(All images: Michael Graydon)
The Nova Scotia flag flying out front is the first sign that Jennifer Leitch and Anthony Novac’s Rosedale Edwardian is different from the rest of the houses on the street. The couple, who met as kids in Halifax and moved to Toronto together in 1997, have stayed true to their Maritime roots: they host several raucous parties a year (which explains the disco ball in the study), including a backyard lobster boil, complete with a fiddler, every summer.
Leitch, a civil litigator, and Novac, who runs a casino development company, have boisterous five-year-old twins, a whole menagerie of pets (three pugs and two cats) and a steady stream of out-of-town friends and family members who come and go (and sometimes stay for long stretches). When they bought the five-bedroom house in 2005, it was already legendary for the wild, all-night extravaganzas hosted by its previous tenants, which included the gossip columnist and professional reveller Shinan Govani. A party house was a good fit for this family, and it was big enough to accommodate their expanding art collection. “We were running out of wall space,” says Novac.
Now the home is bursting with artwork, half of it by East Coast artists like Cal Lane; Leitch and Novac snapped up her laser-cut steel wheelbarrow a few years before the AGO bought a similar sculpture. And they’ve added Ontario artists—Harold Town, Jack Bush, John Hartman and others—to their collection. Novac says, “We’ve always liked the idea of buying locally.”
The custom shelving unit, made from cold-rolled steel, was designed by HassaniPlawinski and manufactured in Milton by Simon Custom Metal (905-875‑0444).
Leitch and Novac kept hanging this disco ball for their parties and finally decided to leave it up permanently (Westbury National Show Systems, 772 Warden Ave., 416-752‑1371).
The wire frame and glass Piero Lissoni side table (about $2,025) is from Avenue Road (59 Booth Ave., 416-548-7788).
Lacquered ostrich eggs dot the bookshelf. They bought the green egg on a trip to London six years ago, and the orange egg ($139) is from L’Atelier (1224 Yonge St., 416-966-0200).
Yabu Pushelberg designed the area rug; it’s also from Avenue Road.
The swivel chair, in iron and leather, is by Brazilian designer Ricardo Fasanello (from $6,405 at Avenue Road).
Who Invited Hopper? is an oil painting by the Prince Edward Island–based artist Brian Burke (Ingram Gallery, 49 Avenue Rd., 416-929‑2220).
Their dogs, Babe, Chester and Puggy-Sue, hang out with Leitch and the kids, Olivia and Sam.
Their 13-foot-long couch is a custom model from Louis Interiors (1283 Caledonia Rd., 416-785-9909).
Toronto From Above Bathurst Street, an oil-on-linen painting by John Hartman, is from Nicholas Metivier Gallery (451 King St. W., 416-205-9000).
The Rich Brilliant Willing floor lamp ($1,730) is from Ministry of the Interior (80 Ossington Ave., 416-533-6684).
A gold Plexiglas stool from the James Duncan Collection is $2,200 at Industrial Storm (1099 Queen St. W., 416-955-9888).
The metal coffee table was also designed by HassaniPlawinski and manufactured by Simon Custom Metal.
The Martha Sturdy resin table was $5,800 at Hollace Cluny (1070 Yonge St., 416-968-7894).
They found the transparent Science and Sons acrylic moose head at Klaus by Nienkämper five years ago. (The store no longer carries this item.)
The yellow stools ($780 each) are repurposed oil drums from Senegal (Roseland Gallery, 702 Queen St. W., 416-869-9229).
This 1963 Harold Town painting is also from Ingram Gallery.
The porcelain antler chandelier is carried by Ministry of the Interior ($6,810).
Guardians, an oil painting by Hunt Slonem, features a monkey face pattern (Miriam Shiell Fine Art, 16A Hazelton Ave., 416-925‑2461).
Leitch and Novac bought the laser-cut steel wheelbarrow from Cal Lane, a Nova Scotian artist who lives in upstate New York.
Oops! Looks like AZURE has been plagiarized.
April 14, 2010 at 9:00 am | by P MacPherson