231 Boulton Avenue, Toronto

You can't manufacture 141 years of character. You can expose brick. You can install vintage-looking fixtures. You can spend a small fortune trying to make a new house feel old. Or you can buy one that actually is. 231 Boulton was built in 1885, part of a row of Victorian homes that has been standing here while the neighbourhood grew up around it. And this little pocket still wears its history unusually well. The old tea and confectionery shop was a few doors down. One of Toronto's early Baptist churches right across the street. The original Riverdale Dairy on the corner of First and Boulton. The house has evolved too, without losing the things that give it personality. There's an original brick fireplace. An airy primary bedroom with vaulted ceilings and a semi-ensuite bathroom. A kitchen that opens onto the deck and English garden, giving you another room for half the year. And out back, something they definitely weren't planning for in 1885: your own parking off the laneway. Across the street, the church's stained glass lights up at night. Beyond it, the neighbourhood becomes very much 2026. Queen Street and Riverside to the south. Gerrard and some seriously good restaurants to the east. Riverdale Park sunsets, Withrow Park and the Danforth to the north. That's the funny thing about buying an old house. You don't really want to live in the past. You just want the parts of it they don't build anymore. And 231 Boulton has been keeping those around since 1885.