The space between the Annex and Yorkville is getting smaller all the time. Admiral Road was lost long ago, with prices and profiles going positively Hazelton even before Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul moved in. And now, on Bedford, there’s a majestic, three-storey monument on offer for $5.2 million from Chestnut Park’s Peter Russell. When the owners—Fraser Mason, retired from Ernst & Young, and his wife, Claudette, a home­maker—bought it 16 years ago, it was a dilapidated $625,000 rooming house with six kitchens. The Masons took on a two-year reno, closing the deal just before the area was designated as heritage. Though three of the original exterior walls were incorpor­ated into the redesign, it became, essentially, a new house ideally suited to the Masons, who have four children (now grown) and held lavish parties every December. In 2000, the theme was Paris 1900; Claudette designed a jaw-dropping chandelier of cork­screw hazel branches and crystal pendants. With a brick courtyard in lieu of a backyard, this is a low-maintenance house for people who enjoy living too much to worry about groundskeepers.