43.6448° N, 79.5111° WSunnylea, Etobicoke

A David Small Designs · West Toronto

Newly Built David Small Designs Residence

43 Ballacaine Drive · Sunnylea, Etobicoke · Toronto, Ontario.

ChapterNo. 01

The Residence.

A David Small Designs custom residence — twelve considered moments inside 43 Ballacaine Drive.

Sunnylea, Etobicoke — the streets, the ravines, and the Kingsway shops, with 43 Ballacaine Drive marked. — Sunnylea · Etobicoke · West Toronto

Set on a quiet, tree-canopied street inside the Sunnylea community of homes, a custom-built residence designed by David Small Designs of over 4,350 square feet — 4+1 bedrooms, 5 baths, a private rear garden, 2-car garage with lift potential, crafted in 2021. The architecture is modern, restrained, and quietly confident: a graceful, confident street presence that opens, inside, into generous volumes, abundant natural light, and the unrushed proportions Sunnylea is known for — custom millwork throughout, bespoke finishes, and the kind of detailing that only emerges from a custom-designed home, not a spec build. Built by one of Etobicoke's finest home builders.

The Foyer

A double-height arrival with custom millwork and integrated shelving. The first room of a David Small Designs home sets the grammar — restrained, considered, light-filled — and opens the principal floor in three directions.

The Den / Office

A separate, quiet room off the main floor — with hardwood flooring, a double window corner treatment designed for light-filled abundance, currently used as a sitting room but easily converted into a main-floor office or den. Designed for the post-2020 buyer who works from home but won't compromise on a proper room to do it in — generous room proportions.

The Family Room

The heart of the principal floor — 22 feet across, open to the kitchen, gas fireplace, multiple floor-to-window frames that capture the front and rear gardens with walkout to deck. An entertaining room designed for cozy family nights and also for those looking to entertain their family and friends. The room your household actually lives in.

The Kitchen

Modern, hardwood-floored, with an eat-in counter and stainless appliances — built-in oven, countertop range, bar fridge. The proportions are family-functional rather than show-kitchen, with the family room next door and the dining room a step away.

The Dining Room

Set toward the front of the house under an illuminated drop-down ceiling, overlooking the front yard. Generous enough for a long table of ten and quiet enough for a Sunday breakfast for two. Hardwood flooring and generous proportions with accompanying gas fireplace.

The Laundry · Mudroom

A working room of convenient layout and generous square footage — Corian counters, integrated 2-piece bath, built-in accessory desk with direct walk-out to the heated garage. The quiet, unromantic room that makes the rest of the house easier to live in.

The Primary Suite

A 22-by-18-foot principal bedroom anchoring the second floor — greeting the entry is a custom-millwork-designed entryway with suspended cabinetry and private dry bar, a spa-like five-piece ensuite finished in appropriate pale stone with multi-person shower and light-filled windows, and a massive walk-in closet with full cabinetry. The quiet end of the house.

The Ensuite

A walk-in glass shower in pale stone accompanied by twin niches, and the rain-head shower from above. Deep soaker bathtub perfectly positioned for privacy and light-filled sessions, a restrained yet confident zen-like palette — start and end your day with full mind, body, and soul. A true oasis of privacy.

2nd Floor Bedrooms

Three generous bedrooms on the second floor — each with hardwood flooring, each with its own walk-in closet. One bedroom with ensuite bath; the other two with direct access to a private bath. One bedroom is configured as a 2nd-floor office; another faces the front under a picture window with overtly large proportions.

The Art-Gallery Foyer

The second-floor landing, designed with skylights and ample wall spaces, reads as a small gallery — wall-length, top-lit, designed to live with art. A David Small Designs signature: a circulation space treated as a room of its own, overlooking the contemporary stair design and flowing main-floor double-height ceilings.

The Recreation Room

A 16-by-23-foot lower-level living space with built-in custom-millwork bookcase, built-in bar with plumbing, commercial-grade broadloom underfoot. The household's casual room, sized for film nights, teenagers with musical dreams, and the long winter weekend. A separate workroom enclosed underneath the garage floor — a rare design feature meant to maximise the total square footage at a noticeable cost to build and design.

