Alex Rothe/Alexander Rothe
7 Freeman Rd., Toronto
Asking price: $2,695,000
Taxes: $12,575 (2023)
Lot size: 145- by 120-feet
Agents: Kelly Fulton, Royal Lepage/J & D Division
The backstory
Tucked away among the tree-lined streets and large family homes of Beechborough-Greenbrook in northwest Toronto, rests a modern take on the warm and welcoming contemporary home.
A corner lot consisting of two lots, 7 Freeman Rd. was built from the partial foundation of the original home and finished in 2016. The previous owners only lived in the house for four years before it was bought by business owner Lyne Guillon at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Having lived in Toronto for 25 years and most recently near Yonge Street, Ms. Guillon was looking to get away from the busyness of Toronto when she found a peaceful escape with a friendly group of neighbours, ready to welcome her and her family.
“I’m originally from Montreal and I’ve never had just neighbours come at my door and bring me some cookies or welcome me in my neighbourhood. People are not friendly like that in Toronto,” Ms. Guillon said.
“I could go knock at my neighbour’s and ask them for some salt, like in the old time.”
The location proved ideal for Ms. Guillon as it is perfectly centred between the east and west side of the city and has direct access to the highway, giving her smooth travel to her cottage in Blue Mountain, where she is now hoping to move to full time.
The house today
Home of the Week, 7 Freeman Rd., TorontoAlex Rothe/Alexander Rothe
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As a new build, Ms. Guillon was attracted to the modern design of the house. The balance of textures, natural stone, wood and glass gives the home a warmer feel, she said, especially given its size.
7 Freeman Rd., offers a substantial 6,000 square feet of living space with five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a three-car garage, perfect for Ms. Guillon and her three sons, who are all between the ages of 19 and 23 years old.
Designed as an open-concept house with individual “pocket” spaces, Ms. Guillon found the home ideal during the height of the pandemic, when she could still be together with her family while giving everyone their own space.
Yet, what impressed Ms. Guillon the most about the house is the ample amount of light that comes through the windows.
“The builder did a beautiful job,” she said. “Every angle of the room you have a view, which is spectacular.”
The large windows provide an excellent view of the idyllic neighbourhood with southwest exposure. Yet, the number of windows don’t provide less privacy as the streets are lined with many mature trees amongst the other large family homes.
The house also sits on slightly higher ground than the homes around it, allowing the view of the city to remain mainly unobstructed.
“The streets sort of sloped down so I have the view all the way to almost Lake Ontario. I don’t see the water unfortunately, but I could see all the way to the lake shore,” Ms. Guillon said.
Ms. Guillon did do some renovations to make the house “pretty” and better suit her and her family’s needs. To create more space for her adult sons, Ms. Guillon renovated the basement to add a bedroom, redo a bathroom, rip out the carpet for hardwood floors and add glass railings.
“It’s more comfy for my boys, since they’re older. They want to watch movies at night, so they had their own space – the boys’ room with their friends and all that. So it worked perfect for us,” she said.
Ms. Guillon also did all the landscaping in the backyard, where little work had been done previously, adding perennial garden beds equipped with built-in irrigation, to create a space that better suited entertaining family and friends with barbecues on the large exterior deck.
The best feature
Alex Rothe/Alexander Rothe
Two large sliding doors open the exterior deck up from the kitchen. The kitchen, with its granite centre island and wall-to-wall windows that provide nature light while overlooking the backyard, is one of Ms. Guillon’s favourite areas of the house.
The other is the main entranceway; a feature that epitomizes the design elements of the house. The grand foyer features exposed steel beams, modern glass railings, glass windows lining the stairwell up to the 20-foot ceilings and rich hardwood floors.
“It’s magnificent,” Ms. Guillon said.