This
two-story house, in Toronto's Yorkville Village, centers around
a glazed interior courtyard, separating the entry, vestibule and
garage at the front from the living and kitchen area at the rear.
Upstairs, the front contains two bedrooms with bathroom and study,
connected by a bridge across the courtyard to a study, master bedroom
and bath overlooking the rear garden. The house, designed by Barton
Myers for his own family, and published worldwide, demonstrates
the feasibility of infilling a narrow urban lot, 25 feet by 118
feet. While the Myers house is obviously of contemporary design,
its scale and alignment relate to its older neighbors.
The
central courtyard, topped by greenhouse framing and full of light
and greenery, functions very much in the Roman tradition of the
'atrium'-a place for meeting, dining and entertaining. This pioneering
design features frankly exposed steel structure and mechanical systems,
now familiar aspects of Barton Myers' work.
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