The Fifth Bedroom · In-Law Suite

A lower-level bedroom with a walk-in closet and its own three-piece ensuite — engineered for in-law capability or extended-stay guests. Extremely generous room proportions and flow of design. Matching the tone and feel of the existing home, the lower level design completes the conception of a staycation home — work, live, and vacation within 43 Ballacaine.

Aerial view of 43 Ballacaine Drive and the Sunnylea ravine.

Sunnylea, Etobicoke, West Toronto43.6448° N, 79.5111° W

The Particulars

43 Ballacaine Drive

Etobicoke (Sunnylea), M8Y 4B1

Listing Price: $3,480,000
Property Taxes: $12,714 / year (2026)
Year Built: 2021
Bedrooms: 4+1
Bathrooms: 5
Living Area: 4,363 sq ft
Lot Dimensions: 50 ft × 110 ft

ChapterNo. 02

David Small Designs …

The original 2016 design-development drawings — three floor plans, the site, the roof, four elevations.

Tap any plan to open in full size.

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Aerial study of the home and the surrounding Sunnylea street pattern.

A David Small Designs Residence43.6448° N, 79.5111° W

ChapterNo. 03

A quiet village inside the city.

What you are buying, when you buy on Ballacaine, is not just a house — it is Sunnylea.

Twenty minutes or so by subway from the financial district, family nurturing, and a world apart.

A Brief History

How Sunnylea came to be …

01 · 1796

The King's Mill Reserve

Most of present-day Sunnylea was set aside in 1796 by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe as the King's Mill Reserve — Crown land that supplied timber to the British shipyard on the Humber. The government leased it out for decades, then began selling parcels to settlers around 1830. By the late nineteenth century the area was a patchwork of market gardens, five to twenty-five acres apiece, growing vegetables and tree fruit.

02 · 1907

A child names the village

Sunnylea took its name from a child. In 1907 a two-room schoolhouse opened on Prince Edward Drive, and the trustees ran a contest to name it. Edna Whitworth, age seven, won five dollars with her suggestion: Sunnylea. Within a few years the surrounding farms had taken the name for themselves.

03 · 1943

Parkin's modernist school

By 1941 the original school was overcrowded. A new Sunnylea Public School opened in 1943 at 35 Glenroy Avenue — designed by Toronto architect John B. Parkin, modelled on Chicago's Crow Island School. Single storey, north-south orientation, oversized classroom windows, separate exterior doors. It was Parkin's first major commission and became the prototype for more than two hundred modernist schools across Ontario.

04 · The Thompsons

Rose Bank & Spring Bank

Among the earliest settlers was Alexander Thompson, who received 200 acres in 1803 for his service in the American Revolution. His farm — Rose Bank to the north, Spring Bank to the south — ran from Bloor Street to Leland Avenue. The 1861 brick farmhouse still stands at 7 Meadowcrest Road, with its original oak door, cherry banisters, and ten-foot ceilings. The Thompsons became known for their orchards; Orchard Crescent is named for them.

Notable Mentions

Editorial press on Sunnylea.

Toronto Life · Real Estate News

The Chase: This couple toured Etobicoke's Sunnylea district before finding their ideal starter home

By Anthony Milton · November 9, 2022

Sunnylea is a tight-knit community with good schools and access to transit, nature and the highway. Would Harsha and Natasha's $2-million budget be enough to buy into the neighbourhood? Anthony Milton's reporting confirmed what the residents already know — that Sunnylea trades on discretion, and that the demand sits well above the supply.

Read on Toronto Life →

The Parks

Sunnylea is hemmed by ravine on three sides — the Humber to the east, Mimico Creek to the west, Lake Ontario a short cycle south.

03 — i

Humber River

Humber Marshes Park

A long, low ribbon of wetland off Stephen Drive where the Humber widens before it reaches the lake. Heron, kingfisher, the occasional fox. Boardwalks and unpaved paths run the length of the marsh, connecting north toward the Old Mill and south toward the Humber Bay. The most overlooked park in the west end.

Old Mill

King's Mill Park

The Old Mill ruins on one side, the river on the other, and a footbridge that delivers you onto the Etienne Brûlé trail. In October the maples along the Humber turn so completely that the water reflects the colour. Walk south from here and you can follow the river to the lake without crossing a road.

Village green

Sunnylea Park

The neighborhood's small central park — a playground, a few benches, a stretch of grass that does double duty as a skating rink in winter. Most of Sunnylea's children have learned to ride a bicycle on the path that loops it.

