Post-War Houses, Condos and Offices in North York

Post-war houses with room to rethink

Don Mills, laid out in the 1950s and often called Canada's first planned suburban community, set a pattern that spread across the former township: curving streets, generous lots and modest one-storey or split-level homes. Bathurst Manor and Bayview Village were built up over roughly the same years, largely with bungalows, ranch-style houses and split-levels. Many of these homes are well built and structurally simple, which makes them good candidates for a thoughtful renovation rather than a teardown. Early Don Mills houses were often designed with clean, low mid-century lines, and owners there often want to keep that character while the interior catches up.

A kitchen that joins the rest of the house

In these bungalows, the wall owners most want gone is the one that shuts a small kitchen off from the dining and living rooms. That wall often carries the ceiling joists, so taking it out usually involves an engineer-designed beam and a permit from Toronto Building. We coordinate the sequence, frame the opening exactly as the engineer specified and then carry the project through drywall, flooring, tile and paint, so the result feels like one room rather than three rooms with the walls taken out.

What to do with the wood-panelled rec room

Below many North York houses is a basement finished decades ago with panelling, a drop ceiling and carpet laid straight on the slab. Rather than covering it again, we prefer to take it back to the concrete, look for signs of past moisture, and rebuild with insulated walls, a proper vapour barrier, new drywall and flooring suited to below-grade conditions. If water is actively coming in, a waterproofing specialist needs to fix that before we finish anything. Finishing a basement from bare walls is usually a four-to-eight-week project.

In Willowdale especially, many original bungalows have been replaced by much larger new houses, so a 1950s home can sit beside a recent custom build. Renovating what you already own is often the way to stay on a street you like without starting over.

Condos and workplaces along Yonge Street

The towers around North York Centre and north toward Finch hold much of the district's condo stock, and suites in the older buildings often still have the kitchens and bathrooms they were built with. We work within each building's approval process, elevator schedule and quiet hours, and we protect lobbies and corridors as carefully as the suite itself. Some older North York condo buildings have original parquet or uneven subfloors, so we check what is underneath before quoting new flooring.

The same stretch of Yonge, along with Sheppard Avenue, is lined with offices, clinics and ground-floor retail. For business owners, tenants and property managers we handle interior fit-outs and refreshes: steel-stud partitions, drywall and ceilings, flooring, painting and repairs between tenancies. When a business needs to keep its doors open, we talk through doing the work in phases, and any added work is priced and approved before it happens.

Tell us what you want your North York home or workspace to do differently, and we will visit, measure and send a free written estimate that lists each stage of the project.