Sale of the Week: The $2.8-million Riverdale home that proves buying a cottage isn’t the only way to beat the heat

Address: 98 Riverdale Avenue
Neighbourhood: North Riverdale Agent: Dean Da Silva and Brian Ross, Re/Max Hallmark Realty Ltd., Brokerage      

The property

A 19th-century triplex that once belonged to an illustrious Riverdale resident.

Here’s the front porch:

The foyer:

The old-school formal dining room:

And the updated kitchen, with not one but two sinks:

The family room is next to the kitchen:

The owners’ suite continues on the second floor, where there are three bedrooms and an office:

Here’s one of those bedrooms:

CINEMA:

The master bedroom:

The master bedroom’s walk-in closet:

And the master ensuite:

The second floor has a small balcony area:

The third floor is a self-contained apartment. This is what the living room looks like:

And there’s another apartment in the basement:

The history

The house was built in 1889 by Mallory Brothers architects for Noel Marshall, a prominent Toronto businessman. When the sellers bought the place in 1999, they recreated the original front porch from archival photos and maintained the Victorian details. The house was divided into eight different units at the time; the sellers consolidated those tiny apartments into three bigger ones, with an owner’s suite on the first two floors.

The fate

The buyers and their child move in this week, and they plan to enjoy the house as-is. When the kids are grown, though, they may do some renovating.

The sale

The house was listed for a few weeks at $3.2 million, but there were no offers. In late July, the sellers lowered their asking price to $2.95 million. The eventual buyers initially went to the open house just for fun, because they weren’t seriously looking for a new house. The large private lot, pool and hot tub won them over. They’d been thinking about buying a cottage outside the city, but they decided to scrap that idea and spend a little extra money on a place with a great yard:

By the numbers

• $2,821,000 • $11,047.98 in taxes (2016) • 5,190 square feet • 5 bedrooms • 5 bathrooms • 2 parking spaces