ARTIST EVE GORDON will never forget the grandiose European designs she saw during her summer in France in the 1970s. Her parents had sent her to do a French course in Montpellier; while on a biking tour around the countryside, she was amazed by the hand-painted walls and carved wooden mouldings in local churches, homes and gardens. "I felt like I belonged there," she says.
During university, Gordon began painting flowers. In 1976, she moved to Paris and displayed her whimsical oil paintings in several shows. On a visit back home in 1983, she went on a blind date and met her husband, the late investment dealer Crawford Gordon. Though she hated to leave Paris, she agreed to move to Toronto to be with him. They were married within six months.
In 1984, they found a red-brick Victorian in Rosedale, which a developer had divided into a triplex. For roughly $300,000, the Gordons bought a three storey section on the home's easternmost side, with bay windows and dramatic 25-foot ceilings. The primary bedroom takes up the second floor, and the Gordons' three kids had their bedrooms on the level above. (Her daughters, Chloe Gordon and Parris Morris, are the designers behind the fashion label Beaufille, and her son, Crawford, works in the investment industry.)
This story is from the December 2023 edition of Maclean's.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 2023 edition of Maclean's.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
"I escaped Gaza and sent my family to Egypt. Now, my goal is to reunite with them in Canada."
Bombs destroyed my neighbourhood and killed my loved ones. I hope my family and I can find refuge in Quebec.
TIDAL WAVE
Susan Lapides chronicles her family's summers in a tiny New Brunswick fishing town
THE NORTHERN FRONT
In Ontario's hinterlands, a battle is brewing between First Nations, prospectors and the provincial government over a multi-billion-dollar motherlode of metals. Inside the fight for the Ring of Fire.
THE CULTURE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM
Several provincial governments now mandate parental consent for kids to change pronouns in Schools. Who gets to decide a child's gender?
THE JACKPOT GENERATION
Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country.
My Child-Free Choice
For a long time, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to become a parent. The climate crisis clinched my decision.
The Main Event
Calgary's massive, modern, newly expanded BMO Centre is open for business
Embrace the Four-Day Workweek
Canada is facing a national productivity crisis. One counterintuitive solution? Give workers more time off.
Richard Ireland, mayor of Jasper, is ready to rebuild
IT'S TEMPTING TO LEAN on numbers when conveying the scale of the damage wrought by July's fire in Jasper, Albertathe worst in the national park's 117-year history. Water bombers were grounded in the face of 400-foot-high flames. More than 25,000 visitors and residents were evacuated as hundreds of firefighters flew in to assist. Damages exceeded $700 million. A third of the town's structures were consumed-historical buildings, tourist haunts and family homes. One of them belonged to Richard Ireland.
"The Taliban tried to kill me at 16.Eight years later, I am free in Canada."
I ATTENDED A PRIVATE ENGLISH SCHOOL in the Jaghori District of Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
