Gabriel Fain Architects Elegantly Densifies a Toronto Streetscape

In a city contending with housing shortages and evolving zoning laws, this local practice finds clever strategies to provide much-needed accommodations.

Writer Evan Pavka

Located in Toronto’s west end, Montrose Avenue is lined with sought-after Victorian and Edwardian row houses, as well as midcentury detached and semidetached homes. Its convenient access to key arteries across the city and bustling neighbourhoods like Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy has further added to its appeal among locals and newcomers alike. Yet the limited space and footprints of the predominantly two-storey buildings have proved challenging in supporting the city’s ongoing need for accessible housing.

Local architect Gabriel Fain and his eponymous practice were tasked with working within the scale of the low-rise residential neighbourhood. Instead of building a palatial single-family home, the studio took advantage of new zoning regulations allowing the integration of additional residential units. “Rather than treating these changes simply as a matter of compliance,” the architect says, “the design uses the flexibility of contemporary planning and zoning regulations to test a more nuanced architectural response.” The result is a housing complex that features not one, not two, but six new suites.

To achieve this feat while respecting the existing character of the street, Fain conceived of a principal four-unit multiplex with two basement apartments and two townhouses above . At the rear of the site, he added a pair of additional two-storey units. Unifying what could otherwise be a disjointed amalgamation of typologies and scales, Fain leveraged a shared architectural language across the street-facing building and its accompanying laneway suites. The partially pitched roof of the standalone units, for instance, riffs on the gable profile facing Montrose Avenue, while the muted Belgian buff brick cladding connects the structures.

Ample glazing, limestone sills, and variations in the brickwork animate the otherwise restrained façades, further knitting the two key masses together. These elegant moves are complemented by crisp interiors done in collaboration with Unison Group, featuring light-oak floors, warm-wood built-ins, and charcoal tile along with black, brass, and marble accents.

Aside from providing much-needed housing, the ultimate hope for the project is to offer a new approach to densifying Toronto’s residential areas. As Fain explains, the completed multiplex illustrates “how regulatory change can be translated into built work that reinforces neighbourhood character while broadening the range of housing types available in the city.”