By Lucy Dusko and Peter Saltsman | Photographs by Derek Shapton
The People: Julie Dyck, a 43-year-old jeweller, and Michael Humphries, a 44-year-old mobile app designer.
The Place: A 2,000-square-foot tower with two home offices in Corktown.
Dyck and Humphries were living in a converted storefront near Queen and Parliament when they noticed a For Sale sign on a 25-by-25-foot lot next door. This was a decade ago, and they weren’t quite sure what could be built in such a tiny space, but Dyck has a DIY bent and was determined to figure it out. She enlisted the architect Drew Hauser, a childhood friend, and together they designed a five-storey glass, brick and steel structure. The house has almost no interior walls—aside from those that surround the two bathrooms—which makes it feel surprisingly large.
The wooden divider doubles as a table extension, which allows for big dinner parties—or, more frequently, games of Ping-<br />
Pong (it’s close <br />
to regulation size).<br />
<p><br />
The floor lamp, from Thailand, is made from moth cocoons.</p>
The couple spend most of their time in the summer in the rooftop garden, where they have an incredible view over St. Paul’s Basilica Parish and their Queen East neighbourhood.