‘The idea was to go crazy - and there was no budget’

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57 Baby Point Cres., Toronto

Asking Price: $13.5-million

Taxes: $27,853.35 (2024)

Lot Size: 100-by-277-foot ravine lot

Agent: Ryan Barnes, Sotheby’s International Realty Canada

Building a new house or renovating an old one is usually about choices between the dream and reality, between budgets and ambitions. Unless, of course, money is literally no object.

“The idea was to go crazy and there was no budget,” said Chris Amendola, of his multimillion-dollar renovation of a Tudor-style house near Etobicoke’s Kingsway neighbourhood. “I kind of took the approach that this is where we’re going to live forever.”

It started innocently enough; add a new kitchen, some new floors – nothing out of this world. But as walls were opened up, Mr. Amendola and his contractors found various additions over the years had left the house with a hodgepodge of electrical and mechanical systems and rooms that simply didn’t work any more. So a decision was made: “Tear it down to the shell and then I’m going to start over.”

The result is something akin to the “restomod” technique familiar to car enthusiasts, where a classic chassis is filled with the latest gadgetry and performance parts. Behind the custom-made ironwork, stained glass and hand-carved wood details hides computerized and automated systems for home security (28 CCTV cameras), sound (60 speakers throughout the house) and enjoyment (lighting, heating, spa, pool and sauna can all be monitored and activated remotely).

“There’s six boilers in the house [for interior and exterior underfloor heating, including the driveway] and two server cabinets … the systems in this house are like a data centre: there’s massive generator and battery backups,” Mr. Amendola said.

The house was rebuilt after the fibre-optic internet provider he co-founded – Beanfield Metroconnect – was sold in 2019 (terms undisclosed, but reporting at the time suggested an arm of hedge-fund Colony Capital paid more than $100-million for the company) and Mr. Amendola left the company to pursue new opportunities. He finished his dream home in 2022 and says he’s only selling it because it’s in the wrong city: he spends most of his time in Los Angeles now, where his next project is to build a boutique hotel in the Silverlake area.

The House Today

Past the iron gate (automated, of course) there’s a semi-circular driveway that curves around a restored iron-work fountain that stands in front of the refreshed manse. Once inside, though, all pretense at Tudor-era styling disappears and a sleek foyer with mid-century modern influences takes over.

Straight ahead is a small office that looks into the backyard, on the right is floating steel staircase that goes upstairs or downstairs, and on the left is a mud room with garage access and closet space.

Past the floating staircase is a living room with walkout to the upper patio (yes, there’s a lower patio on this lot that slops down to the shore of the Humber River) with some of the exacting details that Mr. Amendola sweated over.

The floors throughout the house are a soft-stained oak in a herringbone pattern, a method of installation that requires precision and, frankly, a lot of patience as there’s never a straight edge that meets a wall. In most houses there’s baseboards that provide cover for any flaws in the drywall or flooring, not here where Mr. Amendola insisted on floating drywall that leaves a gap just above the oak.

“I had to go through three drywall contractors to get the drywall to the level of precision I wanted,” he said. “I would walk around and watch these guys and have a fit because it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.”

For an extra level of finish he also doesn’t have any electrical plates, switches or receptacles that sat on top of the drywall: everything is flush-mounted and smooth.

This living room also has an art deco-inspired original piece in walnut for the fireplace surround by master woodcarver Siggi Buhler. Mr. Amendola liked it and the process of working with Mr. Buhler enough that he commissioned him to do more and more work as the project went on.

“I kept trying to find stuff for him because he was so good,” said Mr. Amendola, who put Mr. Buhler to work on carvings for the fence, on the eaves and more. “He designed the outdoor kitchen. He said, ‘Can I have some creative freedom?’ He drew that shed, he designed it, he built it. The shed looks like it’s 100 years old, it was $70,000 for that.”

Everywhere in the house that doesn’t have floating drywall has custom-made millwork, such as in the kitchen where two of the four walls are filled with cabinets. A central island with bar seating defines the prep area, but the room is defined by the wall of windows on the rear that look into the wooded ravine, and which open up completely with only an iron railing separating the room from the hidden pool deck below.

The pool was once fully enclosed, but in addition to the mildew and water issues there was a décor problem. “It looked like an eighties porn movie: copper and teal, it was the craziest looking thing I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Amendola said. After conservation authorities nixed a plan to make an infinity-edge pool at the edge on of the ravine, Plan B was to partially open the room to the elements and put in a heating system that can keep it 90 degrees in the winter. Looking down from the kitchen balcony, the shallow end of the pool juts out into a secluded patio.

Above the kitchen and the pool deck is the primary bedroom with more of the balcony window walls (and yes, the shallow end of the pool was oriented below these areas to deter any daredevils from ideas of test flights from either floor). The bedroom steps down into a huge dressing room and bathroom, which connects to the upper level hallway (with laundry and a second bedroom suite off it) that ends in a family/TV room with more window walls with Juliette balconies. A third bedroom suite is in the attic level in the centre of the house.

The Man Cave

The first popular reference to the idea of a men’s space, usually in the basement, was in the 1992 book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, by John Gray, who talked about a private cave where men would go to mull their problems. The modern man cave is more like a trophy room, not a place for introspection but a place to share and show off; and in that sense, Mr. Amendola’s basement is a man cave par excellence.

In addition to the glassed-in private gym and sauna opposite the entrance to the pool deck (which by the way, has an exterior access bathroom so you’re not tracking drips through the house when nature calls), the basement holds a teenager’s dream arcade.

“We wanted full-size arcade games and the plan was the indoor pool was going to be filled in and originally it was going to have two bowling lanes,” Mr. Amendola said. This cave was built for a man to share with his 12-year-old son, who has become a master of almost all the games. “He beats me at everything now, he’s a little basketball star. There’s one game – the milk jug game – I can beat him at that.”

The son may hold the high score in NBA Hoops, but he doesn’t appreciate the basketball history in the custom graffiti mural on the walls.

“I found the artist on the City of Toronto’s website for graffiti artists,” Mr. Amendola said. “When it was done my son comes down the stairs and says ‘Why did you put MJ [Michael Jordan] on the wall? He’s not the GOAT [greatest of all time], LeBron’s the GOAT.”

Kids today.