Toronto converted church loft melds space and light in trendy neighbourhood

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Three years ago, Jason and Alicia Attew were contemplating selling their Toronto home, but ultimately decided that all the converted church loft needed was an intervention.

The Attews enlisted interior design firm Nivek Remas to transform their home for prospective buyers, but loved the renderings so much that they decided to move forward with the renovation in order to keep the property for themselves.

The principal designers, Kevin Chan and Samer Shaath, were able to resurrect the nineties-style loft as a modern home better suited to the couple and their three children.

The couple first bought the converted church in 2010, and now split their time between Toronto and Vancouver. They used to live in Montreal and were inspired by the church conversions taking place there.

“I think it’s just the history and owning something that’s not your typical three or four bedroom home,” Mr. Attew says. “It’s” something we just want to take care of and preserve.”

The Church Loft has six bedrooms and five bathrooms across four floors.

“The bones are incredible,” says Mr. Attew, who was adamant about maintaining the vertical space of the original church, which features 25-foot vaulted ceilings. Newer elements such as wooden beams and pillars, while not integral, provide a visual structure to the openness of the great room.

The beams aren’t just structural, says Mr. Chan, but an aesthetic addition, traveling from the living room through the primary bedroom. It’s an element that, for Mr. Attew, provides continuity and facilitates the natural flow provided by the three floors of open space.

The expansive windows allow natural light to illuminate the open area. “Some people might see that space as sort of wasted,” Mr. Attew says, “but we don’t even need any sort of lighting anywhere except for some of the bedrooms that are closed off.”

Mr. Chan says the final result draws upon the work of Tom Kundig, a Seattle architect whose work the Attews admired. One of the signatures of Mr. Kundig’s work is the contrast between an outwardly stark form set against a wild landscape.

Far from a natural environment, the Church Loft is located in the middle of the trendy, urban neighbourhood of Trinity Bellwoods. Where Kundig’s influence is felt the most, according to Mr. Attew, is the outdoor terrace on the third floor.

“It’s incredibly quiet, it’s very serene, you can see the stars from there,” he says. “It’s a private space no one would even know exists.”

Maintaining privacy at a place that draws so much outside attention is no small feat. Mr. Attew says sometimes former parishioners will show up, curious about the place where they once used to worship.

Saints Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic Parish was built in 1941 to accommodate the second major wave of Slovakian immigrants to Canada in the early 20th century.

The last mass was held in 1993 before the congregation relocated to Mississauga. The building was sold off in three parts: the church hall and the church itself which was split into two homes.

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The first conversion took place in 1994, an endeavor which inspired the former owner, Martin Myers, to chronicle the “wallet-emptying experience of a lifetime” in his non-fiction book The Urban Loft: Creating a Dream Space in the City.

The two different looks are indicative of migrating styles. Mr. Myers’s version was eclectic, colourful and geometric, while The Attews’ design is a meditation on industrial minimalism.

Both the former and current owners maintained some aspects of the former structure, including pews, marble, and the gothic chandeliers that now light the current kitchen. During the demo, Mr. Chan came across some original mosaic tiles with turquoise crosses and decided to repurpose them for the niches of the shower in the secondary bathrooms.

“It was really important to the client to retain some aspects of the church so it didn’t just look like a gut job,” Mr. Chan says. “They have a deep love of the building and the previous owners were very fond of it as well.”

The house now has an added personal history, as Mrs. Attew gave birth to the couple’s two daughters there. They were born under a painting of a dove that was preserved from the original church.

Mr. Attew and his wife are Catholic and, despite not being Ukrainian, their son was baptized in the Ukrainian Catholic church down the road at Bellwoods Avenue and Queen Street West.

“It’s just a very community-driven neighbourhood,” Mr. Attew says of the Trinity-Bellwoods area. “Everyone is from everywhere.”

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