Architecture: Scandinavian Sensibilities Enliven Parkdale’s Dunn House

Originally published in the Globe and Mail. Read the full text here.

Scandinavian sensibilities enliven Parkdale’s Dunn House

Before it was a dream home, the Dunn House in Parkdale was a missed opportunity. The residence has the exterior hallmarks of a classic Victorian abode – red brick, window sashes and eyebrow lintels – except that it’s incredibly spacious. In Toronto, where the old houses tend to be tall and skinny, the Dunn House is an unusual 30 feet-wide. The previous owner, however, subdivided the space into four dingy units, with a rabbit’s warren of private entrances, hallways and staircases.

Elise Larsen and her husband, Richard, bought the place in 2013 and hired the Practice of Everyday Design to redo the interiors. The seven-year-old firm – comprised of siblings Antoine and Melanie Morris and partner David Long – has an outsized reputation in part because of Eden House, a Mississauga bungalow turned into an autumnal, woodsy retreat.

Elise and Richard, a young professional couple, wanted a home to showcase their design-savvy sensibilities. Elise’s family is from Denmark, where Poul Henningsen’s PH5 – the classic pendant lamp with multiple shades that diffuse and soften light – and Borge Mogensen’s spoke-back sofa could be found in every second home. “There was no question we’d have those in our home, too,” she says. Richard is a Montrealer whose childhood obsession with geology and dinosaur bones turned into an adult passion for collecting. “We’re novelty and stimulus bound,” he says of himself and Elise. “We like sensual objects and we like to be around nice things.”

The house embodies this proclivity. You might say it is the finest acquisition in an already fine collection of furniture, lamps, books and tchotchkes. The aesthetic is mid-century Scandinavian but defined in the broadest possible way. Everything, from the finishes to the furnishings, encapsulates not just the sleekness of Northern European design but also the woodsiness, hominess and durability.

This is an excerpt. Read the full text here.