Condo with a terrace ‘as big as a house’

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10 Delisle Ave, unit 1203, Toronto

Asking price: $3,599,000.00

Taxes: $12,777.68 (2022)

Monthly fees: $3,061

Co-listing agents: Michael Tanaka, Royal Lepage Signature Realty; Tracy Lynne Quick, RE/MAX Prime Properties

The backdrop

Usable outdoor space is a prized commodity among Toronto condominiums: Some buildings eschew private terraces entirely, while others offer narrow ledges 25 vertiginous storeys up.

That’s why Ian and Mary Tod knew they found something special when they were apartment shopping a decade ago.

“We had lived in a house for 27 years, we liked entertaining outside, being outside and one of our criteria was we needed some outdoor space,” Mr. Tod said. “When we came across this the outdoor space is as big as a house – it’s 2,400 square feet.”

It was also almost entirely a blank slate, a huge open patio essentially. Within a year they had hired landscape designers and contractors to rebuild it for maximum enjoyment.

“We put a lot of thought to design the terrace in a series of rooms,” Mr. Tod said. There’s a barbecue station and outdoor kitchen, a pergola for shade, a fire pit area, plantings and structures that also serve as windbreaks. “We’re on the 12th floor, we had to bear that in mind when we selected furniture,” said Mr. Tod, meaning heavier than you’d need on a ground-floor patio but light enough to be movable. Another fun fact about terrace life is that the elevation creates a different climate zone for trees and plants: “The climate zone of our terrace is the same as Calgary; it’s windier and dryer,” than Toronto at ground level, said Mr. Tod, meaning the plants have to be hardier than the average city planting. There’s also an irrigation system for the trees and flowering bushes, but it’s still much less work than a big yard.

“We’ll go out and have breakfast outside, we might have three meals outside,” Mrs. Tod said. “During COVID, we sat around the firepit on New Year’s Eve. … When it’s minus 10, the gas firepit doesn’t give off a lot of heat.”

Double condo

The other unique feature of their apartment is that it was initially two separate units that were forged into one by a previous owner. That results in a layout that’s a little chopped up in parts, but also offers some benefits: such as two kitchens.

“When we first looked at it, we thought what on earth would we do with a second kitchen,” Mr. Tod said. “Then we discovered how useful it becomes: You have dinner parties, in go the wine glasses into the second dishwasher; that’s where the [holiday] turkey gets cooked, too.” It’s also served as base for a caterer when the Tods host big events, either for service in the main dining room or through its own exit to the terrace for outdoor parties.

There are also two entrances to the apartment from the interior, but the one right off the second kitchen has become the “back” door. “There was a period of time where our son was living with us, and he’d come in the back door and use the back half of the condo,” Mrs. Tod said.

However, there is a “front” door, that opens into a larger formal foyer that leads directly into the main living/dining space and the updated main kitchen.

The Tods calculate they’ve renovated five kitchens together over 50 years of marriage, this latest one was built as a co-working space where they can work on new meals together.

“When I first met Ian he was very unadventurous … now he’s a serious foodie,” Mrs. Tod said. “I subscribe to five services that send me recipes every day,” interjects Mr. Tod. " He’ll come out and say ‘I know what we’re going to have for dinner.’ We’re really good in the kitchen together, we know how to move,” Mrs. Tod said.

The kitchen isn’t enormous, but it makes good use of a wood-grain pantry wall of cabinets with wall-mounted oven and microwave, and a bank of white cabinets that wrap in an L-shape around a central island with waterfall counter-top. The back wall is all glass with a sliding door to the terrace and outdoor kitchen.

Next door the main dining room has window walls on two sides (each side has more sliders for terrace access) and a sitting area with a gas fireplace opposite.

The Tods took out a door between the two units, so now a long hallway runs all the way through the unit to the second family room. The first room on the left down this hall is the primary bedroom, with ensuite bathroom with standalone shower and an office nook where Ms. Tod does her writing (a prolific blogger, she has also written several historical fiction novels that she has self-published under the name M.K. Tod).

Just across the hall is the main bathroom with soaker tub and shower, and just beyond that was the former connecting door, a space that’s been turned into Mr. Tod’s office, opening onto the “back” foyer and the living room.

Off the foyer is a large storage space Mr. Tod has used as a wine room, and the second living room is where the television lives. This family room has doors that open not to the terrace but to a Juliet balcony, however the second kitchen is accessed through this room and has sliders to the terrace.

The remaining two bedrooms in this three-bedroom condo are just past the laundry room, the smaller of the two has a Juliet balcony, and while the last bedroom is larger with an ensuite bathroom (with tub and shower) it has no Juliet.

Pursuits

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When the couple bought this condo they were winding down their careers: Mr. Tod was a managing partner in Deloitte’s Asia-Pacific division for five years and spent many days in the air between Beijing, Hong Kong, New York, London and Toronto. Mrs. Tod began her fiction writing while living with Mr. Tod in Hong Kong after a career in IT consulting (she tried to pick that up again later, but writing was offering more).

Forget the urbanist notion of a “15-minute city,” their postretirement life at Yonge and St. Clair sees them five minutes to most things: groceries, shops, transit and the ravines for long walks. But they’d like to be a little closer to the east end of the city, not just because they’ve become more involved with friends and management at the Donalda Club, but also because they have grandchildren in the Beaches area to dote on.

And while they have four parking spots now and rarely need their car, Mr. Tod does have one thing he hopes to hit the road again on: his Triumph motorcycle.

“We’re following the Clint Eastwood philosophy of don’t let the old man in,” said Mr. Tod, referring of course to the Toby Keith song inspired by the 92-year-old filmmaker, with its famous bridge: “Ask yourself how old you’d be if you didn’t know the day you were born.”