A Stunning Forest Hill Renovation

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Toronto’s Villa Discrete

August 07, 2010

I can't say I was completely won over when that Michael Lee-Chin 'Crystal', by architect Daniel Libeskind, smashed into the venerable Royal Ontario Museum in 2007 and stuck. I think I would have liked it more had it actually been a crystal and not a bunch of galvalume with a few strips of glass that crashed into the City's stately museum. It's grown on me since, but I defer.

In this past Friday's Globe and Mail article by architecture critic Dave LeBlanc a great renovation Brick Box Turns Modernist Palace was featured. This is the exterior facade photo - from The Globe article.

What this stunning Toronto Forest Hill renovation by architect Ivan Saleff shares with the ROM, is that it attaches a contemporary addition to a classic piece of architecture with zero apologies. And it works beautifully. The addition is simple but luxe in materials, clean-lined in its design, and elegant in its execution. And I adore how there's a bit of an architectural paradox happening here. The new additions serve as an understatement to the original dignified structure which, in turn, allows them to stand out and take centre stage in all their modernist glory. The addition doesn't compete but compliments, which I consider Magic.

Well done!

~ Steven  

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