b'ARCHITECTUREA well-appointed floor plan provided both bachelors with large rooms on the second floor with private ensuites, walk-in closets and views overlooking the Vale of Avoca and Yellow Creekfashionable locales for strolling and escaping the heat of the city at the time. On the main floor, dining and reception rooms provided ample space for entertaining, warmed by oversized fireplaces with French doors connecting to a sunny southeast facing solarium.The bachelors lived in the home together until the 1920s, when Robertson got married and required his own space. Looking to stay within the neighbourhood, he commissioned the construction of 36 Summerhill Gardens on what had been the front yard of 38R Summerhill Gardens. Once completed, Robertson moved into his Tudor-revival-style home at the front of the lot, while Osler continued to live in the house at the back. AOslers niece, who was also a friend and confidante, moved in to keep him company.MOMENTFollowing the deaths of Osler in 1929 and Robertson in 1938, the rear house passed IN TIME through a series of owners before being purchased by Blanche Lemco van Ginkel and her husband, Sandy, in 1977. The pair relocated to Toronto when Lemco van Ginkel THE STORYTUCKED AWAY IN A QUIET CORNER OFaccepted the position of Dean of Architecture SUMMERHILL stands a stately, yet somehowat the University of Torontothe first woman BEHIND 38Rmodest, baronial-style home that looksin North America to hold the prestigious post. SUMMERHILLmore suited to the Scottish countryside thanBorn in London, England, and educated GARDENS,midtown Toronto. The home has long beenat McGill and Harvard, Lemco van Ginkel A BACHELORa study in contrasts, from when it was builtwas an apprentice of Le Corbusier and a for two society bachelors at the turn of thefounding member of the modernist think-PAD WITH A20th century, to its more recent history as thetank Team 10. She was a powerhouse of PEDIGREE residence of an architect and educator. 20th century modernist architecture and Located on the former Summer Hill estateplanning, and her office is credited with grounds (from which the neighbourhoodthe master plan of Montreals Expo 67, a WORDS BYderives its name), 38R Summerhill Gardenstransportation and pedestrian circulation plan ALEX COREY was constructed in 1911 by the architecturefor midtown Manhattan and the protection Heaps Estrinfirm of Chadwick & Beckett for Earnest Oslerand designation of Old Montreal. Lemco van Real Estate Agent andand Donald Robertson. Known for designingGinkels work proved that modernism and Architectural Historiansumptuous and imposing residences inheritage conservation can in fact co-exist. Its Rosedale, Lawrence Park and the Annex,little surprise, then, that she and her husband Chadwick & Beckett were an obvious choicechose to settle on Summerhill Gardensas they had designed three other homes forwhere they maintained the homes original, members of the Osler family. somewhat worn, exterior while creating The architects embraced both Oslers anddistinctly modern spaces inside, and adapting Robertsons penchant for British culture,the spacious stables as their studio.constructing a home influenced by ScottishLemco van Ginkel and her husband lived baronial architecture with imposing faadesat 38R Summerhill Gardens for close to half a of dull red brick and grey stone. The moodycenturycaring for the storied home, which interior was designed to be reminiscent of astill sits in that far corner of Summerhill, and The property included insmoking-room or hunting lodge, and featuredwhose historic and weathered faade belies the this story is not for sale and has been includedstained cypress wainscotting, mahogany redmodern spaces found withinbefore passing for historical context only. plaster and brown wallpaper.the torch onto the homes next caretaker.A Heaps Estrin Publication BEYOND 9Beyond_FEB23_Architecture_FINAL.indd 9 2023-01-24 5:44 PM'