West boundary

Mimico Creek

The linear park that traces the creek along the neighborhood's eastern edge — a corridor of dog-walkers in the morning, cyclists at lunch, and a surprising amount of wildlife given the proximity to the Queensway. The path connects north toward the Kingsway and south toward Humber Bay.

South of Berry

Park Lawn Cemetery & Grounds

Not a park, strictly, but it functions as one — a hundred and fifty acres of mature trees, winding lanes, and the kind of stillness that residents walk through on Sunday mornings. The northern gate opens onto Sunnylea.

The Restaurants

From the long-loved Italian rooms on Bloor West to the Kingsway's quiet French bistros — every meal is a short walk.

03 — ii

The Kingsway

ViBo Ristorante

A Bloor West fixture for decades. White tablecloths, a wood-fired oven, and the kind of room where the staff know the regulars by their drink order. The veal and the homemade pasta have not changed in twenty years, which is precisely the point.

The Kingsway

Merlot French Bistro

Small, intimate, and quietly serious about the cooking. Steak frites, duck confit, a short and considered wine list. One of the few places on the strip where a two-person dinner can stretch comfortably to three hours.

Royal York

Harry's Steak House

A long-standing Royal York steakhouse with white tablecloths, a proper bar, and the kind of room that has been quietly serving Etobicoke's better dinners for decades. Aged steaks, a deep wine list, and a regular crowd that books the same Friday corner table week after week.

The Kingsway

Momiji Sushi

A long-running Japanese room on the Kingsway — a sushi counter, a quiet dining room, and a regulars' trade that has settled around the chef's omakase. The kind of place where lunch service is unhurried and the fish arrives the same morning.

The Kingsway

Starbucks

The Kingsway's morning anchor. The neighborhood's first stop on the school run, the after-school pickup, and the Saturday-morning paper. Treated, like Swiss Chalet, as a neighborhood institution rather than a chain — most of the regulars know the baristas by name.

Royal York at The Queensway

Swiss Chalet

Generations of children have had birthday quarter-chicken dinners here; generations of parents have ordered the same after a Saturday afternoon at the park. The room is bright, the rotisserie is honest, and there is a sauce that has somehow outlasted three decades of food trends.

The Pubs

Neighbourhood locals where the bartender knows the regulars and the patio fills in May.

03 — iii

Royal York at Bloor

The Crooked Cue

The neighborhood's pub. Pool tables in the back, a long bar at the front, the game on every screen that matters. The kind of place where a Tuesday evening is as busy as a Friday, because half the room walked here from their own street.

The Kingsway

The Old Sod

An honest Irish pub with a fireplace in the back room. Guinness poured correctly, a short menu of pies and sandwiches, and a quiet trade in Sunday afternoons that turn into Sunday evenings without anyone noticing.

Bloor West

The Local on Bloor

A working neighborhood bar, the way they used to be. A few taps, a few tables, and a regular crowd that has been drinking together long enough that the staff put down the right glass when you walk in.

The Shops

The Kingsway's storefronts — butchers, florists, independents — read as a town inside the city.

03 — iv

Bloor West

The Shops of the Kingsway

The stretch of Bloor between Royal York and Prince Edward — boutique retail, independent cafes, a butcher, a fishmonger, two florists, a small bookseller, and a Saturday morning rhythm that the rest of the city quietly envies. The closest thing west Toronto has to a village high street.

Royal York at The Kingsway

Humbertown Plaza

The neighborhood's everyday plaza — a grocer, a pharmacy, a bank, a wine shop, a coffee bar. Recently renovated and lightened, but the trade is the same as it was thirty years ago: residents walking in with cloth bags, leaving with the week's dinner.

East of Jane

Bloor West Village

The longer commercial run east of Jane — bakeries, a Polish deli or two, a Saturday produce trade, and the kind of independent retail that has resisted the city's chain-store creep. A twenty-minute walk from Sunnylea, or three subway stops.

Recreation

Pools, pitches, ravine running, and a seniors' centre that anchors the community calendar.

03 — v

Park Lawn

Park Lawn Park

The neighborhood's working sports park — baseball diamonds in summer, soccer pitches in fall, a community programming calendar that has been running for as long as anyone can remember. The diamonds are floodlit; the games run late.

