They talk it up on CBC's Dragons' Den, but do they live it up at home? Postmedia News looks into the lairs of the five business moguls who bring hope -- and fear -- to entrepreneurs across Canada. Today: Brett Wilson
Given that he is single, attractive and filthy rich, one might expect a hint of hedonism in the magnificent home of Brett Wilson.
In the hands of someone so inclined, it would make a perfect Playboy Mansion North. The stately 4,200-square-foot heritage home in Calgary's exclusive Upper Mount Royal could easily accommodate a Hef-like grotto on its private, one-acre lot, but that is not Wilson's way. There is a nary a hint of man-in-pyjamas flamboyance to the joint.
Elegant and tasteful, the 100-year-old home is crammed with original works of art nearly all of it by painters and sculptors from Wilson's native Saskatchewan, including 30 works by landscape specialist Ernest Lindner and works by other sought-after artists such as Allen Sapp and sculptor Joe Fafard.
"I had one proposal from an architect to turn it into a swinging bachelor pad. I didn't call him back because that's not what I wanted to achieve," says the 53-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist, who purchased the home in a 1999 foreclosure. "I wanted it to be all about family."
A divorced father of three grown children, a son, 19, and two daughters, 22 and 25, the co-star of CBC's Dragons' Den and sometime companion of singer Sarah McLachlan, longingly had his eye on the home as it underwent extensive renovations before the previous owner went bankrupt.
"When it came on the market, I jumped at it."
Assessed last year at $4.3 million, the 1910 home has a partial view of the downtown skyline, a 1,600-sq.-ft. multi-car garage and almost 3,000 sq. ft. of a developed space below grade, much of it consumed by a gymnasium.
One of the first things Wilson did was level the sloping site and remove more than 100 ailing trees. "I wanted to play football with my son."
The yard has become the site of an annual spring garden party, which this past June had an 800-member guest list including Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who flew in from Ottawa. MacKay joined Wilson in announcing that $200,000 had been privately raised for a legacy foundation set up in the name of Cpl. Andrew James Boomer Eykelenboom, a Canadian military medic killed in Afghanistan in 2006. After his mother, Maureen, told guests about her 23-year-old son's short but remarkable life, another $50,000 was added by night's end to the Boomer Legacy fund, set up to aid women and children in Afghanistan.
Assisting military families is one item on a long list of charitable endeavours supported by Wilson, who re-evaluated his life in 2001 after his divorce and subsequent diagnosis with prostate cancer, which he overcame.
"The cancer was a wake-up call to slow things down and properly build connections to my children. For 10 years, I had focused on the business side of life and let family slip a bit."
One of his favourite rooms in the home is a third-floor family room with a view of downtown. The historic home's former servants' quarters, it was redesigned to see Wilson's kids through their teen years -- they were eight, nine and 14 at the time he bought the property. It is dominated by a U-shaped brown leather sofa facing a built-in TV.
The room has a pool table, a fold-out sofa for sleepovers and wireless Internet. It is the most modern room in the home.
Guests are welcomed off a large, covered front porch into a small entrance foyer. A traditional, oak-panelled den is to the right, with a sunken living room and dining room to the left with a sunny atrium for office space beyond it. The main entrance hallway leads to a spacious kitchen overlooking the garden, with four bedrooms on the second floor.
Artwork is everywhere. Wilson's love of Saskatchewan art ranges from Lindner paintings and Fafard sculptures to works by Art McKay, guru of the so-called Regina Five, and a painting by Nicholas de Grandmaison.
His few non-Saskatchewan works include the well-known Tudor Cat of Calgary artist Jeff de Boer, a multimedia artist known for his detailed suits of armour for cats and mice.
And then there are the cows.
In 2000, Wilson bought 15 full-sized fibreglass cows at a charity auction. He keeps about a half-dozen of the whimsical bovines on his property. "Each cow we ended up owning was attached to a charity I had some connection with. I'm sort of a serial philanthropist. I try to set up charities with a new set of relationships and then move on."
The one-time, self-admitted workaholic investment banker can easily indulge his love of art and his philanthropic ethic. In 1993, he co-founded the highly successful First Energy Capital, providing funds for energy firms from its offices in Calgary and London. Wilson previously co-founded an investment banking advisory firm, Wilson Mackie & Co., in 1991, specializing in brokering oil and gas companies. With more than 800 financings and $50-billion equity raised, Wilson became incredibly wealthy.
He retired from First Energy in July 2007 and remained chairman of the company for another 18 months. His primary holding company, Prairie Merchant Corporation, is his main vehicle for investments.
With a mother who was a social worker and a father who was a car dealer, Wilson is a self-professed capitalist with a heart. Of all the deal makers on Dragons' Den, he is considered to be the softest tough guy.
His work on the house has been extensive but respects historical authenticity. "The only thing I haven't upgraded is the front entrance. It's degrading over time."
A classification by the City of Calgary as a level C heritage home allows officials to comment on but not object to any changes. "They didn't like the windows on the third level and the wrought iron fence in the yard," says Wilson, adding those renovations were done before he purchased the property.
The house, while large, feels cosy and warm, not ostentatious. But, says Wilson, it has limitations.
"The challenge of a 1910 heritage home is small rooms. I would like a larger dining room, a larger family room."
More room, possibly, for cows.
-- Postmedia News
