This Toronto home feels like a secret treehouse in the middle of downtown

Toronto is full of houses renovated within an inch of their lives, leaving behind a sea of white oak, beige kitchens, and interiors that sometimes feel suspiciously like they were generated by the same bland algorithm.

Draped in greenery, 33A Henry St. is decidedly not one of those houses.

Tucked down a meandering pathway just north of Baldwin Village, the four-storey home feels a little like a treehouse, a little like an architectural experiment and a lot like something you probably wouldn't expect to find two blocks from the Art Gallery of Ontario.

An aerial view of 33A Henry St. 

"It's pretty cool, and it's very secret," listing agent Nicole St. John told blogTO.

The dining area. 

Also known as 33 1/2 Henry St., the house dates back to 1900, but one of the most interesting chapters in its history involves architect and photographer Claude Liger-Belair.

The living room. 

According to St. John, Liger-Belair originally practised in Lebanon before moving to Toronto, where he worked on a number of residential projects that remain largely undocumented.

The kitchen. 

"He was an architect and photographer who positioned the house and the rooms to take advantage of their natural environment, very akin to Frank Lloyd Wright," she said.

A little window seat with views of nature. 

And you can see that philosophy throughout 33A Henry St.

The rooftop balcony. 

The narrow home stretches upward through four storeys, with huge windows, multiple decks, and treetop views that make it feel surprisingly connected to nature, even though it sits right in the middle of downtown Toronto.

The front entrance and front porch. 

"It soars into the sky like a tower of nature, foliage and light," St. John said.

The main floor. 

Inside, the house has retained plenty of character.

A little office nook. 

A rooftop skylight sends natural light down through the home, while soaring ceilings make the main living space feel considerably bigger than you might expect from the outside.

The wood-burning fireplace in the living room. 

There's also a wood-burning fireplace for those who prefer their Toronto homes to have a little more personality than an electric rectangle mounted beneath a TV.

One of the bedrooms. 

The house has three bedrooms plus an office, although the unusual layout means there's plenty of opportunity to rethink how the rooms are used.

The loft space. 

One of the coolest spaces is the third-floor loft, which has sloped ceilings and a true Juliet balcony.

Another view of the loft space. 

It could work as another sleeping space, an artist's studio or the sort of place where you disappear for six months and emerge having finally written that memoir.

The unique staircase. 

But arguably the home's best feature is even higher up.

The rooftop deck. 

The rooftop deck is an unexpectedly lush retreat complete with a herb garden, water, power and a cedar pergola.

An aerial view of the other outdoor spaces at the back of the house. 

It's also just one of three decks attached to the house, providing an almost absurd amount of outdoor space for somewhere this centrally located.

The lower level Airbnb. 

And if you want your unusual architectural treehouse to help pay for itself, the lower level is a separate, registered and insured Airbnb that, according to the listing, rents for around $2,500 a month, often to visiting University of Toronto professors and doctors.

The laneway parking. 

There's even laneway parking at the back, which is a pretty major bonus when you're right in the middle of downtown.

A view into the kitchen. 

The location is hard to beat.

One of three bathrooms. 

Henry Street runs south from College Street into Baldwin Village, putting the home a couple of blocks from the Art Gallery of Ontario and within walking distance of U of T, hospitals, transit and some of the city's most interesting restaurants.

The back deck. 

But despite being smack in the middle of everything, the house itself feels surprisingly removed from it.

The pathway to the house. 

Even the approach is unusual. Rather than marching directly from sidewalk to front door, you follow a winding pathway through the greenery — something the listing rather poetically notes is prized in Feng Shui for helping turn "aggressive energy into a gentle nourishing current" before you arrive home.

A second bathroom. 

Whether you buy into that philosophy or not, it's certainly more interesting than walking up a concrete driveway.

A bedroom. 

And that's kind of the appeal of the entire house.

The lower level Airbnb bedroom. 

At a time when so many homes are being designed around the same handful of trends, 33A Henry St. is unapologetically strange, warm and individual, with more than a century of history and architectural quirks layered into its four storeys.

The living room. 

Or, as St. John rather perfectly put it: "This place couldn't be less AI if it tried."

The back of the house. 

Currently, 33A Henry St. is listed for $1,599,000.