In 1972, Sam Mirshak - then a University of Toronto architecture student who witnessed the wrecking ball demolitions of the Annex neighbourhood - opened a Queen West antique shop called the Old Same Place.
Mr. Mirshak specialized in the upscale, but couldn't help notice all the stained glass-and-oak doors discarded at the side of the road. Slowly, these architectural antiques found their way next to the Middle Eastern antiquities and Roman glass he already stocked.
"In those days, you could pick the dump at Parliament and Lake Shore," recalls Mr. Mirshak, still mystified. "We'd pull out doors, hardware, copper pots and pans."
More than 30 years later, the Old Same Place is now the Door Store, emphasizing Mr. Mirshak's most reliable and enduring find. While those days of dump picking are long gone, the established dealer of architectural salvage now strikes the necessary balance between local and international reclamations.
The inventory of his 11,000-square-foot Castlefield Design District showroom reflects that range, from a pair of weathered green Ontario farm doors with original strap hinges ($800 for the pair) to a set of tall primitive Egyptian-carved doors with a rusted patina ($1,800 for the set of three).
Today, homeowners get creative with their finds: a heavy maple luggage cart is used as coffee table, a country door is a headboard.
Salvaged goods are a growing niche market. The relics of the past may go through auctions, appraised by rarity, age and condition. But salvage dealers - many of whom were once in the antique trade - are curators of the landfill.
