Birdhouse Media
11 Beaumont Rd., Toronto
Asking Price: $19,995,000
Taxes: $62,330.28 (2024)
Lot Size: 175 by 313.7-feet
Agent: Gillian Oxley, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Oxley Real Estate
The backstory
In a secluded enclave in Rosedale, the house at 11 Beaumont Rd., is set far below street level, surrounded by forest.
“That’s what’s so extraordinary about this property – living in a ravine in the middle of Toronto,” says acclaimed architect Peter Clewes, standing at the centre of the glass and steel residence that currently sits on the south-facing slope.
The rare setting was one reason Mr. Clewes was drawn to the project at 11 Beaumont. Another was the legacy of the previous owner: In 1969, renowned architect Eberhard Zeidler had built his own landmark modernist residence on the site.
The German-born architect, who studied at Bauhaus Weimar, is known for Ontario Place and the Eaton Centre in Toronto, McMaster Health Sciences Centre in Hamilton and Canada Place in Vancouver.
“I liked the idea of working on Eb Zeidler’s house,” Mr. Clewes says with a smile.
Mr. Zeidler, who died in 2022, had built his house partly within the limestone walls of the rundown triplex that previously stood on the land. The stone was salvaged from the remnants of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa after the Centre Block was destroyed by fire in 1916.
Mr. Zeidler and his wife, Jane, raised their four children in the house, which is designated an A-rated heritage building by the City of Toronto.
In 2009, the Zeidlers listed the house for sale. During a tour of the property, Mr. Zeidler recalled to The Globe the first time he scrambled down the slope of the ravine and looked back up towards the street.
The slope was 27 degrees, which was the same measure as the main street of San Francisco. He figured if they could build a city street at that angle, he could design a house.
Current owner Daniele McCluskey remembers chatting with the Zeidlers around the dining room table when she and her husband, mining executive John McCluskey, purchased the home.
“I felt immediately connected to the world of architecture and nature,” she says of her conversation with Mr. Zeidler. “It was very important to me to listen to his suggestions and be faithful to his spirit.”
The house today
The McCluskeys moved in and made small changes, such as opening up the kitchen to bring in more light.
After some time, they realized the building was beginning to show its age.
“We noticed that it was leaning into the ravine a little bit,” Ms. McCluskey said.
The couple worked with architects, contractors and engineers but the problems seemed insoluble.
The heritage designation and protected ravine setting made the process more complicated and Ms. McCluskey began to fear they wouldn’t be able to obtain a building permit.
That’s when she turned to Mr. Clewes, principal at architects-Alliance.
The award-winning Toronto practice has designed such notable buildings as the Museum of Contemporary Art and Four Seasons Hotel & Residences in Toronto, and the Fred Kaiser Engineering Building at University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Mr. Clewes first committed to ensuring that the McCluskeys would be able to get the permits they needed to stabilize and rebuild the house. The team set out to determine the extent of the structural problems. There were leaks in various places, for example, so the architects did some exploratory demolition.
“Water was coming out of the hill and into the house,” Mr. Clewes says. “It was very serious work.”
In addition, the weight of the building was pushing the entire structure down the slope.
The heritage designation and protected ravine setting made the renovation process more complicated.Daniele McCluskey
He became more involved as even skillful builders struggled.
The fix was a massive retaining wall pinned back into the hill using horizontal piling. The engineering specialties involved include civil, geotechnical and storm management.
“Nothing’s going to happen to this house. It’s totally rock solid,” says Mr. Clewes. “It was a shock to everyone how expensive it was.”
From their first meeting, Ms. McCluskey was amazed at Mr. Clewes’s ability to envision an elegant solution that no one had thought of before.
“Peter just came in with this very quiet, composed nature. He would look, and in no time at all, he would say, ‘I’ll send you some drawings.’”
Usually within a day, schemes would arrive in her inbox.
“I very much like doing small projects like this because you can get into the details of it,” the architect says.
The four-bedroom house that Mr. Clewes designed, completed in 2020, preserves much of the heritage façade. From Beaumont Road, onlookers see glimpses of a flat roof planted with greenery.
The 1970s-era angled siding was in vogue at the time of Mr. Zeidler’s intervention, Mr. Clewes points out.
A steep driveway swoops down from the street to the garage and entryway. From that level, a glass elevator glides between the upper three floors.
The four levels of the 7,000-square-foot house step down into the ravine.
Today, the interior of the home has been completely transformed, Mr. Clewes explains.
“Basically the building was stripped back to nothing.”
While the original house had been conventionally framed, Mr. Clewes’s most innovative change was to hang the second floor from a steel structure above.
That allowed him to create a lightwell that brings sunlight through the centre of the house.
“We wanted to keep this as open as possible,” he says of the glass cube that houses the living area, kitchen and dining room.
Mr. Clewes figures he created at least 250 renderings of the open volume that rises the three levels to the skylight above as he puzzled out the angles of the walls, the skylights, how the reveals worked and how the stairs fit in.
“There’s an enormous amount of co-ordination required to make it look effortless,” he says of the minimal details and level of refinement.
The kitchen is open to the level below, which is closest to the floor of the valley. That lower level provides a more relaxed family room and games area.
The open stair connecting the family room to the floor above is completely self-supporting with treads fabricated from basalt – a nod to the business of mining.
“It’s basically what comprises the earth’s crust.”
The bedroom level provides a primary suite with a south-facing view into the ravine. There’s a European gas fireplace in the sleeping area and doors opening to a balcony.
The primary bathroom has a deep stand-alone tub, a walk-in shower and expanses of glass.
In the three additional bedrooms on that level, Mr. Clewes added “saddlebags” that essentially widen the rooms currently set up as a home office, gym and guest room. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls provide views into the forest.
A tranquil space overlooking the green roof and private garden was designed for Ms. McCluskey’s meditation practice.
“You are at the top of the trees and nobody disturbs you,” she says of the haven.
Floors on the bedroom level are wide-plank white oak imported from Holland. Italian white marble slabs and simple mosaic tiles are part of the restrained palette throughout.
The outdoor sanctuary includes a rebuilt pool, hot tub and outdoor fireplace set in landscaped gardens.
Mr. Clewes says the house at 11 Beaumont dispenses with the trends of postmodernism. It’s also unusual for the conservative Rosedale neighbourhood.
“This is an attempt to get back to modernism,” he says. “I’m very proud of it. I think it’s beautiful.”
The best feature
The architect aimed to provide a glass house in which to experience the change of the seasons.Birdhouse Media
The simplicity of the interior is a reaction to the colours and textures of nature outside, Mr. Clewes says.
For Ms. McCluskey, the architect’s aim of providing a glass house in which to experience the change of the seasons has resulted in a masterpiece.
“You feel the snow falling onto the ground in the winter,” she says. “You have an owl flying over your head. You are part of the life of nature.”