Located in Toronto’s historic Baby Point neighbourhood, Glide House is a full-scale renovation project that creates contemporary new life for an early-1900s Tudor estate. Working with municipal and conservation authorities, Studio Limina redesigned the home to offer meaningful engagement with the neighbourhood's distinct architectural tradition as well the sublime landscape that surrounds it — an abundant ravine with views of the Humber River.

Restorations to the home’s stucco and stone facade and historic chimney alongside new elements — a shake roof and strategically integrated dormers and windows — preserve and upgrade the original street-facing exterior, keeping a contemporary secret within: a minimalist, light-filled interior subtly accented by traditional materials that smoothly coalesce the home’s architectural past and present.

Named for a portion of river stream with little or no turbulence, Glide House reforms a cramped and disjointed layout, elevating a flowing network of spaces — and aesthetics — that cascade in and out of each other. The redesigned main staircase connects the three floors of the home, a streamlined form of black metal, glass, and floating white oak sequenced into a marble step-down and living semi-wall. A newly integrated artisan-made stained glass window summons these materials into ornamented form. The home’s secondary stair distills this design, in which treads are seamlessly embedded into a wood-paneled wall that stretches three storeys, supporting continuity from the basement to the primary bedroom. Anchored by hidden connections, its angular metal railing presents a material original to the home with modern lightness.

Replacing low walls with small windows at the back of the house, SLi devised a series of expansive boxed forms in the bedroom, kitchen and two living spaces, featuring floor-to-ceiling bifold doors that act as enlarged portals to the foliage-rich backyard and provide magnificent views of the ravine. Accessible from the reconfigured basement, underpinned to accommodate a sauna, gym, arcade, heated concrete floors, 10-foot ceilings, and storage, an existing indoor pool was converted into a semi-enclosed, four-season outdoor pool that further diffuses the barrier between inside and out.

Elegant white oak herringbone floors at once become the signature gesture of the interior, with surrounding finishes streamlined to their most essential forms: foregone framing and baseboards, trimless HVAC, disguised venting, mud-in recessed lighting, and custom doors that stretch from floor to ceiling, disappearing into walls and creating an openness between rooms. Balancing these interventions, stained glass, a wood-carved fireplace, and decorative wrought iron railings are seamlessly incorporated into the contemporary design that surrounds them, enhancing a delicate dialogue between old and new, minimalism and adornment.

To achieve exceptional energy efficiency, SLi worked closely with our engineering and construction partners to integrate high-performance windows, fully upgraded services, and a sensor-based building automation system. We carefully structured ceilings, walls, floors, and custom millwork to disguise these services and avoid bulkheads throughout, empowering standout architectural moments like the family room’s reconstructed vaulted ceiling, accented by custom beams with integrated lighting that draw the eye up into the streamlined, exalted space. In this way, hidden architectures contribute to a home with measured simplicity as its guiding principle — a testament to design that is seen, but also unseen.