The Wood Cake house

One man's road to recovery through a labour of love

Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods and each one has its own distinctive vibe and, in many cases, quirkiness. Yesterday, I went for a walk around Seaton Village, a small, multi-ethnic neighbourhood that includes a part of Koreatown on its southern boundary. It’s also known for having had Meaghan Markle as a resident when she was filming Suits in Toronto.

My initial reason for visiting the area was to see a house that is scheduled for demolition and being replaced with a three-storey, eight-unit apartment building. I had read that a group of local artists had approached the developers and asked if, prior to demolition, they could turn the house into a temporary art space. The developers agreed and now the building is being transformed into an “immersive mural installation”. Unfortunately, in my eagerness to visit the location, I didn’t see the part about it not being open for public viewing until August. What an idiot! Anyway, here’s a photo of the outside. I’ll try to get back there next month. Stay tuned.

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However, my visit to the neighbourhood wasn’t entirely in vain as I stumbled across another interesting house.

As I was wandering around taking photos of this unique creation, I noticed a man sitting on the front porch. He motioned for me to join him. I introduced myself and told him that I thought his house was amazing. He seemed very happy with the compliment and said that he was the owner and his name was Albino Carreira. He was an immigrant from Portugal and moved to Canada in the 1970’s. He worked in construction until 1993 when he fell off some scaffolding and suffered a fractured skull and serious injuries to his back.

As a result, Albino was no longer able to work. To keep himself occupied while he was recovering, he started to decorate his mailbox with beads. Once that was done, he started work on his front porch. He was given a large number of rejected cues from a billiard cue factory which he cut up into slices of differing thicknesses and screwed into the walls and ceiling of the porch. Albino had so many cues he eventually started covering the outside of the house as well. He did the same with some branches from an old cherry tree (“they last forever”, he told me). Each slice of wood has been individually screwed into place. The screws, Albino said, represent the many screws that were inserted in him to fix his injuries.

The other knickknacks come from things he’s found or purchased from dollar stores or that people have given him over the years to add to his collection.

I asked Albino how he managed to get so many sea shells and he said that he visits all the local dollar stores and buys up their entire stock. Once the store gets a new supply, he buys that up too.

The front door is decorated with old coins.

He has also decorated his garage which, like many homes in the city, is located off a laneway way at the back of his house.

Detail from the garage. I thought the Eiffel Tower was an appropriate touch given the Paris Olympics right now.

Of course, if you have a decorated garage it makes perfect sense that you would have a decorated car to go with it.

Detail from the car’s roof

Albino is almost 80 years old now. He’s finding it harder to get around so doesn’t do as much work on his garden as he used to but he said some of his neighbours occasionally help him out. I really enjoyed my time chatting with him and through our conversation I could tell he is immensely proud of what he has been able to accomplish. He even showed me a letter he received several years ago from the Mayor of Toronto congratulating him on having the city’s “Best Eccentric Garden”.

So, why is it called the “Wood Cake house”? Wood cakes are what Albino called the slices of pool cues and cherry branches he’s screwed to the ceiling and walls.

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