BlogTO recently spotlighted 171 Durant Avenue in Toronto’s East York neighbourhood, which illustrates how Toronto’s traditional single-family lots can be reimagined for multi-generational families. Located on the northeast corner of Durant Avenue and Plains Road, near Coxwell and O’Connor, the 29.29-by-110-foot lot – originally containing a bungalow now contains two contemporary residences with more than 4,300 square feet of combined living space. Currently listed at $3.4 million, the property includes a substantial main residence along with a completely self-contained two-bedroom garden suite. What makes the story even more compelling is what stood here before: a bungalow built in 1946 that sold for $975,000 in December 2022. With the City of Toronto adopting the Garden Suites Zoning By-law Amendment under the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) initiative in February 2022 and it becoming legally finalized in July 2022, conventional Toronto lots could become chosen family compounds.
*Photos courtesy of MLS & Remax Hallmark, with thanks. We hold no rights.
What caught my attention with this listing is that it’s a corner lot, which changes the relationship between the two dwellings. A conventional garden suite is typically tucked into the backyard behind the principal residence. One of the requirements to build a Garden Suite is that the required emergency access path from the fronting public street to the suite’s entrance must be a minimum 1.0 metre wide for standard non-sprinklered builds, and if you’re willing to install an indoor fire sprinkler system, the minimum required width is reduced to 0.9 metres. At Durant and Plains, the corner lot and second-street frontage give the Garden Suite greater visual and functional independence. Rather than a front house with a building hidden behind it, the configuration reads more like two private residences on the same property. That matters because, as I discussed in Multi-Generational Living Is Trending In Toronto, one recurring challenge for multigenerational households is finding housing that provides both
I’ve long loved a corner lot. While some people feel a corner lot lacks privacy, or lamented the extra snow shovelling required before the City started doing it (albeit poorly), there’s an opportunity to co-opt the strip of land between the dwelling and the flanking side street, which typically belongs to the city as a public right-of-way, as your own. Even if you maintain the grass, building a fence past your true property line and onto this public property requires formal municipal permission. Called an Encroachment Agreement, it’s a binding legal contract that allows you to build a fence on city land under specific terms. The Encroachment Agreement is registered on the property’s title, meaning it stays with the land and binds any future buyers if you sell the home. The owner of the corner lot effectively gets the opportunity to enjoy the City land for their quiet enjoyment.
But I digress. Corner lots are great sites to consider as future infill sites for freehold townhomes. Although securing approvals to sever a corner city lot might be challenging now, I have seen instances where this has occurred when convention would think otherwise. The city will not allow the severance of a dwelling behind another dwelling into two freehold properties, and homeowners constructing laneway houses and garden suites understand that, when securing a building permit, this is in perpetuity. Although one could construct a small condominium where a Garden Suite is one of the condominium units –> Here’s One Of The First New 4-Unit Condos Replacing Single Family Houses In East York, Toronto)
*Photos courtesy of MLS & Remax Hallmark, with thanks. We hold no rights.
Meanwhile, laneway houses and garden suites are growing in popularity because they offer enormous benefits to multigenerational families, which is no longer a fringe housing arrangement. In my post, Dear Urbaneer: What’s Driving The Trend For Multi-Generational Housing In Toronto Real Estate?, I noted that Statistics Canada reported the number of multigenerational homes in Toronto increased by more than 15 percent over the decade ending in 2021. Affordability is certainly part of the equation: pooling assets and incomes can expand purchasing power and reduce household expenses at a time when Toronto housing remains extraordinarily expensive. But the economics extend beyond the mortgage. Living close to family can reduce childcare costs, make eldercare easier to provide, and allow older homeowners to direct money toward adapting or sharing their existing real estate rather than funding entirely separate households.
Multigenerational housing also has a social and demographic dimension that is sometimes lost when it is discussed purely as an affordability strategy. Adult children are remaining at home longer, Canadians are living longer, and more seniors want to age in place rather than move away from their communities. Multigenerational living can also reduce isolation among older adults while giving grandparents, parents and children more opportunities for everyday connection. My earlier Urbaneer post observed that housing has historically evolved alongside changes in society, technology and lifestyle, and there is little reason to think the current moment will be different. The challenge is ensuring that “togetherness” does not mean surrendering autonomy. The ideal home needs to accommodate several stages of life simultaneously, from young children requiring safe spaces to older adults who may eventually face mobility concerns, while still respecting the privacy of the generation sandwiched between them.
*Photos courtesy of MLS & Remax Hallmark, with thanks. We hold no rights.
That is where 171 Durant becomes particularly intriguing. The garden suite has two bedrooms, its own kitchen, and a living space, while the main house offers additional flexibility through its finished lower level. Instead of asking several generations to organize their lives around one kitchen, one living room and one front door, the property creates the possibility of interdependence rather than codependence. Aging parents could live steps from their adult children while maintaining their own household. Grandparents could be close enough to help with school pickups or childcare without being immersed in the daily chaos of a young family. Adult children could establish an independent home while remaining near their parents. As circumstances evolve, a secondary dwelling can shift from family accommodation to caregiver housing or rental income. That flexibility is precisely why my 2024 Urbaneer post identified garden suites and laneway homes as compelling tools for multigenerational living: they allow family members to be very close while maintaining meaningful independence.
As realtors, we are always trying to market properties in a way that lets owners take advantage of their highest and best use. Lots like this present excellent opportunities for development, and we suggested something similar might be done in our promotion of this East York bungalow a few years ago: Build A New Multi-Generational Family Residence, Co-Housing For 4 Friends, An Income Property Or Small Condominium In East York, Toronto.
At $3.4 million, 171 Durant is obviously a luxury example, but the larger idea has implications far beyond this particular property. Toronto’s housing conversation tends to measure intensification by counting units, when perhaps we should also be asking how additional dwellings can help households function better over decades. A thoughtfully configured property can allow parents to help children enter an expensive housing market, grandparents to participate in family life, adult children to support aging parents, and everyone to retain a front door they can close at the end of the day. As I wrote back in 2021, the multigenerational home is not necessarily a retreat from independence; properly designed, it can actually extend independence. And on the right corner lot, a garden suite can become something even more compelling: not merely a house behind a house, but two homes side by side, with enough distance for privacy and enough proximity to be there when family needs you most.
*Title photo courtesy of MLS & Remax Hallmark, with thanks. We hold no rights.
If you enjoyed this blog, here’s some engaging supplementary reading:
Dear Urbaneer: What’s Driving The Trend For Multi-Generational Housing In Toronto Real Estate?
Multi-Generational Living Is Trending In Toronto
Dear Urbaneer: Help! I’m Not Even Moving, But There’s A Lot To Unpack When Processing Aging In Place
Dear Urbaneer: Is It Better To Buy Or Rent When Planning To Age In Place In Toronto?
Here’s One Of The First New 4-Unit Condos Replacing Single Family Houses In East York, Toronto
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