Inner Sanctum: a converted church condo in Little Italy worth a seven-year wait

By Peter Saltsman | Photographs by Derek Shapton

The red brick Romanesque Revival at College and Palmerston has lived a few lives in its 126 years. In the early days of the city it was a Baptist church. By the mid-20th century it was serving Portuguese Seventh Day Adventists. Finally, in 2006, the dwindling congregation sold up to a group of investors, led by the developer Matthew Kosoy, so it could be turned into luxury condos. One of the investors, Joel Prussky, a capital markets trader at BMO, came in with his eye on a smaller unit—the former rectory, a mere 5,500 square feet spread over three storeys. He liked the idea of preserving a piece of the city’s history and thought it would be a fun investment. But it would be seven years before the space was habitable—the building’s heritage designation slowed development. In the interim, Prussky met and fell in love with his wife, Janice Nathanson, had a daughter, Kate, bought a house in Casa Loma and raised an Aussiedoodle named Coco. As construction rolled along, the family got excited about the idea of moving downtown and having Kensington’s shops and College’s restaurant row at their doorstep. To prepare for move-in, Prussky and Nathanson worked closely with two interior designers, Mazen El-Abdullah and Lisa Lev, to finish the space to their tastes. They added a gracious central staircase, a roof deck with 360-degree views of the city and an elevator to bypass the long hike (they have wet bars on every floor for the same reason). In 2013, they finally moved in, and they’ve been loving it ever since.