The Clubhouse by FrankFranco Architects doubles as a private residence and space for business-related gatherings, overlooking the National.
In Woodbridge just north of Toronto, the National Golf Club of Canada routinely lands on the short lists of most experts ranking the best golf courses in the world and certainly those in Canada. Now, many of the houses in the neighbourhoods around it are being redeveloped. One of those, the Clubhouse designed by FrankFranco Architects, a Toronto-based firm, sits on a prominent corner and overlooks The National.
The architecture responds to two very different conditions: one, a street-facing presence at the entrance of the community, and, two, on a hill with sweeping views of the golf course. Toward the street, FrankFranco clad the house in honed limestone, creating a robust acoustic and visual barrier between it and the street. Where there are windows, they are shielded by a custom privacy screen made with anodized aluminum. This allows daylight and ventilation without compromising privacy. On the opposite side, where the homeowners and their guests have access to a private rear yard, the house opens with floor-to-ceiling windows, revealing a private landscape with a pool, cabana, and deck.
The home is regularly used to entertain large groups for business-related gatherings. A professional kitchen and careful layout facilitate those kinds of events, but FrankFranco also ensured the house works as a private residence, with rooms proportioned to be comfortable for individuals or smaller groups. Wire-brushed white-oak wall panels provide a sense of warmth and domestic comfort, while Everest quartzite floors and interior elements—the kitchen island, for example, and the fireplace—provide a material contrast and durability.
Even the exterior offers much privacy, with landscape-facing windows, and a large-sized anodized aluminum privacy screen, keeping its residents outside a field of vision from passersby. Daylight pouring in through the south-facing glass walls refracts off the limestone and quartzite.
Photography by Scott Norsworthy.
July 6, 2024