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Ronald McDonald House Toronto

“...a remarkable hybrid of grace and civility designed to function as an urban hotel and as a refuge of wellness.”

Lisa Rochon, Globe and Mail

This new “house in a garden in the city” provides a home away from home for families and their seriously ill children coming to Toronto for specialized medical care. Reflecting a culture of support and compassion, the new four-storey building provides all the facilities that 81 families need to make the house their own: communal living spaces that are open and welcoming, a school, games and playrooms, a library, a variety of activity rooms and comfortable bedroom suites.

Full of light and connection to outdoors, public spaces are grounded with wood and stone and punctuated with walls of lively colour. Family suites are calm, intimate spaces. Furnishings are an intriguing mix of contemporary, traditional and custom design. Amongst the art highlights are a lyrical wrought-iron entry gate, paintings of children at play, a collection of paired aerial and detail photographs hanging in all the suites, and a family of funny, fantastical “whimsies” that also inhabit the house.

Carlyle Design Associates was an integral part of the team lead by Montgomery Sisam Architects, from visioning through planning and design for interiors, furnishings and art.