This loft would be the largest challenge they’d ever taken on

Christopher Wannamaker and his husband Edward Wang were walking in a Toronto neighbourhood in 2019, admiring Victorian buildings on the street.
“I said ‘Wouldn’t it great to take one of these buildings and convert it, live upstairs and rent the ground floor, and have income to supplement our lifestyle?’ ” recalls Wang. “Chris said ‘Let’s start looking!’ ”
Wang, a real estate broker, and Wannamaker, a sales representative, both with www.wgrouprealestate.ca, found what they were seeking that summer in the Little Portugal/Dundas West neighbourhood.
While the three-storey Victorian building had the architecture, 11-foot ceilings and window details they wanted, the previous owners had stripped away most of the interior’s original character, and it was in poor condition.
The couple “had a habit of buying something rough and renovating it into something beautiful,” says Wannamaker, but this would be the largest challenge they’d taken on.
“I always had a strong fascination with lofts and lived in one for 10 years until I outgrew it,” says Wang. “It’s always been a dream of ours to move into a character-filled space.”
They started renovating in March 2020, just as the pandemic hit. “It was horrible,” recalls Wannamaker, as it took months for materials to be delivered, the cost of lumber skyrocketed, and permits got delayed. When the factory in Quebec supplying steel framing shut down, it brought the project to a standstill. The 12-month job dragged on for 18 months, and when they moved in, in July 2021, the house was still a construction site, and had no kitchen.
But their struggles were worth it, as Wannamaker and Wang got the Victorian home of their dreams, with the help of Vanessa Fong, principal architect for VFA.
It’s a 2,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath abode filled with light and designed to accommodate their love of entertaining, and their Great Pyrenees dog, Anderson Pooper.
Their place boasts a spectacular intimate courtyard on the third floor. Wannamaker says it’s an “upside down” house, with the bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor, and the living room, dining room and kitchen on the third. An upscale salon rents the commercial space on the ground floor.
“We wanted it to feel like a nice hotel,” says Wannamaker. “That was the inspiration.”
The show-stopping feature is the interior courtyard, cut out from the roof where a skylight used to be. That type of feature is rare in Toronto, says Wang, but gives them indoor-outdoor living for most of the year.
Their residence is just a five-minute drive from their office, and they can walk to the restaurants, stores and cafés of Dundas West, in the “bustling, vibey” neighbourhood they love.