Beaches

A double-brick century semi taken back to the studs — lowered basement, new rear addition, and a cramped attic loft rebuilt as a full third-floor primary retreat.

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Century semis in Toronto’s east end have wonderful bones and almost no usable space. This one had all the classic problems: a low, unusable basement, a compressed rear, and a third floor that amounted to little more than a small attic loft.

Dovetail addressed all three. The basement was lowered to create genuine full-height living space, a rear addition extended the main body of the house, and the third floor was extended out over the second storey to create a proper primary retreat — a full suite where there had been a cramped loft. Throughout, the original double-brick structure was restored rather than discarded, so the house keeps the character that made it worth saving in the first place.

What We Delivered

Scope of Work

Complete gut renovation and restoration of a double-brick century semi-detached home - Full basement lowering - Rear addition - Third-floor extension, converting a small attic loft into a full primary retreat over the second floor - Restoration of the original masonry envelope - Complete finishing package

Architectural Specs

Construction
Double-brick semi-detached century home
Storeys
Three storeys plus lowered basement
Additions
Rear addition and third-floor extension
Square Footage
Bedrooms
Bathrooms
Year Completed
Project Story

The Challenge.

Extending a third floor out over an existing second storey on a semi means the loads have to find their way down through a hundred-year-old structure you are simultaneously lowering the basement of. Do those two things in the wrong order and you have a serious problem. Sequencing the underpinning and the structural work above so that the house was never unsupported was the whole job — everything visible today rests on getting that right

Luxury Begins With the Right Partner

The home you're imagining?
Let's build it.

One conversation is all it takes to find out what your project could look like — and what it would honestly cost. No pressure, just straight answers from the builder himself.