The Benvenuto, 1 Benvenuto Pl: Peter Dickinson’s 1955 Landmark as Condos

The Benvenuto is the only condo I know of in Toronto where you are buying a piece of the city’s modernist history and a famous restaurant downstairs at the same time. Peter Dickinson designed it in the 1950s as an apartment hotel on the bluff above Avenue Road, the City designated it a heritage property in 1990, and it became a condominium in 2006. It is beautiful, it is unusual, and it comes with old-building questions you need to ask. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A Peter Dickinson building on the old lakeshore bluff

Peter Dickinson was the British-born modernist who reshaped Toronto architecture in the 1950s, and The Benvenuto is one of his best surviving buildings. The Globe and Mail describes it as built in two phases starting in 1951: large apartments first, then more apartments, around 80 hotel suites and a restaurant. The Ontario Heritage Trust’s record gives 1955 as completion, and that is the date most sources use.

The site is what makes it. The building sits on the steep, wooded edge of the ancient Lake Iroquois shoreline, the same bluff that Casa Loma sits on, at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. Dickinson used blonde brick, pale concrete floor plates and long runs of glass, so the building reads as light and horizontal rather than heavy. The original sculptural entrance canopies were later replaced with a bulkier one, which the Globe noted as a loss.

The City of Toronto designated the property under the Ontario Heritage Act by By-law 84-90, passed in January 1990, for its architectural and historical value. That designation matters to owners: changes to the exterior generally need heritage approval, which protects the building’s character and can also make some repairs slower and more expensive.

From apartment hotel to rental to condominium

The hotel suites were turned into apartments in the 1970s, and the building ran as a rental for decades. condos.ca says it stayed with one family until 2005. Malen Capital, led by Mitchell Abrahams, then bought it and converted it to condominium, a project the developer said took about 18 months.

The renovation team was serious: architects Gordon Ridgely and Les Klein, interior designer Bryon Patton and landscape architect John Lloyd, with suites, lobby and building systems redesigned. Finishes from the conversion included exotic hardwood floors, large marble tiles, granite or marble counters and cast-iron soaker tubs.

One detail to understand before you buy. Toronto Life later described the owner as converting the apartments to condos gradually, with some units combined into new floor plans. Management is listed as Benvenuto Residences Inc, which suggests the developer’s own company runs the building. Ask the status certificate how many suites the developer still owns or rents out, because that affects how the board is controlled and how the building is run.

Suites, sizes and Scaramouche

Suite sizes run from about 369 square feet to just under 3,500, from former staff bachelors and hotel rooms up to combined suites that rival a house. The conversion marketing described layouts from studios to two-bedroom-plus-den plans. Because units have been combined over time, two suites with the same square footage can feel very different; walk the plan, not the number.

South-facing suites on the upper floors look over the bluff toward downtown and, as condos.ca notes about the rooftop, Lake Ontario. North-facing suites look back toward the cul-de-sac and the houses behind, with far less view. Toronto Life’s feature on a ground-floor suite made exactly that point.

Scaramouche, one of Toronto’s best-known restaurants, operates in the building, in the restaurant space that was part of the original hotel plan. Having it downstairs is a genuine perk and part of the building’s identity, and it also means restaurant traffic and evening valet activity at the entrance.

The Avenue Road hill, day to day

You are tucked off Avenue Road on a dead-end street, which makes this one of the quietest condo addresses in midtown. Below the hill are Davenport Road and, further south, Yorkville; above it is St Clair West, Forest Hill and the shops at Yonge and St Clair. The automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools, parks and restaurants.

The hill is the daily reality. It is steep, and in winter you will feel it on foot. Most owners here drive, which is one reason parking in the fee matters.

The other daily reality is that this is a small, established community. With fewer than 120 suites, a concierge who knows residents by name and a restaurant crowd in the evenings, it feels more like a private apartment house than a condo tower. Visit at a weekday dinner hour to see how the entrance and the cul-de-sac work when Scaramouche is busy.

What you pay for heritage and a bluff-top site

condos.ca puts the building average at about $1,149 per square foot. That is a premium to most midtown resale buildings of any age, and it reflects the architecture, the site, the quiet street and the larger combined suites at the top of the range.

At the time of writing there was one suite listed for sale and none for rent, so there is no meaningful asking range to quote. With a building this varied, from studios to combined suites, a single average hides a lot. The useful comparison is suite type by suite type over several years of sales.

The fee includes common elements, heat, building insurance, parking and water. Hydro and air conditioning are not on the list. In a heritage building with a 1950s structure, I would look past the monthly fee to the reserve fund, because that is where the real cost of owning here shows up. My building sold report can pull the sold history together for you.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Benvenuto

The amenity list is about service rather than square footage: a concierge and valet, guest suites, and a glass-walled rooftop fitness room and lounge with a view over the bluff. Do not expect a pool or a big party floor; this is a 1950s building and it lives like one.

Jatin’s honest take on The Benvenuto

The Benvenuto — 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.