Tall Order: a 2,000-square-foot tower in Corktown with almost no interior walls

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.