21 Shaftesbury Ave: A 50-Suite Summerhill Mid-Rise with a Pool

21 Shaftesbury is a building for people who want a house-sized home without the house. It is a five-storey, 50-suite brick and stucco mid-rise on a quiet Summerhill street, with an indoor pool, a library and a four-storey entrance hall, and some suites run past 4,000 sq ft. It is expensive to carry, and there are gaps in the public record I want you to close before you buy. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Brick, stucco and a four-storey entrance hall

Most condos near Yonge and St. Clair are glass towers. 21 Shaftesbury is the opposite: a low, warm-toned building of red brick and stucco set back behind small trees and landscaped planting, so from the street it reads as part of the residential block rather than a development.

The entrance is the memorable part. The foyer rises four storeys, with blue and white tiled floors and a grand piano, which sets the tone for a building that was clearly designed for owner-occupiers rather than investors. If you like the feel of a traditional apartment house, this lobby will sell you before you see a suite.

At five storeys, the building also sits at house scale on its block. There is no podium and no tower above it, so coming home feels closer to walking into a large private residence than into a typical condominium.

Fifty suites, from one-bedrooms to very large homes

Condos.ca puts the suite range at about 643 to 4,198 sq ft. Very few buildings in the city hold both a one-bedroom and a suite of more than 4,000 sq ft, and that spread matters when you price anything here. The large suites are competing with Summerhill and Rosedale houses, not with condos, and they should never be compared with the one-bedrooms per square foot.

Some of the larger suites have been extensively rebuilt by their owners. In 2022 blogTO wrote about one that was reworked by architect Paul Roth, who also restored the former Toronto Street post office, with interiors by Murray Oliver and Anne Swain. Custom work like that is a reason to visit more than one suite, because finishes and layouts here are not uniform.

If you are buying a renovated suite, ask for the permits and the corporation’s approval for any changes to plumbing, walls or the common elements. In a building where owners have done major work, that paperwork protects you.

The record has gaps, so close them

I could not find a developer or architect for this building in any source I trust, and the address appears elsewhere as a range on Shaftesbury Avenue rather than a single number. Condos.ca gives 2015 as the build year, matching the September 2015 registration of TSCC-2487.

None of that is a red flag on its own, but it means the status certificate, declaration and reserve fund study do more work here than usual. Read them for the building’s construction history, what the corporation owns, how parking and lockers are assigned, and what the reserve fund study says about the next major projects. If the listing agent can name the builder, ask for it in writing.

Living in Summerhill

Shaftesbury Avenue is a quiet residential street in Summerhill, close to Yonge Street’s shops and restaurants and to the ravines and parkland that run through this part of the city. It is a neighbourhood where many errands can be done on foot, and the street itself carries little through traffic.

The trade-off for a quiet side street is that the area around Yonge and St. Clair keeps changing, with taller buildings replacing older low-rise sites along the main streets. That rarely touches a street like Shaftesbury directly, but it can change views, construction noise and traffic for a few years. Before you buy, check the City of Toronto development applications map for anything proposed within a few blocks, especially if your suite faces Yonge Street.

Condos.ca also flags pet restrictions here. I could not confirm what they are, so check the rules before you assume a pet will be allowed. Transit, schools, parks and Walk Score for this address are shown in the data panel on this page.

Price per square foot and a heavy monthly fee

Condos.ca reports a building average of about $908 per square foot. For a building of this age and quality in Summerhill, that is in a reasonable range. Treat it carefully, though: with suites from 643 to 4,198 sq ft, an average blends very different homes, and the large suites will usually trade lower per square foot than the small ones.

Monthly fees are high. The two listings I saw carried fees of roughly $1,320 to $1,345 a month, even for the smaller suites. Parking and water are included along with common elements and building insurance, which helps, but heat and hydro are not listed as included. An indoor pool in a 50-suite building is a large cost shared by few owners, and that shows up in the fee.

When I checked there were two suites for sale and none for rent, asking from about $999,000 to $1,098,000. Sales here are few, so ask me for the building sold report before you settle on a price.

Building specifications

Amenities at 21 Shaftesbury

An indoor pool, a library and guest suites in a 50-suite building is an unusual package, and it is the main thing the fee is paying for. It suits owners who will actually use the pool; if you will not, you are subsidising one of the most expensive amenities a building can run. Ask how often the pool is closed for maintenance and when its equipment was last replaced.

Jatin’s honest take on 21 Shaftesbury

21 Shaftesbury — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yorkville, the Annex and Midtown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.