Hooked on historic homes

December 17, 2009

Gareth Seltzer on Huron St Real estate

Gareth Seltzer once moved money on Bay St. for a living. Now he’s made a business of renovating grand old Annex homes. He’s currently on his seventh, a Victorian beauty on Huron Street.

Gareth Seltzer is delighted that the house at 534 Huron was divided up into five apartments in the 1950s.

Picture of Gareth Seltzers latest project on Huron St Real estate

Had the renovation been done a couple of decades later, the pocket doors, stained glass windows and elaborate plaster work that grace the 1895 mansion likely would have been sent to the nearest dump.

"They just threw everything into a bin," he says of the 1970s, when turn-of-the-centuryhouses were overhauled with sliding glass doors and wall-to-wall broadloom.

Now, Mr. Seltzer enjoys drawing the original pocket doors that close off the dining room.

"I just feel passionate about how many people have opened these doors to have dinner in this room," Mr. Seltzer says as he scans the panelled walls and oak floors.

He enjoys imaging the life that took place in the houses – seven so far – that he has renovated in the Annex neighbourhood.

"That’s part of what’s exciting about these houses."

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