This lego-like house on Coxwell Street in Toronto was built by architect Rohan Walters and is up for sale. Each floor of the 3-story detached house is 16-by-16-feet because that's the largest size that Walters could afford when he built it. The total space is 800 square feet. A parking area fits between stilts that not only compensate for the slope, but also minimize vibrations from passing streetcars.
Wiring runs in conduits outside the walls and the heating bills are low because of the radiantly-heated concrete floors. While the house is unique, energy-efficient, and in a great location, drawbacks include a very tiny kitchen. The cluttered inside of the house is being cleared up for next week's open house. The house is designed to be added to over time so add-ons and renovations are an option.
What do you say - would you want to live in this house?
More Info:
• House in a box up for sale for $349,000 from The Toronto Star
• Feeling the Lego love on Coxwell Avenue from The Globe and Mail
(Images: Sue Pigg for The Toronto Star)
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Comments (10)
This architect has built a smattering of small buildings in unlikely places around Toronto. I find some of the material choices a bit out there and some aren't aging very well. Still, I always enjoy seeing them and love that he has vision and an individual style.
Paraphrasing from an article I read but can't find now:
This sold a few days ago for well over the asking price but not to the highest bidder. The owner felt the buyers with the lower offer better understood the building. They plan to add another tower and expand the living space but to maintain the original intent and style.
Too late for most of us to consider - apparently it's already been sold. :P
For me personally, the absence of a full-size kitchen would be a deal-breaker, but then again, the utility costs are hard to beat. (And I am curious to know how well the stilts work to buffer the streetcar vibrations, and if other buildings on streetcar lines could be retrofitted with them. I've had apartments on a couple streetcar lines, and I can't imagine that the constant shaking is good for the building in the long run.)
Also, the buyers are a husband and wife (architect and designer, I believe) who will be moving in to the house with their TWO children!!!
The only issue I think is the area is um....kinda yuky...
I have seen this house in person... interesting concept, but ugly as hell. However if you can a tone of money, it could be redone as modern masterpiece. Hopefully they are planning to do just that...
@Famous Amos: this might be the article you read, I also read it yesterday:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1114219--toronto-s-tiny-cube-house-gets-six-offers-and-a-buyer-with-two-children
Overpriced for the area, especially considering it needs quite a bit of renovating. But I wouldn't call the area yucky @paintinglife. It's halfway between Lesliville and The Beach! Not my preferred location in Toronto, but definitely not yucky...
While my dream home is a place with no kitchen, I don't think I could live without closets.
This is a great house in a great family-friendly neighbourhood.I suspect that with some TLC and the changes they're planning combined with the pace of change in the neighbourhood, they'll make out like bandits in a few years.
I'm a local and I'm glad people in the area still have the courage to try new things. There are quite a few really unique new and updated homes in that immediate area.
legos?? Good lord, this is like hearing someone quote a few witty Shakespear couplets and saying "wow, cool, it's like a limerick!"
Piet Mondrian!!
Would have been nice to see the backside. It looks like they hardly have any windows...