A coming-out party for Integral House, sponsored by Sotheby’s, Toronto
Integral House, the mansion with minimalist appeal that calculus built, recently made its debut on the Toronto real-estate scene, a wild west of sorts where prices soar and provenance is key.
The 18,000-square-foot space nestled in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood played host to architecture aficionados, real-estate jockeys and potential occupants, allowing them to mix, mingle and snoop around the former home of beloved mathematician and author James Stewart, who commissioned ShimSutcliffe Architects to design his idea of a dream home in 1999 (construction took place between 2003 and 2009).
This house, you see, was built for entertaining, but not in the drawing-room-and-dining-room-with-seating-for-12 setup common in local abodes, but instead featuring a massive living room-cum-concert hall.
(It’s no wonder MoMA director Glen Lowry called the home “one of the most important private houses built in North America in a long time.”) Among the crowds oohing and aahing at the indoor pool, James Bond-esque finishes, panoramic views and $28-million price tag: Gardiner Museum executive director and CEO Kelvin Browne; Brigitte Shim of ShimSutcliffe; Canadian Opera Company general director Alexander Neef (who brought along COC ensemble studio member Gordon Bintner for a mid-party performance); BMW Group Canada’s Marc Belcourt and his wife, Deborah; Roots co-founder Michael Budman and his wife, Diane; Sharing Space’s Barbara Frum and Teddy Wilson; art dealer Troy Seidman; fashion plate Kim Tanenbaum; animal-welfare activist Dana Margolis; Umbra co-founder Paul Rowan; former Algoma Central Corporation chairman Radcliff Latimer and his wife, Jacqueline; and the event hosts: Sotheby’s Christian Vermast, Fran Bennett and Paul Maranger.
Krystal Koo-Cooper and the Design Exchange cocktail for Moshe Safdie, Toronto
The previous evening, another entertaining reception was held in a historic abode, this time at the space that once housed the German Consulate. The Admiral Road Georgian revival is now home to Dream Asset Management Corporation founder Michael Cooper and his wife, Krystal.
The pair put the home’s spacious rooms and elaborate backyard to good use, hosting annual end-of-summer affairs for fashion label Greta Constantine and this, a cocktail party given for Moshe Safdie – a starchitect before the term even existed – and Canada’s design museum, The Design Exchange.
Safdie was in Toronto to launch his second residential endeavour, Monde, which comes some 48 years after Habitat 67, his before-its-time creation for Expo 67 that became an international success and put the 25-year-old then-new Montrealer on the map. “My work takes me to many countries, but there is this special place for building in Canada,” Safdie said in his remarks at the Coopers’ to board members and patrons of the DX.
Those in attendance included board chair Dave Marcus; arts supporter Julia Foster; former Canadian Football League commissioner Mark Cohon; board member and president of Great Gulf Residential Christopher Wein; architectsAlliance principal Peter Clewes; and Urban Capital partner David Wex and his wife, Nicola Lyon.
Earlier that day, after breaking ground on the new 492-foot-tall tower in Toronto’s emerging East Bayfront neighbourhood, Safdie spoke to 250 next-generation architects at George Brown College. Later that night at the Coopers’, meanwhile, he reflected on Habitat and the opportunity. “It was a kooky idea, at least on paper, but they backed me and I wonder, would that happen today?” he mused, adding, “I think it says something about the optimism of the 1960s, something that one hopes we can resurrect.”