Community

Fairfield Seniors Centre

A quietly central institution. Lectures, bridge nights, a fitness room, an art class or two, and a coffee hour on Wednesdays that has been on the calendar for thirty years. The kind of community building that anchors a neighborhood without ever needing to advertise.

Year-round

Memorial Pool and Health Club

A City of Toronto recreation complex — indoor pool, fitness room, gym, and a slate of community programming open year-round. A Sunnylea staple in every season: generations of the neighborhood have learned to swim here, and the lap-swim hours are quietly busy with the same serious local swimmers.

The Schools

Sunnylea is built around its schools — and one of them is a national modernist landmark.

03 — vi

TDSB · Elementary

Sunnylea Junior Public School

The neighborhood's anchor school, opened in 1943 in a mid-century-modern building by John B. Parkin — one of the earliest and most photographed examples of modernist school architecture in Canada. The building has been carefully preserved; the school remains the centre of gravity of Sunnylea's family life.

TDSB · JK–8

Norseman Junior Middle School

The neighborhood's second anchor — a JK to grade eight community school that takes Sunnylea's children from Sunnylea Junior through to high school. Strong music and arts programming; a tight feeder relationship with Etobicoke Collegiate.

TDSB · Arts JK–8

Karen Kain School of the Arts

The TDSB elementary specialty school named for the principal ballerina — a JK to grade eight programme with concentrations in dance, drama, music, and visual art. The natural elementary feeder for families considering Etobicoke School of the Arts at the secondary level.

TDSB · Arts secondary

Etobicoke School of the Arts

One of the country's most distinguished public arts secondary schools, drawing students from across the GTA into dance, drama, music, visual art, and the literary stream. Auditions are competitive; the alumni list runs through the country's stages and screens. A short drive from Sunnylea.

TDSB · Secondary

Etobicoke Collegiate Institute

The public high school for most of Sunnylea. A long academic record, a strong music programme, and the kind of alumni list that runs through the city's professions. A ten-minute walk from the neighborhood's eastern edge.

TCDSB · Secondary

Bishop Allen Academy

A well-regarded Catholic secondary high school, just north of the Kingsway. High rankings academically; a sought-after, popular choice for families on the parish side of the neighborhood — and across Toronto more broadly — with a large, sprawling campus.

Places of Worship

Long-standing parishes that anchor the neighbourhood's rhythm of weekends and holidays.

03 — vii

Catholic

Our Lady of Sorrows Parish

The Catholic parish for most of Sunnylea — a substantial stone church at Bloor and Royal York, an active school, and a calendar that organises a meaningful share of the neighborhood's family life. Mass in English and Italian.

Protestant

Kingsway Baptist Church

A long-standing congregation on the Kingsway, with a music programme and a midweek calendar that draws beyond its own membership. The building anchors the eastern end of the shops.

Films of the Neighbourhood

Sunnylea, in moving image.

Three short films from across Sunnylea and Bloor West — the shops, the streets, and the rhythm of a year in the neighbourhood.

Taste of Kingsway · 2025

The Kingsway's annual street festival.

Sunnylea · Walking the Neighborhood

An afternoon on Sunnylea's quieter streets.

Bloor West Village · A Year on the Strip

The Bloor West shops across the seasons.

The Profile

Who lives here.

Sunnylea is, by most measures, one of West Toronto's most settled neighborhoods — long owner tenures, high household incomes, strong school enrolment, and a demographic that skews family and forty-plus. The figures below are drawn from publicly available neighborhood profiles and a Realosophy summary, and are intended as a recent snapshot rather than a current census reading.

~90%

Owner-Occupied Homes

~$180,000

Median Household Income

44

Median Resident Age

~45%

Households with Children

~75%

Post-Secondary Educated

Strong (Line 2 subway)

Transit Score

The figures above are drawn from publicly available neighborhood profiles and a Realosophy summary, and are accurate as of recent census and realtor data. Sunnylea's demographic profile is unusually stable for a Toronto neighborhood — owner-occupancy is high, turnover is low, and the demographic mix has shifted only gradually across the postwar decades.

Plan Your Visit

A village inside the city.

Sunnylea sits at the western edge of Toronto, ten minutes from the airport, fifteen from the financial district by car, twenty by subway. Walk to the Kingsway shops, the ravine, the schools. The neighborhood does not advertise itself — that is the point.

Explore West Toronto →

ChapterNo. 04