A Toronto Couple Turn an Abandoned Schoolhouse Into an Elegant Country Getaway

The revived 147-year-old structure features a new cedar-and-glass dining pavilion that cantilevers off the end.

To start the next chapter in their lives, Ben Sykes and Erin Connor went back to school. The couple wanted a place in the country, and they had their eyes on rolling, rural Grey County, two hours northwest of their home in Toronto. While searching for property there, they came upon an unexpected building for sale: a one-room schoolhouse with thick stone walls that was built nearly a century and a half ago.

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Alex Bozikovic
Alex Bozikovic is a Toronto based writer and editor for the Globe and Mail and frequent Dwell contributor.

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