Myers Residence
Toronto, Canada
 

This two-story house, in Toronto's Yorkville Village, centers around a glazed interior courtyard, separating the entry, vestibule and garage at the front from the living and kitchen area at the rear. Upstairs, the front contains two bedrooms with bathroom and study, connected by a bridge across the courtyard to a study, master bedroom and bath overlooking the rear garden. The house, designed by Barton Myers for his own family, and published worldwide, demonstrates the feasibility of infilling a narrow urban lot, 25 feet by 118 feet. While the Myers house is obviously of contemporary design, its scale and alignment relate to its older neighbors.

The central courtyard, topped by greenhouse framing and full of light and greenery, functions very much in the Roman tradition of the 'atrium'-a place for meeting, dining and entertaining. This pioneering design features frankly exposed steel structure and mechanical systems, now familiar aspects of Barton Myers' work.

 
Bill Maris