About Us
Brad Abbott graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Environmental Studies (B.E.S.) from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba. He was awarded the University Gold Medal for highest standing. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) at Carleton University in 1979. That same year the Ontario Association of Architects awarded Brad the Ontario Architects Award as the most deserving graduate from all of Ontario’s architecture schools. Brad’s early career was spent apprenticing in leading architectural firms in London (England), Calgary, and then Toronto. In 1993 Brad founded W.B. Abbott Design Ltd. in order to focus on his passion for designing quality single family homes.
Today Abbott Design is a known and respected name in the established residential neighbourhoods of Toronto. The firm’s workload at any given time is almost equally split between city and country homes. Although we have completed projects throughout southern Ontario’s ski and cottage country, a particular focus of our work outside Toronto is in the Southern Georgian Bay communities of Town of the Blue Mountains, Thornbury, Collingwood and Creemore.
There is no single Abbott Design style. Rather, Brad begins by assessing the merits and limitations of his clients’ site and develops a unique concept for each one. At the same time he listens carefully to the owner’s stylistic preferences and responds to their individual tastes. This diversity in his architecture is reflected in his portfolio of completed work.
The firm’s work is also equally split between new construction and larger scale renovations and additions. We have a reputation for doing “seamless renovations” by carefully knitting new construction with original and restored architecture. Toronto’s core neighbourhoods have a legacy of fine traditional styles that deserve a respectful and sensitive approach when making improvements. In the country we apply the same reverence when we go to renovate a century Ontario farmhouse, a log ski chalet, or an old Muskoka cottage.