The Mono, Ont., home of Michael Silvestre and Nathalie Virag, designed by Jasmine Maggs and Marisa Maggs of Studio Maggs.Scott Norsworthy/Scott Norsworthy
As Toronto, the big city to the south, literally moves mountains of snow to keep commerce and culture humming along, there is a true January stillness in the town of Mono. While major thoroughfares such as Airport Road and Highway 89 – and the many smaller side roads that feed them – have been plowed, criss-crossing lines of white from farmer’s fields paint a picture of randomness across the asphalt. Order, business and frenzy, it seems, have been put on hold until spring.
In accepting randomness and stillness, one is bestowed with clarity of thought. Look upon that field of white, where dunes of snow take whatever shape the wind wishes, and one can more easily ponder how the orderliness of architecture shapes our lives.
Thrusting skyward from a patch of white dune owned by Michael Silvestre and Nathalie Virag, two black peaks assert their human-made geometry. But geometry made for what? From this angle, they could be storage buildings or cowsheds. That jaunty yellow door, however, and the long, windowed, red-brick building that bisects those peaks reveals a deeper, warmer purpose: This is a house. A beautiful house.
The Maggs sisters ‘built the kitchen around’ the marble topping the island, said Mr. Silvestre.Scott Norsworthy/Scott Norsworthy
“All we said was ‘modern barn’ so then they took it from there,” Mr. Silvestre says over the phone. “And then we spent a bit of time in the beginning just laying out the flow of spaces inside.”
And although those “spaces inside” add up to 3,500 square feet, the combined talents of Jasmine Maggs and her partner/sister Marisa Maggs have produced a wonderfully intricate yet warm series of spaces that sneak up on a new visitor – and then embrace that visitor with light, texture and tactility.
The kitchen is lit by pot lights and a pair of Gubi pendants.Scott Norsworthy/Scott Norsworthy
For example, the kitchen island around which the sisters are currently gathered while listening to Mr. Silvestre from a family vacation in South America is a swirling marble masterpiece of browns, greens, and bits of orange that begs a finger-stroke. “That island stone, I love how that came together,” the tinny voice of Mr. Silvestre continues, “that was Nathalie and Jasmine that went to the stone place, and they both quickly agreed that they loved that one, and then I looked at it; it was a very quick decision … they built the kitchen around it.”
But, interestingly, it’s not a room the first-time visitor can spy from the foyer. No, as she sits and removes snowy boots, her eye will likely drift to the warm, pinkish-brown tiles cladding the fireplace, or the peek-a-boo of the exposed brick wall through the sculptural staircase. There’s also the aquarium-like, reverse-corner window that frames a little tree planted by Mr. Silvestre (Mr. Silvestre owns Riverwalk Landscaping & Construction, which also handled construction management).
Unlike dwellings that reveal all from the front door, our intrepid visitor must walk over to that fireplace and its grouping of mid-century modern furniture, continue over to the bold and “crazy deep” couch in blue florals – “It was really fun to design that and go wild,” says the older sister, Jasmine Maggs – to get a sense that, yes, there is something past the steel planters bursting with monsteras and robustas.
The home, nestled in the Ontario countryside, is 3,500 square feet.Scott Norsworthy/Scott Norsworthy
Two little steps down to where the flooring changes from wood to smooth concrete is the kitchen and dining area. And it’s marvellous: cabinets that look like mid-century modern credenzas; a stove tucked into a niche; and an enviable butler’s pantry/appliance closet. And lighting – although it’s switched off much of the time due to those windows and skylights – comes from a pair of Gubi pendants from Denmark and a few well-placed pot lights.
Had our visitor walked the other direction, she would’ve entered the long, windowed, one-storey private wing. Here, she’d find a generous laundry room with terracotta floor tiles and avocado-green wall tiles straight from a 1970s shopping mall, a guest bedroom, a guest bathroom/steam room and an office. But her mouth would’ve dropped at the arched entrance to a cozy, woodsy library. Cavelike and snuggle-ready due to the window seat/bed, it’s where children “hang out” during family gatherings, Ms. Maggs says with a smile: “They run away from their parents, and all come here.”
Upstairs, under the taller of the twin gables, are the bedrooms: one for the parents and one for the two little ones. Here, mom and dad spoil themselves in the egg-shaped tub, shower beside a curved wall that allows a view of the rising sun, and stand at the monolithic vanity – which looks as if it were hand-chiseled by a sculptor – to gaze at the distant treescape.
The egg-shaped tub in the upstairs bathroom.Scott Norsworthy/Scott Norsworthy
But why Mono? It turns out the couple stumbled upon the area during early pandemic drives to “get out of our [city] apartment,” says Mr. Silvestre. “We didn’t even know there were these kinds of rolling hills, like going up Airport Road. … We just learned about the area when we got it.”
It’s an area that’s becoming known for interesting architecture. In the past few years, this writer has toured houses by Ian MacDonald, Superkul and Wanda Ely. And while the Maggs sisters and their company, three-year-old Studio Maggs, may not possess the same sort of name recognition, this is as good an architectural debut as any. Plus, with experience at firms such as Drew Mandel Architects (Jasmine) and Dubbeldam Architecture + Design (Marisa) and the DNA of their grandfather, award-winning artist/photographer Arnaud Maggs (1926-2012), to guide them, this pair is poised for greatness.
“It really shaped how we were going to try to be part of the arts community,” finishes Ms. Maggs. While not “pushed,” she says he was pleased when she became a working architect in 2008, and again when his younger granddaughter, Marisa, followed. “Part of doing this was also keeping up the legacy, trying to keep the family name going.”