13 ST CATHERINE Street

St Catherine St runs north off of Pine between Barrie and Patrick, which puts you in either the McBurney Park area, or the Inner Harbour, or The Fruit Belt, depending on where you draw your borders. Whichever it is, the street comes preloaded with downtown's best (unofficial) toboggan hill. The two-storey three-bedroom home on offer here is stupidly pretty and has been both expertly and extensively renovated. To my eye it reads like a Toronto renovation in that the ground floor has been entirely opened up. There is no remnant of an archway between the living and dining rooms, there is no hallway, no isolated kitchen. Instead there is just a rather glorious rectilinear space with light coming in at the front and at the back, and nothing to stop it from meeting up precisely in the middle. It's more expensive to renovate this way - you're hiding posts and beams, and protecting structure in a way that does real damage to the bank balance - but the end result is striking. The gas fireplace beside the front window provides a focal point, and a nod to history, but this is really just back-up to the brilliant cold-temperature heat pump installed last year (the insulation was upgraded too). There are pot lights and French doors, and a stacked washer and dryer in the corner of the kitchen that makes it feel decidedly European. The outside deck and the gardens will enhance both your espressos and your Merlots. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, and a bathroom that involves both modern shower stall and clawfoot tub. The original doors have been retained on this level and the paint /no-paint patterns on their faces are like maps from a Victorian atlas.