Toronto’s Roncesvalles neighborhood is home to art galleries, Polish eateries, a farmer’s market, and verdant parks. It’s also where photographer Andrew Rowat, whose award-winning work has appeared in Bon Appetit and Vanity Fair, grew up. After stints working in Shanghai and New York, the global denizen returned to the city in 2019 with his wife and newborn son looking to purchase a home. “It was a year of firsts,” recalls Rowat, who settled on a quaint, century-old Edwardian townhouse in the hip enclave.

Rowat had no intention of making major changes to the two-story home, other than a simple appliance upgrade in the kitchen. The layout proved challenging, however, so Rowat sought help from his former officemate and longtime friend, architect Delnaz Yekrangian. “Like most Toronto semi-detached homes on relatively deep lots, daylight had to be ‘dragged’ inside,” recalls the architect, who suggested opening the main floor for maximum sight lines and adding skylights, among other features. “In the software business, it’s called ‘scope creep’,” laughs Rowat, who tapped another colleague, Shanghai-based designer Daniel Fintzi, to collaborate for the grueling facelift. “Fortunately, all three of us are very detailed-oriented,” notes Rowat. “As a photographer adept in leveraging natural light, he was the perfect client,” concurs Yekrangian.

Dror Studio’s sinuous Peacock armchair makes a statement in the open living area where timber beams delineate the entryway and homeowner Andrew Rowat’s photography is mounted upon the custom coat closet.

The trio worked asynchronously, aiming to marry form and function wherever possible while maintaining the home’s 2,000-square-foot envelope and historic character. Old Canadian houses lack closet space, Rowat explained, hence a slew of built-ins: cubbies, drawers, benches and nooks for optimal storage, and uprights meant to mimic two-by-four beams delineating the entryway. A wall-hung toilet allows for additional counterspace in the powder room. Upstairs, Fintzi designed a spacious full bath with heated large-format porcelain tile flooring and marble countertops, specifically cut so the veins flow continuously from backsplash to counter to overhang.

In the formerly cramped kitchen, expansive Corian countertops host a bevy of custom features like an integrated knife strip, induction mobile charging, and discrete cutting boards. A tabletop extends from a lower drawer that can be folded away after use, and an 8-foot louvered ceiling diffuses atmospheric light while concealing the Bluestar range’s exhaust pipe. “The ceiling is often an overlooked canvas for creativity and function,” concurs Rowat.

Original brick peaks through the kitchen, where sleek timber cabinets are painted white and light flooring complements Corian countertops and a Bluestar range.

Fond of Japanese and Scandinavian design principles, the homeowner embraced a wabi-sabi approach through a reductive palette of white-painted walls and pale millwork with Canadian maple flooring, complementing the dwelling’s original brickwork. Rowat debated repointing the latter but ended up keeping it as-is. “Cracks and missing mortar all tell a story of sorts,” he muses. “I enjoy looking at my photographs hanging from this brick that was made more than a century ago.” A large-format print of Kazakhstan’s former Hotel Aral adorns the coat closet, another, of Gaudí’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, adds drama to the dining area.

Rowat’s 20-year career is evident elsewhere, with furnishings and fixtures curated by fellow artists and industry connections. He discovered Vancouver-based lighting studio Bocci after an assignment shooting the co-founder Omer Arbel for T Magazine. Arbel’s pearlescent ovoid chandelier and globular table lamp adorn the dining room, opaque red and yellow orbs appear near the entryway. “Almost every piece or decision in the house comes from some sort of a personal connection,” reflects Rowat.

In total, the renovation took eight months, give or take a few straggling pieces. Rowat, for his part, is pleased. “I have often thought of the home as a palimpsest, where each subsequent owner adds a layer of their own to the underlying manuscript,” opines the photographer.

Peruse Andrew Rowat’s Toronto Transformation

The main suite’s slew of storage includes Canadian woodworker Kate Duncan’s wormy maple blanket box, while Ethnicraft’s Nordic II oak bed grounds the space.

Rowat’s mesmerizing print of Gaudí’s Basilica adorns the dining area, where Alain van Havre’s extendable Bok table is lit by a bubbly Bocci chandelier.

A folding table augments counterspace, and integrated functionality, like a knife-strip, conceals clutter.

Upstairs, the full bath’s veiny marble countertops continuously cascade, large-format Anatolia porcelain tiled floor is heated and pristine Duravit fixtures complete the modern scheme.

A grid-like bookshelf, refinished and painted white, forms a striking feature wall and showcases mementos from Rowat’s travels, with recessed tri-color LEDs overhead.