10635 Wood Bay Ridge Road, Halfmoon Bay, BCEngel & Völkers Vancouver
In a special edition of The Globe and Mail’s roundup of the top housing and real estate stories, we’re featuring the best homes of the week from 2025. These houses, showcased when they were for up for sale this year, include a refurbished cannery, a few modern farmhouses, and the kind of spaces that provide real estate dreams for days.
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A Toronto house that sits on the edge
11 Beaumont Ave., Toronto.Birdhouse Media
11 Beaumont Rd., Toronto – Full gallery here
In a secluded enclave in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood, this four-bedroom house is set below street level, surrounded by forest. First built in 1969 by renowned architect Eberhard Zeidler, the home went through some major renovations along the way – including a massive rebuilding to future-proof it against the sliding ravine soil. The kitchen is closest to the floor of the valley, and that lower level provides a relaxed family room and games area. The bedroom level provides a primary suite with a south-facing view into the ravine. The outdoor sanctuary includes a rebuilt pool, hot tub and outdoor fireplace set in landscaped gardens.
– Carolyn Ireland
On a remote B.C. inlet, a former fish-packing plant finds a second life
Cassiar Cannery, Lot 44, Cassiar Drive, Port Edward, B.C.Sotheby’s International Realty Canada
Cassiar Cannery, Lot 44, Cassiar Dr., Port Edward, B.C. – Full gallery here
Back in 2006, Justine Crawford and her husband bought a salmon cannery that was more than 100 years old at the mouth of the Skeena River. Almost 20 years later, the cannery site founded in 1889 is now converted into a tourist destination, and the once-abandoned buildings have now been restored to life. Partially using lumber that washed up on their waterfront, the buildings were renovated into guest houses – Ms. Crawford lives at the end of the row. There’s a wait-list of people who are eager to visit and a longer list of people who’ve been and want to return.
– Shane Dingman
A restored Queen Anne Revival mansion in Nova Scotia offers a step back in time
17 Collins St., Yarmouth, N.S.Viewpoint.ca
17 Collins St., Yarmouth, N.S. – Full gallery here
This four-bedroom heritage home is one of only two mansions built in Nova Scotia in the Queen Anne Revival style. The house has a storied history – first built for one of Yarmouth’s most prominent doctors, then used by the federal government as a barracks for the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, then converted in a public library, and finally turned into rentals and a bed and breakfast. The owners said it took three years to restore the house to its former glory. The veranda wraps around the front of the house and connects to the entrance of the conservatory. Inside, a French glass door opens to a conservatory that has floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows and a skylit roof.
– Carlo Cantisani
The Toronto home where world champion Kurt Browning hangs his skates
397 Soudan Ave., Toronto.The Print Market
397 Soudan Ave., Toronto – Full gallery here
When figure skating legend Kurt Browning was looking for a new home in Toronto in 2015, the epicentre of his search was Greenwood College School, where his eldest son was a student. That’s how he found his four-bedroom home in the Davisville neighbourhood. The home’s contemporary design is elevated by its natural elements, such as the exterior wood cladding. From the front foyer, stairs rise to the main floor, with a dining and lounging area at the front of the home and a kitchen and family room at the rear. On the upper floor, skylights bring plenty of natural light to the bedrooms and office. Outside, the backyard has a large deck and a built-in hot tub.
– Carolyn Ireland
A Saint John charmer for a serial renovator
218 King Street, Saint John, N.B.Jake McVicar/Jake McVikar
218 King Street, Saint John, N.B. – Full gallery here
Owner Martin McNamara has been living in and restoring old homes for over 15 years in London, Montreal and now Saint John. He says he was first attracted to the home on King Street because of how much it hasn’t changed since it was built in 1885. A mix of ornate brickwork and carved stone decorates the exterior, well above the standard of a typical Victorian home. The ceilings on the main level are 14 feet high, and the doorways are framed with elaborate wood mouldings – some carved and angular with Greco-Roman influences, others with smooth sweeping arches.
