My Houzz: A 1900s Edwardian Gets an Eclectic Refresh
Eight months pregnant with their first child, Gloria Apostolou and her husband, Kirk Marshall, were running out of time to find a new home for their growing family. They had recently lost in two bidding wars and were starting to feel dejected, when their agent brought them to a house in Toronto’s Annex neighborhood — a charming area filled with many brick houses from the 1900s. After a 30-minute tour, they were sold. Marshall and Apostolou, the owner of Post Architecture, quickly fell in love with an Edwardian semidetached home. The well-built house hadn’t seen many renovations over the years and retained much of its original charm. Focusing on key areas that needed work, Apostolou embarked on a slow, selective renovation that lasted more than seven years, helping to breathe new life into a beautiful old home.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Gloria Apostolou, Kirk Marshall and their daughters, Penelope (age 7) and Daphne (4)
Location: Annex neighborhood of Toronto
Size: 2,800 square feet (260 square meters); 5 bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms and a basement office
Year built: 1900
Built at the turn of the 20th century, the home has a style similar to many other residences in the area. While most have an entrance at the front, here there is a generous front porch that leads to a side-facing entry. Because it’s perpendicular to the street, the front door is often left open in the summer, allowing the porch to become a sheltered extension of the interior space.
Many of the home’s period details are still intact, including four working fireplaces — one of which can be seen here in the family’s living room.
The furniture and art, an eclectic mix, have been collected over time from a variety of places, leading to a cohesive style befitting both the family and the house itself. The bench underneath the window was given to Apostolou by her former boss, Ned Baldwin, the project architect of the CN Tower. He had designed it for his office but later moved back to New York, and it stayed behind with her. Due to its unusual shape and hinged top, Marshall jokingly refers to it as “the coffin.”
Apostolou re-covered her husband’s midcentury sofa in a gray-green fabric. Toronto artist Scott Griffin created the artwork by soldering bits onto a reclaimed piece of metal.
The couple doesn’t usually go together to look at art; they agree on a budget and buy what they like, hoping the other will too. It’s a process that has worked well, and the house is chock-full of interesting and unexpected pieces that all seem to work well together.
My Houzz: A 1900s Edwardian Gets an Eclectic Refresh
My Houzz: A 1900s Edwardian Gets an Eclectic Refresh
