37 Bertmount Street
Toronto, ON
For some, the desire to decorate goes beyond the confines of their homes and stretches all the way to the curb. Like this mad jumble in Toronto’s Leslieville neighbourhood. The wacky homeowners have been building this shrine of kitschy fountains and stuffed toys for 16 years, according to the son who answered a knock at the door. The neighbours, as you can well imagine, HATE IT! Property values for those nearest the crash site are held down by the weight of bad taste. But apparently no amount of dissuading can bring the owners to their senses; clearly these folks hail from the “more is more” school of landscape design. Lucky for them, and unfortunately for their neighbours (none of whom wished to be quoted here), taste is beyond the reach of bylaw officers.
What do you suppose will happen the minute these folks decide to sell? My guess is a skip will be ordered and duly dispatched.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I think there is a huge misconception about what the neighbours think about the house. I have lived in the neighbourhood (5+years) and am a huge fan of how expressionistic the house is. Makes me smile every time I walk past it. When people come to visit, it is one of the first neighbourhood sights I take them to as it is fun, quirky and certainly an eye catcher. Having spoken with people on Bertmount over the years, alot of people have grown to like it. It’s the new young families (not going to use the y-word here) who paid WAAAYY too much for their houses that seem to be the only ones that gripe about it.
If more home owners expressed themselves the way the folks at 37 Bertmount do, city streets would be a heck of a lot more fun to walk down.