DUPONT

Urban Residence & Laneway House

"It's the kind of space that encourages someone who is creative"
The Globe and Mail_”Home of the Week_Creative Space” by Carolyn Ireland

The DUPONT PROJECT was about re-purposing and re-vitalizing a century-old inner-city Toronto building to create a single family dwelling with a modern coach house studio.

Like many downtown west-end main street buildings, Dupont was already over 102 years old by 2009 when SOMA Studio designers Andrew Fee and Linda Corbett bought it.

Originally designed as a main-floor storefront with residential space above, it met the needs of commerce and living during the early 1900’s. No renovations had ever been carried out except for some windows, plumbing and wiring done in the 1970’s.

The DUPONT PROJECT was a major renovation which gutted the building to the masonry walls leaving only two of the original brick side walls, part of the front facade and part of the foundation intact.

Andrew Fee's design for Dupont included a two-storey residential main living space with atrium garden and a private larger garden at the rear adjoining a laneway coach house incorporating a two-car garage with studio space above.

Linda Corbett designed original hand-knotted Tibetan Wool and Chinese silk carpets to fit the finished rooms and had them made by her manufacturers in Kathmandu, Nepal.

By 2012 the original derelict, rooming-house building was transformed into a contemporary urban residential home and coach house studio in the vibrant Junction Triangle community.

Front of a dilapidated red brick building for sale in 2009
photo of the ground floor demolition with central staircase
demolished rear of the building

Interior courtyard garden photo looking into the open plan house living/ dining area

WINDOW WALL

WINDOW WALL

INTERIOR GARDEN

INTERIOR GARDEN

ATRIUM SIDE GARDEN

ATRIUM SIDE GARDEN

photo of the front red brick facade with tall new windows of Spanish cedar trimmed in limestone

FACADE

FACADE

laneway photo of the 2 storey Laneway House with garage underneath and studio/office above. Clad in grey stucco, metal and cedar.

LANEWAY COACH HOUSE STUDIO & GARAGE

LANEWAY COACH HOUSE STUDIO & GARAGE

"The quality of workmanship was far above what we're accustom to seeing, because they're not just designers, they're craftspeople … so there were a number of features not just beautifully designed but artisanally executed..."
- Junction Triangle home is a rare modern Toronto coach house_Globe & Mail - Sydnia Yu

INTERIOR DESIGN