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Dave LeBlanc

Dave LeBlanc

Architecture columnist, author, and design writer

Arts / Entertainment / Publishing

Toronto, Ontario

Social

Services offered

For over twenty years, Dave LeBlanc has educated and entertained as “The Architourist” for Canada’s National Newspaper, The Globe & Mail. Covering new builds, sustainability, and the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, Dave’s work reaches into hundreds of thousands of homes every week. Dave also enjoys aiming the spotlight at the oddballs that also make up a city: sidewalk stamps, old signage, the remains of space age Modernism, and other bits of architectural flotsam and jetsam. He has spent the night in Frank Lloyd Wright homes and Frank Sinatra’s “Twin Palms” estate in Palm Springs.

In 2014 – 15 Dave hosted 20 episodes of Where Cool Came From for Canada’s iChannel (also aired on Discovery World in Mexico, Central America, and South America), and in 2017 he guested on the award-winning Great Canadian Homes with Tommy Smythe for HGTV Canada. Dave will be appearing on HGTV's Top of the Block in February 2026 and again later in the year. His first novel, Falconi’s Tractor, featuring an architecture-obsessed protagonist, was published by Guernica Editions in 2019, and his first non-fiction book, Hidden Toronto (and the GTA) will be released by Firefly Books in April 2026.

Dave also shares his passion for architecture as “Irma Girdle,” his drag persona.

Design writer
Architecture columnist
Television host
Freelance writer
Author
Approximate rate: CAD$ 75 per hour

Experience

2003  to present                           

Globe and Mail Real Estate.  Weekly nationwide column “The Architourist” covers topics as diverse as heritage preservation, architect’s biographies, renovation stories, neighbourhood profiles, neon signs, sidewalk stamps and the occasional opinionated rant.   

1996  to present

Freelance writer/author/editor.  Novel, Falconi’s Tractor, released May 2019 (Guernica Editions).  Nonfiction book, Hidden Toronto (and the GTA), to be released spring 2026 (Firefly Books).  Two science fiction books on Kindle.  Pieces in Wallpaper* magazine, Canadian Interiors, Canadian House & Home, Atomic Ranch, Spacing, Montreal Gazette and Toronto Star.  Essays in Concrete Toronto (Coach House Books, 2007) and Packaged Toronto (Spacing Media, 2021). Co-copy editor of NORR Monograph 1990 – 2010.  

2012 to present

Television. Competitor and judge on HGTV’s Top of the Block (2026). Develop, co-write, and host a Canadian Media Fund web/television series (20 episodes) on architecture, design and popular culture, Where Cool Came From for iChannel and Discovery World in Central/South America (2013 – 14). Freelance research and script doctoring for Great Canadian Cottages with Colin & Justin for Cottage Life Network (10 episodes). Guest on HGTV Canada’s Great Canadian Homes, a one-hour special hosted by Tommy Smythe (2017).  Host of Retro Revamp a “sizzle reel” for HGTV-US by Outrun the Sun Productions/NHNZ (not picked up).  

1996 to 2024

Bell Media, Toronto.  Audio engineer/show producer.  Station imaging, commercials, PSAs and longform programming for CJAD AM 800 (Montreal), Newstalk 1010 (CFRB), CHUM-FM, Virgin 99-9 and TSN 1050 (plus stations in Peterborough and Lindsay).  ProTools, Adobe Audition, WideOrbit.   

 

Education

1992 – 1995   

York University, Toronto.  English major, not completed.   

1987 – 1988   

Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.  Radio/Television Arts, not completed.   

1982 – 1987   

Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts.  Scarborough high school specializing in fine art and music.   

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