Toronto home on sale for the first time since 1970 once had famous owners
Some Toronto homes have history, but 32 Belcourt Rd. has enough stories to fill a book.
The Davisville Village farmhouse was home to late Canadian actors, writers and artists Corinne Langston and Desmond Scott for more than 55 years, and now, for the first time since 1970, it's hitting the market.
Built in 1908, decades before much of the neighbourhood grew up around it, the six-bedroom home has managed to hold onto an impressive amount of its original character — along with the traces of the many artists, writers, performers and neighbours who passed through its doors.
The living room.
And apparently, there were a lot of them.
According to realtor Mike Perkins, Langston's obituary mentions the couple entertaining at the house a whopping 57 times in a single year.
One of six bedrooms.
There were Christmas parties, Christmas Eve gatherings, music, drinks and plenty of artists, writers and performers passing through the home. Perkins says even Carol Burnett once sat down for dinner here.
But for all the life that's happened inside 32 Belcourt Rd., the house itself has remained remarkably intact.
The primary bedroom.
When Langston and Scott bought the home in 1970, they didn't gut it and start over. Instead, they painstakingly preserved and restored many of the details that were already there.
The music room.
The original hardwood floors and woodwork remain, along with solid interior doors, the staircase, stained glass and the home's double-brick construction.
In fact, one of the home's prettiest original features was almost lost entirely.
The stained-glass windows that were almost lost.
On either side of the living room fireplace are stained-glass windows that look like they've always been an obvious focal point of the room.
But when Langston and Scott bought the house, they couldn't even see them.
The view into the kitchen.
Bookcases had been built over the windows at some point, and Perkins says the couple discovered the stained glass while stripping and refinishing the home's original woodwork.
Rather than leaving the windows hidden, they removed the bookcases and refinished the frames, bringing the stained glass back into the room.
And that wasn't the only time the couple opted for restoration over replacement.
The foyer.
The home's original doors, trim, staircase railing and stair treads were all stripped and refinished, helping explain why a house that's well over a century old still has so much of its original character today.
The updated kitchen.
Of course, not everything here is from 1908.
The breakfast nook.
The kitchen has been updated with a much more modern look and features an eat-in area overlooking the backyard.
The dining room.
The rest of the main floor maintains a more traditional Old Toronto layout, with multiple living spaces and a formal dining room rather than one giant open-concept space.
And there's certainly no shortage of room.
A bedroom.
The home boasts 2,503 square feet above grade and approximately 3,592 square feet of total interior space, including a whopping six bedrooms.
Another bedroom on the third floor.
So you could theoretically have a bedroom, guest room, home office, gym, craft room and still have space left over.
An aerial view of the property.
But perhaps even more impressive than the size of the house is the size of the property it sits on. 32 Belcourt Rd. occupies a 50-by-125-foot lot, which is massive for a neighbourhood this central.
The backyard.
The backyard is filled with mature trees, established perennial gardens and plenty of lawn, making it feel more like a suburban garden than something just minutes from Yonge and Eglinton.
Scott's sculptures in the garden.
And even the fence has a story. According to Perkins, the neighbours behind the property wanted to see the garden, so rather than putting up an opaque privacy fence, they installed an antique-looking wire fence.
The fence between properties.
They even added a gate so the neighbours could move between the properties.
"They built a fence specifically so it wouldn't separate them," Perkins said.
A bedroom or office space.
And the property's creative history actually stretches back even further than Langston and Scott.
Before they bought 32 Belcourt Rd., the house belonged to artist and art teacher Allen Good, who didn't just live here — he taught art in the basement.
One of his students was Richard McNeill, who later became an artist himself and taught at Central Technical School.
One of three bathrooms.
Years later, McNeill ended up back at the same house for dinner, except by then it belonged to Langston and Scott.
The back of the house and back garden.
McNeill became a friend and colleague of the family and eventually taught Desmond and the couple's daughter, Amanta, how to weld, a skill they would both use in sculpture.
Another bedroom.
It's the kind of strange full-circle connection that makes the home's history feel less like a list of previous owners and more like a continuing story.
The living room with original features.
Outside, Scott's sculptures became part of the garden; inside, Langston wrote behind the closed door of her study, Amanta played the piano, and the house kept filling up with friends, neighbours, and fellow creatives.
For all its history, though, 32 Belcourt Rd. comes with some very practical perks too.
A window seat in the breakfast area.
There's a two-car private driveway plus a detached single-car garage, giving the property parking for three cars.
It's also close to parks, the Beltline Trail, schools, transit and the shops and restaurants along Mount Pleasant and Bayview, with Yonge and Eglinton nearby.
A view towards the kitchen.
But it's difficult to separate the physical house from everything that's happened inside it.
When Perkins began researching the property ahead of listing it, he expected to uncover fairly standard real estate details: when additions were built, what had been updated, and who owned it before Langston and Scott.
A powder room.
Instead, he found more than a century of artists, parties, friendships, neighbours and small decisions that helped shape the home into what it is today.
A study space.
"I'm supposed to sell the house," Perkins said. "Instead, I found myself uncovering its stories. And perhaps that is the best way to explain what I felt the first time I walked through the door: this has been a very happy house."
After more than 55 years with the same family, someone new will now get the chance to add theirs.
The back of the house.
Currently, 32 Belcourt Rd. is listed for $2,399,000.
