In My Opinion: Craven Road house a reminder that real value comes from the stories lived within

By DANI D. KIM

It was a warm afternoon on Craven Road when I first met Ed. He sat on his porch with a Labatt 50 in hand, watching the street with a sheepish, welcoming smile that made you feel instantly safe and comfortable.

I was showing a client a nearby house, but curiosity and Ed’s easy friendliness pulled me over. I asked about the street, the neighbours, and what it was like to live on Toronto’s narrowest stretch of homes. We talked for a few minutes about how happy he was living on Craven, and how this east-end street was unlike anywhere else in the city.

I didn’t know then that five years later I would be standing on that same porch again, not as a stranger but as Ed and Mary’s realtor, honoured to help them close a chapter that had lasted more than 60 years.

Salt-of-the-Earth Neighbours

Both Ed and Mary were born in the Maritimes, but they met right here in Toronto at a dance hall in the early 1950s and, as Mary fondly says, “never looked back.” Sixty years later, they’re still each other’s only dance card.

Not long after meeting, they married and bought their first home together at 335 Craven Road, a two-bedroom, one-bathroom semi on a 14-foot-wide lot. It wasn’t fancy, but it was theirs.

They raised two boys in that little house until their feet hung over the ends of the bunk beds. Those boys are grown men now with families of their own, but to Ed and Mary, they’ll always be “the boys.”

They paid off the mortgage dollar by dollar and became part of the Greenwood-Coxwell fabric. Craven Road has always been that kind of place: a single-sided street bordered by Toronto’s longest wooden fence, where porches double as living rooms and neighbours still look out for one another.

Life on Craven was simple but full. If someone’s lawn mower broke or a gate sagged, Ed was the first to appear with a screwdriver and a grin. Mary baked for fundraisers and checked on neighbours before anyone asked. Together they became part of the street’s heartbeat, steady, kind, and dependable.

The Heart of the Home: Ed’s Shed

Behind the house sat Ed’s shed, a small workshop that became a neighbourhood landmark. If you needed a tool, no matter how obscure, you went to see Ed.

If he wasn’t home, everyone knew the rule: check the shed. It was never locked. Take what you need and bring it back later. He trusted people, and that trust was always respected.

Ed spent countless hours in there fixing what was broken, building what was needed, or just tinkering. The air smelled of sawdust and oil, with cassette tapes of the Statler Brothers or Patsy Cline playing in the background.

Mary often joined him after finishing her housework. They’d sit together among the tools, sharing quiet moments as the evening light filtered through the fence boards.

 It was their retreat, part workshop and part sanctuary, and always full of love.

Adventures Beyond Craven

When they weren’t in the shed or on the porch, Ed and Mary were out exploring. Their holidays were spent camping across Canada, sometimes with no plan at all, just driving the vast roads of a country they love deeply.

They tracked their journeys on a large map, marking each stop with red push pins and the route home with blue. Reaching Alaska was the highlight of their travels.

When I helped prepare the house for sale, I found that map, proudly displayed on the wall in the basement — a life well-travelled, full of stories and sentiment. I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. It felt like a piece of their history, a testament to their curiosity, zest for life, and the joy they found in discovering new places together.

When Life Changes

Then came COVID. Ed caught the virus early in the pandemic and never fully regained his strength. The easy independence that had defined their life together began to slip away.

Mary, nine years older but still sharp and steadfast, cared for him as long as she could. Eventually, they decided together to move to a seniors’ residence, not because they wanted to leave, but because they wanted to stay together.

Honouring Their Story

When it came time to sell, I knew this home deserved more than modern staging and minimalism. You can’t erase 60 years of love with neutral paint and white slipcovers.

Instead, I leaned into its history, using real, storied pieces that matched its spirit. The result was warm, retro, and authentic. Each room told part of their life: the bright kitchen where Mary made Sunday dinners, the living room that once held an oversized Christmas tree, and the back room that opened onto Ed’s shed, his quiet kingdom.

A House, a Street, a Community

Craven Road has always been one of Toronto’s most unusual streets, with small lots, houses close together, and a long fence that stretches endlessly along one side.

Once known as Erie Terrace, it was originally developed in the early 1900s for working-class families and new immigrants. With dwellings lining only the east side and the west bordered by the municipal fence, it became one of the city’s densest pockets of small detached homes under 500 square feet.

But that’s what makes it special. Neighbours wave from porches. Kids play in front yards small enough to cross in two steps. People still borrow sugar, ladders, and time.

For more than six decades, Ed and Mary embodied that spirit. Their home wasn’t grand, but it was steady — the kind of place that anchored others just by existing.

The Reflection

Now, when I walk past 335 Craven Rd., I still picture them there: Ed tinkering in the shed everyone affectionately called “Ed’s Shed,” and Mary beside him, humming along to an old country song.

The porch may be quieter, but the sense of welcome remains.

In a city obsessed with size and market stats, their 14-foot-wide house reminds us that real value lies not in square footage, but in the stories lived within its walls.

Homes like Ed and Mary’s aren’t just addresses. They’re living history — reminders that belonging is built not with walls but with love, loyalty, and the sound of old cassette tapes drifting through a summer night on Craven Road.

For you Ed & Mary: A small house. A big love. And a melody of memories that still drifts down Craven Road.

• Dani D. Kim is a Toronto real estate agent and she is listing the house at 335 Craven Rd. For more information, please go to https://app.realmmlp.ca/shared/k9jbgWzKBgC2a6l8JakQ/M5BG4wEQO1CPKM2EnPAqSBMNZVqpOOtJEjL6j1eptlARJy3B3EIyKMnV56Eyh1LgBjllQ5iBg5wXmNn1HgnKag1PXZC3LmjbjVLjUDgl2J29g2IEVJL9EwygfpG2PEZ468FwzwLrn
  
• This story was originally published on Dani D. Kim’s blog found here: https://danidkim.royallepage.ca/blog/275/A+Porch%2C+a+Labatt+50%2C+and+a+Lifetime+on+Craven+Road++