80 Crescent Rd: An 1896 Eden Smith Rosedale House Split Into Condos

80 Crescent Road is a way to own part of a South Rosedale mansion without buying the whole house. The 1896 house was designed by Eden Smith, one of Toronto’s best-known Arts and Crafts architects, and was converted into a small condominium registered in 2012. There are only a handful of suites, each very different, and buying one is closer to buying a house than a condo. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An Eden Smith house, divided by floor

Eden Smith designed the house in 1896. He is best known for the Arts and Crafts houses of Wychwood Park, and Toronto Life also credits him with work on the city’s Carnegie libraries and Upper Canada College. Owning a suite here means owning a piece of a house by an architect whose work still defines parts of the city.

When the house went condo, Toronto Life reported, each floor became its own unit. The corporation was registered in 2012, and the building profile lists four suites over three storeys. That is about as small as a Toronto condominium gets.

Because the building is a converted house, the suites are not repeated floor plans. The ground floor, the middle floor and the top floor each have their own ceiling heights, outdoor space and quirks, and their values follow from that.

What the suites look like

Two published features give a sense of the range. Toronto Life profiled the top-floor suite: about 1,786 square feet with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a gas fireplace, a patio and vaulted ceilings in the living room and bedrooms, along with a galley kitchen that the writer found awkwardly angled. Attic-level suites in old houses often have that mix of drama and compromise.

BlogTO featured a very different suite in 2013: a two-storey home of just over 3,000 square feet with two bedrooms plus a den, four bathrooms, a rooftop terrace, a private garden, fireplaces, a modern interior and two parking spaces. That points to a lower or two-level suite with much more outdoor space.

Both features are more than ten years old, so interiors may have changed. What they show is that the suites differ enormously in size, outdoor space and style. Compare each one with Rosedale houses and other conversions, not with another unit in the same building.

An 80R Crescent Road address also appears in Toronto real estate coverage as a separate house. Ask whether it shares anything with the condominium, such as the driveway or grounds, and check the property boundaries in the survey and the declaration.

Crescent Road and South Rosedale

Crescent Road runs east from Yonge Street into South Rosedale, one of Toronto’s oldest and most protected residential areas. It is a street of large Victorian and Edwardian houses on mature lots, and that streetscape is a big part of what you are buying here. Much of South Rosedale is covered by a heritage conservation district, so exterior changes on the street generally face more review than elsewhere in the city.

Yonge Street’s shops and restaurants between Bloor and Summerhill are close by, and the ravines and parks of Rosedale are part of daily life for anyone who walks. The data panel on this page shows transit, Walk Score, food and parks.

Toronto Life reported that the owners planned a green roof and new landscaping around the property at the time of the conversion. Whatever exists now, the grounds of a converted house are shared property, so ask how gardens, trees and snow clearing are handled and paid for.

A corporation of four

With four suites, the board is essentially every owner. That can make decisions fast and personal, and it can make disagreements personal too. Management is listed as Summa Properties, which helps with the administration, but the big decisions still rest with a very small group.

Every major cost, whether it is the roof, the masonry, the windows or the heating system of a house built in 1896, is split four ways. A well-funded reserve and a clear maintenance plan matter more here than in almost any other type of condominium.

It also means the rules in the declaration shape daily life more directly than in a tower. How shared spaces such as the entrance, stairs, garden and driveway are used, who can renovate what and when, and how a disagreement gets settled are all written down there. Read those documents with your lawyer before you make an offer firm, not after.

Pricing and fees

There were no suites for sale when I wrote this. With four suites, a sale may be years apart, so there is no meaningful building average. The automatic panel on this page shows aggregate data only when there is enough to publish.

The fee covers common elements, heat, building insurance and parking. Including heat in a large old house is significant, because heating high-ceilinged Victorian rooms is expensive. Water and hydro are not listed, so ask what the owner pays directly.

Value a suite here the way you would value a house: by size, light, outdoor space, parking and finishes, compared with nearby Rosedale houses, semi-detached homes and the few other conversions in the area. Price per square foot is less useful when one suite has vaulted attic ceilings and another has a private garden.

If you want help valuing a specific suite against those alternatives, book a call.

Building specifications

Amenities at 80 Crescent Condos

There are no shared amenity rooms, and you would not expect them in a converted house. The practical extras are parking in the fee, room for visitors to park and permission to barbecue on your own outdoor space.

Jatin’s honest take on 80 Crescent Condos

80 Crescent Condos — 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.