The Oaklands, 315 Avenue Rd: A Governor General’s Medal Low-Rise

The Oaklands is a rare thing: a Toronto condominium that won a national architecture award, and it shows. Macy DuBois and Helga Plumb designed it around a naturally lit interior street, and it won a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture. It is a 65-suite low-rise from 1981 at Avenue Road and Cottingham, it trades above most of its neighbours, and its fees are high. Both of those things have reasons. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An interior street instead of a corridor

Most condominiums are a lobby, an elevator and a double-loaded hallway. The Oaklands was designed differently. Helga Plumb, who had just become Macy DuBois’s partner, set out to make it a small city within the city, with a naturally lit internal walkway that residents share and actually cross paths in.

The design jury agreed. The project won a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture, with a citation that praised how well its scale fits its surroundings and the calm of the complex’s interior street, and it collected several other design awards, including a Canadian Architect award and an OAA Toronto Life design award.

One listing describes the look as late modernism with strong horizontal lines, clay tile detailing and an emphasis on light and landscape. Whatever label you use, it is a building that people choose for the building, not only for the address.

Plumb also thought about how people would use the place, not just how it would look. Her biography notes that resident and visitor parking were planned so owners would find it easy to have guests over. That sounds minor until you have tried to host a dinner near Avenue Road and St. Clair with no visitor spaces.

Townhouse scale, wide range of suites

The Oaklands is a mix of apartments and townhouse-style homes, and the sizes show it: from about 514 sq ft to about 2,207 sq ft. At the top end you are buying something closer to a house than a condo, with the maintenance of a condo.

Sources disagree on the height. Condos.ca lists three storeys, while Plumb’s biography describes the complex as six storeys. The complex may step in height across the site, so walk it yourself and confirm the floor count of the part you are buying in.

Because the plans vary so much, comparing suites by price per square foot alone will mislead you. A large townhouse-style unit with its own entry and a compact apartment off the interior street are different products. I price them against their own type.

Why the fees look high

The two suites listed when I checked carried fees of roughly $2,550 to $2,590 a month. That is a large number, and you should go in with eyes open. The fee covers parking, water, building insurance and common elements; it does not list heat or hydro, so budget for those separately.

Part of the explanation is the design. A low-rise complex with a long interior street, landscaping and a lot of roof and exterior wall per suite costs more to run and maintain than a tower that stacks hundreds of units on one footprint. With only 65 suites to share that cost, each one carries more of it.

The other part is age. A building from 1981 has a long list of components that are due or overdue, and a well-run corporation raises fees ahead of that work rather than surprising owners later. Ask which it has been doing.

Because heat and hydro are not listed in the fee, ask the seller for a year of utility bills as well. In a townhouse-style suite with several exterior walls, heating costs can differ a lot from those of an apartment of the same size in the middle of a tower.

Avenue Road at Cottingham

The complex sits on the edge of Summerhill and Yonge-St. Clair, where Avenue Road meets the quiet residential streets around Cottingham. One side faces a busy arterial and the rest faces tree-lined streets, so which part of the complex a suite is in will affect noise and outlook.

For many buyers that split is the point. You can be on Avenue Road for the bus and the drive downtown, then come home through a quiet interior walkway rather than a busy lobby.

Directly across Oaklands Avenue is Charbonnel, a 19-suite boutique project completed around 2022, which shows the kind of money now coming into this pocket. Yorkville, the Summerhill shops on Yonge and the St. Clair strip are all within reach. Transit, schools, parks and Walk Score are shown in the data panel on this page.

What The Oaklands trades for

Condos.ca reports a building average of about $1,019 per square foot. That is high for a 1981 building and reflects both the design reputation and the scarcity of large low-rise homes in this part of midtown.

When I checked, two two-bedroom suites were listed, asking from about $1.25 million to about $1.6 million. Both carried fees of roughly $2,550 to $2,590 a month, which on a carrying-cost basis is the equivalent of a meaningful mortgage payment. Factor that into what you can offer.

With 65 suites and a wide range of plans, there are not always close comparables on the market. I would build the price from recorded sales of the same suite type over several years rather than from the current listings. Ask me for the building sold report for the recorded sales.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Oaklands

There is no pool, gym or party floor here, and that is part of why the design works: the shared space is the interior street and the landscaping, not a list of rooms. Security and visitor parking are the practical amenities, and visitor parking matters around Avenue Road, where street parking is tight.

Jatin’s honest take on The Oaklands

The Oaklands — 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.