Figure Skater Tessa Virtue and Maple Leaf Morgan Rielly Lobby to Paint Heritage Home, City Staff Object

Decorated figure skater Tessa Virtue and Toronto Maple Leaf Morgan Rielly have hired a lobbyist as they seek permission to paint the exterior of their Rosedale heritage home, despite objections from city staff.

According to Toronto’s lobbyist registry, Rob Ford’s former chief of staff Amir Remtulla is working on behalf of the couple as it relates to an application to paint a heritage home that was purchased for $6.4 million in 2022.

A staff report that will go before Toronto and East York Community Council next week indicates that the owners of the property want to use a limewash white paint along both sides of the two-storey brick house to “address the unsightly discoloration” “variations in colour, texture, and conditions resulting from mismatched bricks, repairs, and patches” and “elevate the house’s curb appeal.”

But because the house, which was built in 1912, is located within the North Rosedale Heritage Conservation District (NRHCD) permission has to be granted to make any alterations to its exterior.

The report says that in May, 2023 a building permit was issued for the property, allowing the owners to construct a single-storey rear addition and a detached parking garage.

A few months later in September a revised building permit was issued and staff say that the updated drawings at that time included a note that “the brick was to be painted.”

However, they said that “Heritage Planning staff were not aware of this note” when they approved the permit.

“Following a site visit Heritage Planning staff noticed that the painting of the west façade of the house had commenced. The owners were advised to cease this work and seek the required approvals under Section 42 of the Ontario Heritage Act,” the staff report notes.

In their report, staff with the city’s heritage department say that one of the home’s “most important attributes” is its “red brick masonry” and that painting it would “neither maintain or enhance its architectural style or character” and wouldn’t “comply with good conservation practice.”

Staff say that the owners did submit a list of properties within the surrounding neighbourhood with painted bricks but they said that a review of those properties determined that all of them were either painted prior to the designation of the area as a heritage district or are “unrated” homes, which means they don’t contribute to the heritage character of the neighbourhood and therefore are not subject to the same rules.

Staff say that rather than painting the bricks an approach that reflects good conservation practice “would involve masonry repairs, repointing and brick cleaning.”

“The heritage conversation district plan notes that the abundance of red brick and stone in the houses in the Ravine Lands gives the area a quality of ‘heaviness and stolid permanence.’ This character would be undermined by the introduction of white paint to the exterior of the subject property,” staff conclude.

“As such, it is recommended that permission under Section 42 of the Ontario Heritage Act is refused.”

While staff are opposing the application to paint the exterior of the home, it will ultimately be up to city council to make the final decision.

According to the lobbyist registry, Remtulla has been working on behalf of Virtue and Rielly with regards to the matter since last month.

The registry shows that he has so far met with Ward 11 University-Rosedale Coun. Dianne Saxe and has also been in communication with staff members within her office.

The proposal will be considered by members of Toronto and East York Community Council on June 11.

CP24 has reached out to Rielly’s agent for comment but has not heard back.

Virtue, a former Olympic gold medalist, announced earlier this year that