Comments on: Toronto's Smallest House

Toronto's Smallest House

GuyZero — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:12:17 -0800

Looking to buy a house in Toronto? Why not buy Toronto's smallest house (about 300 square feet), built in a former driveway. via.

By: tastybrains

tastybrains — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:18:04 -0800

I actually kind of almost wish I lived there. It's really darling and you could pretend you're a hobbit.

By: Armitage Shanks

Armitage Shanks — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:19:26 -0800

"Plus 2 Car Parking"? Where?

By: ben242

ben242 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:20:25 -0800

Tiny houses can be pretty freaking cool.

By: klarck

klarck — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:21:20 -0800

$179K for 300 sq ft? How much is that in $US? Oh wait, never mind.

By: patr1ck

patr1ck — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:21:34 -0800

This is what $180,000 buys you in Toronto? I'd rather buy one of these and just live in it.

By: These Premises Are Alarmed

These Premises Are Alarmed — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:22:12 -0800

A coworker of mine has a house only slightly larger - about the same but with a second floor - in Nahant, MA.

By: tadellin

tadellin — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:24:20 -0800

I have to question the need for two satellite dishes.

By: kowalski

kowalski — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:27:13 -0800

"Plus 2 Car Parking"? Where? In back. That area of the city has a lot of laneways with rear garages.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:30:35 -0800

I would totally live there. I love tiny houses.

By: tastybrains

tastybrains — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:32:02 -0800

I think the fact that it comes with Elfs is totally worth the cost.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:33:28 -0800

Also, 100 Amp service. In case you fill it with table saws or something.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:38:16 -0800

I adore it. It's like Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:47:44 -0800

The Unabomber's house was much less expensive than that. More acreage too. What a rip off.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:49:32 -0800

Looks like a dream home for Bubbles.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:54:30 -0800

I find it telling that, although they say it has a "reno'd bath" there are no pictures of it and it does not show up among the oficially listed rooms. Perhaps that means the reno consisted of suctioning out the pit under the potted plant?

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:55:52 -0800

I would buy that home, get Warwick Davis to stay in it for an evening, and then, as a joke, have Stephen Merchant peer in at him through the window. That's the sort of wasteful behavior I would engage in if I were a billionaire.

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:56:49 -0800

On the one hand, I can't believe this place is up to code with the Murphy bed going all the way to the wall like that. On the other hand, bowling every night, baby!

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:00:08 -0800

tastybrains writes "I think the fact that it comes with Elfs is totally worth the cost." Rather, "Elf's," which I think means that it used to be owned by an elf, or maybe even someone named Elf. Which makes sense either way.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:02:54 -0800

~~"Elf's"~~Elves just being a "little" pedantic

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:05:37 -0800

Actually there's an even smaller house in Toronto.. (as mentioned in this episode of Quirks & Quarks: Green Buildings)

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:14:07 -0800

Not as small, but Grand Designs in the UK featured a house that was built in an alley and had serious height restrictions: Peckham Glass House

By: markdj

markdj — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:24:39 -0800

This one in London is even smaller.

By: oaf

oaf — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:24:42 -0800

Ha! I know someone who lives a block away from that.

By: Parasite Unseen

Parasite Unseen — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:27:40 -0800

When you're in your little room And you're working on something good But if it is really good You're gonna need a bigger room And when you're in the bigger room You might not know what to do You might have to think of How you got started Sittin' in your little room

By: tastybrains

tastybrains — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:33:36 -0800

"Elf's"Elves just being a "little" pedantic Oh, see, I thought Elfs was the Canadian spelling of elves. Goes to show how much I know.

By: Turtles all the way down

Turtles all the way down — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:41:58 -0800

I still don't get what an Elf is in this context (and I speak Canadian). Is it short for something? Electronic Lawn Furniture? Excitable Live-in Furrier?

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:43:15 -0800

Toronto? Ha! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO TORONTO by THE VESTIBULES it is essential that you understand that this is sung in a French Canadian accent I don't want to go to Toronto I don't want to go All of the blocks are square None of the streets are twisted None of the streets are paved with bricks There's too many elevators in Toronto Not enough stairs in Toronto Not enough stairs All of the food in Toronto is made of edible oil products They don't have bagels in Toronto They have doughnuts Doughnuts made of edible oil I don't like doughnuts They don't have bagels I don't want to go to Toronto People don't have faces in Toronto They have cigarette ads instead They listen to your phone calls There's a tower in Toronto that controls people's minds It's illegal to possess brightly coloured balloons in Toronto Illegal to own brightly coloured balloons All of the children in Toronto must wear suits Even the girls Three piece suits The buildings in Toronto have no windows I don't want to go Everyone lives in sub-terranean caverns Filled with doughnuts made of edible oil I don't want to go Nobody goes to the bathroom in Toronto They have a special operation They have it removed surgically There's a tax on all wicker goods in Toronto There's huge buildings with no windows And streets with no curves And inside you find little girls in suits Running around with black balloons And munching on edible oil products The kids don't have names They have numbers which are assigned to them at birth They're called three hundred and eighty seven point seven Four hundred and twelve point nine And they all have cigarette ads instead of faces I don't want to go to Toronto I don't want to go I have plenty of wicker goods I don't want a tax on my wicker goods I like going to the bathroom I don't want to go the hospital I don't want to go to Toronto I don't want to go Do I have to go to Toronto? Do I? Do I have to go?