– Shane Dingman
House in Halfmoon Bay hugs a rock cliff
10635 Wood Bay Ridge Road, Halfmoon Bay, B.C.Engel & Völkers Vancouver
10635 Wood Bay Ridge Road, Halfmoon Bay, B.C. – Full gallery here
The two-bedroom home is one of a dozen or so compounds carved into the ridges and forests along the Straight of Georgia, about 10 minutes north of Halfmoon Bay. The modernist structure mixes black metal roofing with wooden posts and beams around the home. It’s not too rustic, and not too contemporary, it’s a fusion with some Japanese influences as well. The bathroom accompanying the primary suite is sauna-like, with wooden panels and glass walls. For those concerned about privacy with that kind of structure, the property’s nearest neighbour at that level is all the way on the other side of the water, on Vancouver Island.
– Shane Dingman
Chef Jamie Kennedy’s rural home and food laboratory
1 Station Rd., Hillier, PEC.Daniel Vaughan
1 Station Rd., Hillier, Prince Edward County, Ont. – Full gallery here
This cottage in Prince Edward County was built in the early 1900s by a farming family, part of an old United Empire Loyalist settlement. The structure had no indoor plumbing or central heating when Toronto chef Jamie Kennedy bought it in the early 2000s. Creek House – named for its position next to the water flowing through the property – has 2,100 square feet of living space with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and new spaces for living and entertaining. Throughout the interior, reclaimed wood from a barn down the road was used for the ceiling beams and rustic treads of a staircase to the upper level – while the property’s original farmhouse, renovated in 2005, works well as a guest cottage or a rental home.
– Carolyn Ireland
Cookbook author Anne Lindsay’s Rosedale home boasts a great kitchen (of course)
22 Binscarth Rd., Toronto.Supplied
22 Binscarth Rd., Toronto – Full gallery here
Fans of Anne Lindsay’s cookbooks have the kitchen in her Toronto home to thank for the hundreds of healthy recipes she tested there. The beloved cookbook author and her husband Bob, a Bay Street lawyer, fell in love with the house as young parents in the early 1970s, but didn’t purchase it until more than a decade later. The five-bedroom circa 1910 home, designed by respected Beaux Arts architect Francis Baker, still has many original details: bay windows, stained glass sidelights in the entry hall and a setting far back from the road to create a park-like feel.
– Carolyn Ireland
A modern farmhouse with an 1850s core in Prince Edward County
1164 Danforth Rd., Prince Edward County, Ont.Ben Spence/OneLook Productions Inc.
1164 Danforth Rd., Prince Edward County, Ont. – Full gallery here
When looking for a vacation home in the idyllic Prince Edward County region, buyers must typically decide between rural, historic, or modern styles. This three-bedroom home combines all three elements, featuring modern elements but keeping true to its 1850s core. When the current owners first bought the property in 2019, it was an old white farmhouse with little insulation. Now, the foyer opens into the new addition centred by the kitchen. At the top of the stairs is an office made more cozy by the angled attic walls, and the bedroom features a full ensuite bathroom with an infrared sauna.
– Shane Dingman
‘A wildlife paradise’: Heritage home comfort and acres of privacy
234520 Concession 2, West Grey, Ont.Kevin Gilchrist/Kevin Gilchrist
234520 Concession 2, West Grey, Ont. – Full gallery here
The seven-bedroom, 19th-century stone farmhouse for sale in the rolling hills of Grey County has a rural feel with modern touches. The home is a combination of the old farmhouse, as well as a small timber frame home added in the ‘90s, which has since added a second floor with two bedrooms, as well as a new kitchen. The farmhouse also got a kitchen makeover – it now features an 11-foot island, a six-burner cooktop, double wall ovens and a pantry. The owners added a gazebo-style living room and dining room with panoramic views at each end of the house, to enjoy the private views that can only come with hundreds of acres of untouched wildlife.
– Carolyn Ireland