Residents in Toronto's Beach neighbourhood may have been upset about plans to tear down a 100-year-old house to make way for a new ultra-modern design, but it's hard to argue with the results.
In 2010, 204 Beech Ave. made headlines after Geoff and Melissa Teehan decided to tear down their cottage style home in one of Toronto's most historic areas and build a new house with a design that would be more accessible. Melissa is paralyzed from the neck down and the couple have two young boys.
Geoff, whose company develops websites, put up a blog to chart the progress of the new home and that's when some residents of the area got upset, according to The Toronto Star.
“I couldn’t believe that they’d put architecture over humanity,” Geoff told the National Post at the time. “Architecture is there to serve the people who live in it, not the other way around.”
Some in the neigbourhood set up a website and petition to fight the Teehans and former city councillor Sandra Bussin initially backed them.
Bussin changed her tone after learning that the Teehans had already been granted a building permit and the family was able to move ahead with construction.
Photos of the stunning final result have now been posted to the web by Altius Architecture, the company behind the design.
The 2,200 square foot house now has a "modern aesthetic and meets the technical requirements of accessible spaces," according to Altius. You can check out photos of the innovative home in the slideshow below.
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