Photo of Whistling Wind Island by Doublespace Photography

Our Home of the Week series spotlights remarkable residences in Canada and beyond, diving into the details of how these projects came to life. According to our readers, these stories are ones to revisit again and again.

Photo by James Morley for Doublespace Photography

Inside a Playful Townhome in Toronto’s Little Portugal Neighbourhood

There’s no mistaking this house for any other in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood, and that’s just what the owners wanted. “The colour pink came up in our early conversations,” says Reza Nik, a principal at Sheeep, an experimental art and architecture studio based in Toronto. One of the owners “liked the idea of sharing their address with friends and following up with ‘It’s the pink house on the street—you can’t miss it!’ So we took this idea and ran with it,” he says.

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Photo by Doublespace Photography

Whistling Wind Island Is a Remote Retreat in Ontario’s Cottage Country

T he driving force behind the design of this private residential retreat, built on a remote island in Georgian Bay, is an element that can be felt but not seen: the wind. So named for the near-constant gusts that envelope the four buildings on an acre of Precambrian rock, Whistling Wind Island is part of an archipelago near the community of Pointe au Baril—in the middle of cottage country in Ontario.

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Photo by Andrew Pogue

A Pacific Northwest Dream Home: Longbranch by MWWorks

For more than 35 years, a couple in the Pacific Northwest visited a small cabin to immerse themselves in the quiet, forested landscape of Washington State’s Key Peninsula. Eventually, they determined to build a home of their own and found a site that overlooked Case Inlet on the west side of the peninsula. Though it had impressive views and inspiring surroundings, an old, nondescript, suburban-style house sat on the site, the land was neglected, and a series of retaining walls were distracting eyesores.

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Photo by Scott Norsworthy

An Impressive Artistic Escape in Eastern Ontario’s Wilderness

Though it looks like a luxury lodge, this 10,000-square-foot building nestled in the eastern Ontario wilderness is in fact a private retreat. The goal of its owners? To reengage with the landscape in a high-design manner that connects art with nature. Approaching the exterior of the glass-walled structure, a modern sculpture—Corten Bloom #3 by New York artist Norman Mooney—is the first hint of an unconventional experience beyond the front door.

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In London, Jason Good Architecture Revives a Dilapidated Cottage

“Refined” and “enduring”: that’s how U.K. architect Jason Good describes the private home in Wimbledon Village that his firm completed late last year.

Previously, the walled site contained a dilapidated 1980s cottage. Now, it features a striking two-bedroom home with an intriguing L-shaped layout, a trio of triple-paned windows that punctuate its second storey, and a façade that includes a cylindrical skylight that extends up from the roof, which Good has dubbed the “top hat.”

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Photo by Ema Peter

This Off-Grid Sleeping Cabin in Ontario’s Algonquin Park Is Fully Deconstructable

About 300 kilometres north of Toronto, Algonquin Provincial Park, established in 1893, contains more than 7,600 square kilometres of forest, lakes, and rivers. In the southwestern corner of the park, Anya Moryoussef Architects created a compact “bunkie,” or weekend cabin, that nods to its natural surroundings in both design and materials.

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Vancouver-Based Falken Reynolds Renovates a 1970s House in West Vancouver

After several years of living in a spec house, a West Vancouver resident set her sights on a cliffside property in the Eagle Harbour neighbourhood. Besides breathtaking views across the water toward Bowen Island, the property also contained a modest single family home, where layers of renovations had covered over its original 1970s-era vibe.

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