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Max Gotlieb, a partner at Cassels Brock, and his wife, Heather, have lived together in Forest Hill since 1984. Though they spent much of the past two decades renovating their family home in the area (the couple jokes that they had a construction crew in their employ full-time), there was always another house on Heather’s mind. For years, she passed one of the neighbourhood’s most stately Georgian revivals while shuttling her three kids to school, and she dreamed of one day living there. It went on the market only once, briefly, in all those years, long before the Gotliebs were ready to move. Heather feared she had missed her chance. But in 2006, she and Max started talking about finding a larger space, and, miraculously, her dream house was up for sale. The place was massive—9,500 square feet—and perfect for entertaining, but outdated: the third floor had never been upgraded and was still laid out as servants’ quarters. They hired the developer Joe Brennan to update the house, completely gutting the upper floors. He also punched out the back to facilitate flow and add an additional 1,000 square feet (Max says the cost of buying and renovating was “many, many millions”). The Gotliebs don’t consider themselves philanthropists (“I’m not Peter Munk,” says Max), but they attend several fundraisers a week—and host many themselves, including large receptions and grand, expansive dinner parties. After all, they now have a home where they can entertain 200-plus people at a time—which is exactly why they bought it.
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