By: tastybrains

tastybrains — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:47:16 -0800

I still don't get what an Elf is in this context (and I speak Canadian). Is it short for something? Electronic Lawn Furniture? Excitable Live-in Furrier? I don't think it's an abbreviation. I think they are the small little men who live in the cupboard who come out at night and bake you cookies. But only if you buy the house.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:47:37 -0800

and, turtles, the idea is that small houses come with small people

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:53:27 -0800

Existing Light Fixtures -- in other words, the owners aren't taking that chandelier you loved when they leave.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:55:56 -0800

We play that on every trip there, koeselitz.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:56:41 -0800

Wasn't this location shooting for Stuart Little?

By: stinkycheese

stinkycheese — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:01:01 -0800

I've seen this place but just assumed it was part of one of the adjoining properties. Crazy. Other crazy Toronto houses include this greek-styled temple on Shaw St., just around the corner from where I practise sometimes.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:16:09 -0800

Elves is the standard plural but elfs has been used: 1700 DRYDEN Wife Bath's T. 3 The King of elfs.. Gamboll'd on heaths. (That's the OED citation; in the original publication it was apparently "The king of eelfs, and little fairy queen, Gambol'd on heaths, and danc'd on ev'ry green.")

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:24:28 -0800

I DON'T WANT TO GO TO TORONTO by THE VESTIBULES I have 3 MP's worth of that somewhere. It is indeed comedy gold.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:37:51 -0800

If I got that house I'd have a huge basement, maybe a sub basement too. Carry in all sorts of bulky heavy stuff, grand piano, big screen t.v., weird out the neighbors. And I'd build a tiny garage smaller than the length of my car, with a massively downward sloping floor into a large underground space with one of those revolving turntables for the car and I'd drive in and out of it at 70 mph. And I'd store all kinds of large equipment in it like an industrial snow blower and a riding mower. And I'd scream at kids to get off of my tiny lawn. You can't 1/2 ass these things.

By: cazoo

cazoo — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:10:42 -0800

Not much room to swing your arms when you play your Nintendo Wii. But I love the hardwood floors!

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:55:32 -0800

Smedleyman, I think I love you.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:10:28 -0800

Even though this house is a silly little thing, damn but if you don't get a lot of house for your money in Canada. Six bedrooms on Vancouver Island for $300,000? Here, you'd be lucky to get a slum for that sort of money. And I live in a *cheap* part of the UK. If it wasn't so cold, I might even think about relocating.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:55:12 -0800

I'd totally buy it if it were in a better area. Also, there's a smaller house near Danforth and Coxwell.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:31:54 -0800

If it wasn't so cold, I might even think about relocating. Peter, Vancouver Island really isn't all that much colder than England. If you lived on the southern end of the island (Victoria area) you're not much north of Seattle. It would cost you more than 300k in Victoria, though. Still, the west coast of Canada is a temperate rain forest. There's snow on the ground anywhere between perhaps four and twenty days a year.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:35:21 -0800

That's the size of many apartments in Hell's Kitchen, which might be 25 to 50 sq feet larger. When they're renovated they look very similar. $180,000 seems a good price for Toronto.

By: typewriter

typewriter — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:36:54 -0800

I would much rather live in that funny house that a comparably priced condo. Probably about the same square footage too. Still, strange there are no photos of the bathroom.

By: jrochest

jrochest — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:03:54 -0800

I wonder why they didn't make it two stories, and fill in the space between the two neighboring houses completely? Also, how did they get approval....

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:44:57 -0800

Can I post my favorite small house? It is right across from a large parking garage near downtown Mountain View, CA, so I always see it whenever I go to MV to have lunch. Mountian View being the home of Google, all its streets are covered by Google's 'Street View' photos, so there's a nice shot here. I occasionally see the owner going in and out. I've always wanted to know the story of this tiny house in downtown Mountain View.

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:59:03 -0800

Gees--I just found out the MV house is for sale too! Only $1,780,000! Of course it includes a much larger retail zoned house up the street and a large lot (see the photos for the back of the tiny house). The larger house was once home to a famous and extremely expensive French restaurant (if I am thinking of the right house--not too many early 1900 houses in downtown MV)--one of those restaurants that you pay $100 and get a plate of artistic food that wouldn't fill a starving model. Considering the location, the zoning, and all the land--not a bad price. You even get a really tiny place to live!

By: tehloki

tehloki — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:39:18 -0800

My friends live next to a smaller house. Somebody is living in a 1-car compact-sized garage in their alley and has added all the usually house-style trimmings. It's pretty hilarious.