There is a picture of Estonian House's grand hall on the front page of the Globe and Mail paper version of this article in the Real Estate section. Readers who do not subscribe to that paper may not have noticed this, or the error in the attribution of the design.

The design of the grand hall or "suur saal" on 958 Broadview Ave. is incorrectly attributed to Guido E. Laikve. This is somewhat odd when the article profiles Michael (Mihkel) Bach's influential teaching at the University of Toronto as well as his work on several churches. The design is in fact his.

The likeness of the Estonian House grand hall to the interior of the St. Peter's Estonian Lutheran Church (Toronto Peetri kirik), designed, too, by Mihkel Bach, and also pictured on G4 of the Globe and Mail Real Estate section, is indeed striking.

Eda Sepp has aptly commented in this regard on the architectural features of the grand hall or suur saal as symbolizing a sacred space for the Estonian diasporic community.

She also notes how Guido Laikve, in his design of a newer portion of the building, uses similar organic materials to create a warm and user-friendly design for the Estonian bank (Toronto Eesti Ühispank) – another idea ahead of its time.

A recent expanded version of Toronto Architecture: A City Guide adds specifically this Scandinavian style variant to update its description of Modernism. Why should Estonian House not appear on a future walking tour, or as a, now popular East End, destination?

http://www.eesti.ca/eesti-maja...