Space-age round home considered for a heritage designation in Mississauga

A unique round home is up for a heritage designation in Mississauga.

The house at 1352 Nocturne Court in the Lorne Park area, is being considered because of its design and historical, associative and contextual value, according to a report to the City of Mississauga Heritage Advisory Committee.

The committee is scheduled to consider the heritage designation at its June 18 meeting.

Toronto architect Harry Bernard Kohl designed the home and the prefabricated structure was on display at the March 1962 National Home Show in the Coliseum building in Toronto’s Exhibition Place, according to the report. Around 60,000 people visited the home show that year.

Kohl was a prolific, modernist architect in Toronto from 1949 until 1973, the year he died.

Recent photo of 1352 Nocturne Court. Photo: City of Mississauga

The round home was Kohl’s “vision for the future” dubbed “Vision ’62,” the report states.

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“Kohl’s round house defies convention,” the report states. “He thought circles accommodated the circulation of people better than rectilinear shapes.”

The house is topped by a “triodetic dome”, the connectors for which were invented in 1955 by Canadian Arthur E. Fentiman (1918-1993), patented in 1958. The triodetic dome is a type of geodesic dome — the Ontario Place Cinesphere is an example of this structure.

Photo of 1352 Nocturne Court: 2017 Re/Max Realty Enterprises Inc. listing

Vision ‘62 was conceived as a dream house. The accompanying brochure stressed the “sheer delight and freedom” that it offered the “space-age family.”

Kohl also designed similar round buildings as Highway 401 rest stops. Most are now demolished.

This time period marked the beginning of the space race when Russia and the U.S. competed to get the first rocket to the moon.

Photo of 1352 Nocturne Court: 2017 Re/Max Realty Enterprises Inc. listing

The home epitomizes this dreamy era with utopian aspirations. It is representative of the suburban quest for ideal living, the report notes.

The focal point of the home is the balcony-encircled rotunda. This circular area originally contained the living room, kitchen and dining area.

Photo of 1352 Nocturne Court: 2017 Re/Max Realty Enterprises Inc. listing

To the rear, an arc-shaped bungalow mimics the curve of the circle. This tail held three bedrooms with bathrooms and was faced with sliding glass doors. A bridge connects these two segments and historically contained a family room.

This home was listed for sale and sold for $1,860,000 in 2018, according to Zoocasa.

Photo of 1352 Nocturne Court: 2017 Re/Max Realty Enterprises Inc. listing

There was another Vision ‘62 home built in April 1962 in Mississauga on Vesta Cruz Drive but it was demolished. And there was at least one other round house in Gordon Woods, built in the late 1960s, but that has also been demolished.

For more on this home, see the Heritage Advisory Committee reports here.

Lead photo of 1352 Nocturne Court: 2017 Re/Max Realty Enterprises Inc. listing