Having enough space for a lot of bookshelves was one of the couple’s requirements when they started house hunting eight years ago.
Joe Schlesinger and Dr. Judith Levene have a lot of personal treasures. It only makes sense that their home would need bookshelves to display all of their mementos.
In a built-in bookshelf in their living room, you'll find some pottery, Mr. Schlesinger's three Gemini awards and dozen of books, including a rare first-edition of Tolstoy's
War and Peace.
"It's very precious," he said, while reading the first few pages aloud. "War and Peace … 1869 …"
As he skimmed through the pages, Mr. Schlesinger talked about the history he witnessed during his 28 years with the CBC as a foreign correspondent, moments including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ping-pong diplomacy between the U.S. and China in 1971. Suddenly, he stopped on one of the images in the book: It featured a drawing of Napoleon.
"I wasn't there for Napoleon," he joked.
Each level of the house has built-in book shelves and wood-grain cabinetry.
The back story
A house big enough for lots of bookshelves. That was one of the requirements Mr. Schlesinger and Dr. Levene had when they were shopping for a home together eight years ago. The other two criteria were the ability to have a ground-level entrance (for Mr. Schlesinger, who has had multiple hip surgeries) and it had to be large enough that they could use part of it for Dr. Levene's psychotherapy office.
Previously, the two had been living in condos closer to the downtown core, when Alan Maguire, the achitect Dr. Levene had commissioned for her condo, tipped them off to the end-unit townhouse just north of Eglinton Avenue West and Avenue Road.
"He thought it would be very good for our purposes," said Dr. Levene.
The row house is part of a small development called the Hunt Club, which is located on the site of the old 1919 Eglinton Hunt Club. In 1939, the Royal Canadian Air Force purchased it for studying the health effects of combat flying and remained in possession until 1994. About a decade later, the town homes were complete.
Mr. Schlesinger and Dr. Levene's home features three large bedrooms and five bathrooms over four floors. Once they moved in, they brought in Mr. Maguire to help them re-envision the space.
Their renovations started with creating Dr. Levene's office on the lower level, which used to house an open-concept family room. Now it is a large office and a waiting room. They also installed a door on the east side of the house for both Dr. Levene's patients and Mr. Schlesinger.
The lower level was converted into an office and waiting room for Dr. Levene.
"If Joe goes out the garage, there are no steps," said Dr. Levene. "If he goes out the side door, there's one step."
The couple also had Mr. Maguire add built-in bookshelves and cabinetry on each level of the house, all of it sporting the same stylistic details, including thick shelves with steel edging and wood-grain cabinetry.
The most noticeable change, though, had to be the colour scheme. Almost every interior wall is a different colour, sporting vibrant hues ranging from a warm orange to an eggplant purple to cotton-candy pink. But the colours aren't splashed onto the walls randomly. Mr. Maguire, who is also an artist, had a method, said Dr. Levene, explaining that all of the exterior walls are painted beige, while of the interior walls got a dose of colour.
"The only [colour choice] he really had to talk me into was the orange one side and red on the other," she said. "I just couldn't picture it."
Dr. Levene was initially wary of painting the walls orange and yellow, but was won over once she saw it.
"And now I think it looks fabulous," she added. "Alan has an eye for colour."
Their realtor, Gabriela Friedmann-Lazar, acknowledges that the bright colours may not appeal to every buyer but she noted re-painting is the easily change a new homeowner can make.
"It is not a fixture to stay," she said, adding: "One realtor who came to the agents' open house said 'Who does colour nowadays?' And I said: 'Well this house does and it looks wonderful.'"
The last piece of Mr. Schlesinger and Dr. Levene's renovation puzzle came in 2013 when they redid the master suite bathroom.
"It was Joe's line in the sand, 'We are not redoing the [master] bathroom,'" Dr. Levene said. "Then came the ice storm." A pipe in their master bathroom broke.
"The flood came all the way down to the kitchen from the top floor," she said.
Favourite features
A broken pipe prompted a redo of the master bathroom, which features oval windows.
That refurbished master bathroom is part of the master suite, which takes up the entire fourth floor, and happens to be Dr. Levene's favourite space with its his-and-her closets and oval windows.
"It is such a spacious room," she said. "Plus, most of our family photos are either there or in Joe's bedroom in the bookshelves."
Mr. Schlesinger loves his bedroom, which is on the third floor, for its southern and eastern views and because it's home to more of his personal treasures, likes his Order of Canada medal.
The spacious master suite occupies the entire fourth floor.
Even though the house features an elevator, the size and upkeep of 337 Roselawn Ave. is becoming a challenge.
"It's a big house," said Mr. Schlesinger. "And we're not getting any younger."
Despite knowing that it is time to move on, the pair have mixed feeling about leaving.
"This house is our baby," Dr. Levene said.
"It was a wonderful part of our lives," Mr. Schlesinger added.
