Homeowners unite for an English mews in an east Toronto laneway

As the dog-walker stops to scoop, she pauses at the sight of the handsome porch columns, flared side gable roof with twin dormers, and lovely buff brick on the Edwardian, semi-detached at 2133/2135 Gerrard St. E. Before she urges her little chihuahua to continue, she pauses again at its equally handsome neighbour, the detached buff brick house at 2137.

There are many sturdy, early-20th century houses along this stretch, which was once the prosperous, independent Town of East Toronto (incorporated from a village in 1903, then annexed by the City of Toronto in 1908), including the 1894, Queen Anne style, red brick residence of the village’s first reeve, Donald Stephenson, a turreted mansion at the corner of Gerrard Street and Enderby Road.