Giving directions to a newcomer to his High Point Road residence, Robert Herjavec says to look for the big white house on the right. And then he pauses. "I mean, the really big white house." And he's not exaggerating.
Built on a three-acre lot in the prestigious Toronto enclave known as The Bridle Path, the 50,000-square-foot house that was custombuilt by developer Shane Baghai is grand in every sense of the word.
The ceilings are about as high as the Sistine Chapel's, the wrought-iron gate, imported from France, could dwarf a giraffe. There is a teahouse in the backyard bigger than most Toronto bungalows. Even the slabs of emerald travertine marble in the majestic circular foyer -- crowned by an elevated rotunda with a crown-like balcony -- are as large as elephant foot prints.
In the case of this house, built in the manner of a French chateau, size does matter.
It's what is enabling Mr. Herjavec, his wife, Diane Pelse, and their small children to accommodate the 500 guests expected to descend on their lavish property this coming Wednesday for a gala fundraiser to benefit Princess Margaret Hospital.
For $1,000 a ticket, patrons will listen to Grammy Award winning vocalist Michael Bublé sing to them from a stage being erected on the sprawling back
The yard has tennis courts, a gazebo and a neo-classical statue of a Greek goddess who often finds herself face down in the grass after a heavy gust of wind.
Guests will also be treated to a fashion show on a specially built outdoor catwalk that will feature the latest designs by Hugo Boss, one of the evening's sponsors.
The night is a highlight of the Toronto spring social calendar. But it will also have significant resonance for Mr. Herjavec whose involvement in the charity stems from the recent passing of his mother, who spent her final days at Princess Margaret, "extraordinarily well-cared for," says her son and only child.
Thinking of her, Mr. Herjavec, 43, who emigrated to Canada with his parents from his native Croatia in 1970, recalls that when she first saw the house, she thought it was a museum, not his.
Her reaction is understandable. So much in the house is of museum quality, from the cascading crystal chandeliers bought at auction in Italy to the 24 imported antique French fireplaces with their coloured marble surrounds and hand-painted gilt putti dancing as if it were still 1789. "It's beautiful," says Mr. Herjavec with a sigh.
Almost six years to the day that he bought the house for $10-million -- a price tag that was front page news because it made it, at the time, "the most expensive residential home in Canada" -- he is still over-the-moon about a property, which for him was a case of love at first sight. (Even with annual property taxes of $100,000 -- ouch!) Thirty-seven at the time, he had just sold his internet security business to AT&T Canada for a reported $100-million. Until that sale, he had been a struggling entrepreneur, sometimes waiting on tables at night to make ends meet.
His wife, meanwhile, an optometrist who grew up in Parkdale (looking at the house she can honestly say, "I think we've moved up in life") kept wondering when their old car would fail them. Now there are eight in the four-door garage.
Rich beyond his dreams, he wanted a house that would symbolize his Cinderella-like transformation from struggling immigrant to mogul. He asked real estate agent Elise Kalles to find him a house with a "wow" factor. She opened the door in the magnificent entrance, with its spiralling staircase fit for a king, and Mr. Herjavec said it: "Wow!" He bought it the next day, he says, "mainly because I could."
