Funky U-Shaped Toronto House Once Toured by David Bowie Lists for C$14 Million
The late rock star and his wife, model Iman, visited the house after seeing a news story about its unusual design by local architects Shim-Sutcliffe.
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An award-winning architectural home in Toronto that once got the attention of David Bowie is on the market for nearly C$14 million (US$9.79 million) in one of Canada’s most exclusive neighborhoods.
After seeing a 2002 news story about the home’s design, by Toronto architects Shim-Sutcliffe, Bowie reached out to the firm in 2004 for a tour.
The owners, Toronto financial executive David Fleck and wife, Yvonne Domerchie-Fleck, rushed home from an Ottawa trip to meet the star and his wife, model Iman. The Flecks, who had commissioned the home in 2001, are also the sellers.
“I took Bowie and Iman around” the 7,500-square-foot house in Toronto’s exclusive Bridle Path neighborhood, David Fleck said. “He was one of those icons who was beyond fame, so he was easy to talk to and open-minded.”
According to Fleck, Bowie and Iman were scouting architects to build a summer home in Woodstock, New York, where they owned land.
“They were fascinated by the architects and the materials,” including wood and steel, Fleck said. The couple never followed through on the plan, however; Bowie died in 2016 at age 69.
The Flecks once shopped the Highland Crescent home around in 2012, asking C$6.85 million. More than a decade later, it just hit the market for C$13.99 million.
The Flecks have listed it again as they are downsizing now that their two children have grown up and moved out, according to co-listing agent Jimmy Molloy.
“The house won the Governor-General’s Medal in Architecture for 2004. Modern residential architecture can be cold, sterile, and austere.
Shim-Sutcliffe makes everything seem organic, and made the house seem like it’s part of its location,” said Molloy, an agent with Chestnut Park Real Estate Brokerage/Christie’s International Real Estate who is co-listing the home with Lindsay Van Wert.
The home’s exterior, built as a series of vertical panels, is clad in mahogany and Corten steel.
“It’s timeless, warm, and seems to have sprung out of nature―even using steel, the most manufactured of products,” Molloy said. “The house is more than 20 years old, and still looks new. If you visit in a hundred years, it won’t feel dated. Great architecture is about creating something timeless.”
Shim told the Globe and Mail in 2012 that steel “is interactive with the environment. … We think of the steel not as hard and cold, but warm and rich.”
The home has four bedrooms, six bathrooms, two garage spaces and parking for five cars. The sellers are “major art collectors in Toronto who curated and built this house with” the architects, Molloy said.
“We have such mixed feelings about selling the house,” David Fleck said. “It’s an entire environment. Howard [Sutcliffe] shifts ceiling heights, so there is movement in the house to create spaces that are unique. And almost every room looks out onto nature.”
To renovate the kitchen and bathrooms, the sellers retained Kelly Buffey of Toronto’s Akb Architects, “but in conjunction with Shim-Sutcliffe, Molloy said.
The kitchen features a Thermador induction cooktop, Wolf wall oven, Fisher & Paykel refrigerator, and Miele dishwasher.
Upstairs, a skylit landing connects three bedrooms, including a primary suite with a study, custom closet and a balcony overlooking the backyard pool.
The lower level features a media room, bedroom suite, second kitchen and gym. All rooms on the lower level open to a garden courtyard.
The U-shaped house surrounds a lap pool and lily pond. “The house is all about how it responds to its setting and to natural light, with walls of glass,” Molloy said.
Overlooking a ravine, the house also has views of the Rosedale Golf Club, which was founded in 1893.
According to Canadian data site Realosophy, the median sales price for the Bridle Path in February was C$16.2 million, based on three sales. The neighborhood’s highest-price listing is a 13-bedroom estate that’s on the market for C$23.98 million.
Neighbors in its affluent enclave north of downtown Toronto include Drake ; and residents have included Prince, Celine Dion, Elton John and Gordon Lightfoot.
Toronto’s downtown core is about 7 miles south of the neighborhood. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is about 9.5 miles south.
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Office rents in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are climbing at their fastest pace since the pandemic as tenants compete for premium CBD space amid tightening supply.
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Australia’s major CBD office markets are recording some of their strongest rental growth since the pandemic, with businesses increasingly prioritising premium office space despite elevated geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
Knight Frank’s Australian Office Indicators Q1 2026 report found net effective rents in Sydney and Melbourne CBDs rose at their fastest annual pace since COVID-19, increasing 10.2 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively over the 12 months to March.
Brisbane posted the strongest growth nationally, with net effective rents climbing 11.7 per cent over the same period.
The report points to a widening divide between prime CBD office towers and secondary office stock, as occupiers increasingly focus on quality, location and workplace amenity when making leasing decisions.
Knight Frank Senior Economist, Research & Consulting Alistair Read said demand remained heavily concentrated in premium assets within core CBD precincts, helping drive stronger rental growth in top-tier buildings.
“Occupier demand continues to be heavily concentrated in the most desirable CBD precincts and the highest-quality buildings, accelerating a sharp divergence between core and non-core markets,” Mr Read said.
According to the report, Sydney’s Core precinct and Melbourne’s Eastern Core significantly outperformed broader CBD markets over the past year.
“In Sydney’s Core precinct and Melbourne’s Eastern Core, net effective rents surged 14.3% and 16.1% over the past year, significantly outperforming the rest-of-CBD precincts,” Mr Read said.
The rental gap between prime and non-prime office locations has also continued to widen sharply.
“As a result, core CBD rents are now 54% higher than non-core locations in Sydney and 93% higher in Melbourne, highlighting the growing premium placed on amenity, accessibility and workplace quality,” he said.
Knight Frank said the strong rental growth across the major CBDs was being underpinned by a limited supply pipeline, with few new office developments expected to be delivered in the near term.
Mr Read said subdued construction activity was likely to support ongoing rental growth and tighter vacancy rates over the medium term, particularly for premium office towers.
“The combination of sustained demand and declining levels of new development will aid ongoing prime rental growth and lower vacancy rates over the medium term, particularly for best-in-class assets,” he said.
The report noted that current economic conditions were making new office developments increasingly difficult to justify financially.
“Economic rents remain well above expected market rents, making the construction of new office towers largely unviable, and concentrating tenant demand into existing buildings,” Mr Read said.
While suburban office markets generally remained subdued compared with CBDs, Melbourne’s Southbank precinct was identified as a relative outperformer, recording annual net effective rental growth of 2.7 per cent.
The report comes as broader Asia-Pacific office markets continue to stabilise following several years of disruption linked to hybrid work trends, inflation and rising interest rates.
Knight Frank’s separate Asia-Pacific Q1 2026 Office Highlights report found Sydney and Brisbane were among the strongest-performing office rental markets in the region, behind only Bengaluru and Tokyo for annual prime net face rental growth.
The Asia-Pacific report also found 18 of the 24 cities monitored across the region recorded stable or increasing rents in the first quarter of 2026, even as geopolitical uncertainty intensified following escalating conflict in the Middle East.
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