WHAT: A classic Beaches cottage built in 1904 near the shore of Lake Ontario. The turreted, three-bedroom house is painted white and surrounded by colourful gardens on a 30- by-120-foot lot.
- ASKING PRICE: $949,000
- TAXES: $5,210 (2007)
- AGENT: Re/Max Hallmark Realty Ltd. (Rick and Rochelle DeClute)
AMENITIES: The two-storey house, which is south of Queen Street and a few houses north of the Beaches boardwalk, was expanded to include a large family room — more than 400 square feet — with a fireplace and French doors that lead to the terrace at the rear. A curving bay window mirrors the turret at the front of the house and provides a sunny spot for reading or looking out over the garden.
Upstairs, the addition accommodated a spacious master suite — also more than 400 square feet — with a dressing room and a closet that stretches the length of one wall.
The main bathroom — one of two in the house — was recently remodelled.
There also is central air conditioning and a partially finished basement.
Outside, the garden offers an exuberant display of tulips in the spring, and plenty of evergreens and perennials year-round.
Twenty years ago, Leslie Coates and Andrew Patenall moved to a house in Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood that had been owned by an avid gardener. In their first summer there, Ms. Coates met many of her neighbours when they leaned over the fence to lament how nice the garden used to look.
Ms. Coates, who at that time was a writer, took up the challenge by earning a master's degree in landscape architecture.
"When we moved here, I knew nothing about gardening. It was really this house that inspired this total career change," she says.
Ms. Coates has spent the past several years managing special projects for the city of Toronto's department of parks and recreation. But her leisure time has been spent creating a praiseworthy garden.
Her aim, she says, has been to create a sense of enclosure at the back and provide lots of vibrant blooms or textured foliage for each season.
"Once you take up grass in this climate, you have to ensure that you have something to look at year-round."
The couple figures the garden is at its peak of beauty in the spring, when a variety of tulips bloom, including the ballerina, burgundy and white triumphator.
To surround the garden, Mr. Patenall constructed a fence that echoes the motif of the home's windows. "[There are] 64 diamonds in that fence," says the retired University of Toronto English professor.
Now, the couple often see passersby pausing on the sidewalk at the front or catching a glimpse of the yard through the fence from the rear laneway.
"The funniest thing is seeing them peering through the lattice," Ms. Coates says.
In 1904, a creek ran behind the house and the first owner used to moor his boat where the parking area now stands, Mr. Patenall says. Farther down the laneway, a standalone garage still belongs to 34 Kippendavie and will be sold with the house.
Long after the Beaches turned from a community of summer cottages to a city neighbourhood, the couple decided to increase the size of No. 34, which they say was the first house to be built on Kippendavie.
The addition to the house increased its square footage by 50 per cent, but heating bills fell 30 per cent because of the extra insulation.
The couple also had new windows custom made. A Manitoba-based manufacturer duplicated the diamond-patterned trim on the originals. In addition, new, larger windows were installed at the rear of the house.
"We said we want as much light in here as possible."
Among the remodelling projects the couple tackled was a heavily painted wooden pocket door in the dining room. Mr. Patenall spent long hours removing seemingly endless layers of paint, but it was worth the labour, he says, to restore the door to a nearly pristine condition.
"There's not a knot in it," he says. "Twenty-four inches of pure pine."
The second-floor addition created a master suite with a sitting area where book lovers can bask in the sun.
"It's just turned into a lovely master bedroom area," says Ms. Coates. "When the leaves go, we see the lake in winter."
A tiny former bedroom was incorporated into the suite and lined with cupboards to make up for the lack of closet space typical of older houses.
"We're the envy of all our friends in the Beach," she says.
Even though the house is larger than it used to be, its style, along with the garden, which has grown in nicely, are reminiscent of the neighbourhood's beginnings as a summer retreat.
"We are located just a few houses up from the lake so there is a lovely cottage atmosphere both on the street and in the house," Ms. Coates says. "There's always activity — not rowdy activity, but people just walking around, enjoying themselves."
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