The Story
As housing affordability becomes out of reach for many first time buyers in the Greater Toronto Area, various levels of government are working to develop solutions to this dilemma.
One of the recent developments to promote and increase housing stock within existing neighbourhoods and to offer affordable housing options, the City of Toronto has adopted a new program for property owners to develop laneway suites within laneways. Laneway suites provide an opportunity to address several housing needs which extend from affordability, the economic viability of local communities, gentle intensification and contributing to the “missing middle” housing stock that is in limited supply. Another benefit to laneway suites is that these building types can be brought to market in a reasonable time frame as many of the services, infrastructure and transit already exist.
This new incentive by the City has spurred the owner of 1172 Rear Queen Street East to explore this option for the property and as a result, this process has been met with a series of challenges as to how the new laneway suite, also referred to as the “Leslieville Laneway House”, will function and become a natural component of the laneway.
The Context
The property is located behind a row of two-storey mixed-use buildings on the north side of Queen Street East, between Jones Avenue and Curzon Street in Toronto’s Leslieville Neighbourhood. The area of development is situated at the northeast corner of the laneway running parallel with Queen Street East and the intersecting laneway that runs parallel with Jones Avenue. This corner site boasts a total site area of 58.52 sq. m. and is 7.68m by 7.62m.
The Concept
Due to the site’s limited space and corner condition, a set of challenges unfolded as to how to create functional living space, accommodate parking, maintain privacy for adjacent residents, soften the building massing within the laneway and how to construct the laneway suite without causing major disturbances to the neighbourhood.
The Outcome
The solution to these challenges was to create a three-storey dwelling with a single car garage. The East Jones Lane House has been designed to utilize living space to the greatest extent possible, and this included measures such as creating usable space underneath the garage and minimize unnecessary walls within the structure. Privacy and security for the dwelling users and privacy of adjacent properties were achieved by limiting the amount of glazing on the ground level, unique glazing configurations on the upper levels and incorporating private amenity areas into the main massing of the dwelling not to overlook on the adjacent properties.
