The family that now lives in the Westmount home where Leonard Cohen grew up might just be taking inspiration from the whispers in its walls.
“It's a very special house, you know. I'm not a musician, my wife's not a musician and somehow my kids are musicians,” said Allan Kobelansky, the home’s current owner.
The Kobelanskys are the third family to live in the home after the Cohens, and it seems to provide some artistic inspiration: all three of the Kobelansky children are talented young musicians.
“I can't attribute it to the fact that we live in Leonard Cohen's house, but I can't deny that there could be something there,” he said.
Two of the Kobelanskys currently study at the McGill Conservatory of Music.
Elliott, a 12-year-old pianist, makes his own music and is training to compete at Carnegie Hall.
He sleeps in Cohen’s former bedroom.
“I can imagine him as a kid, just lying, not in the same bed, but in the same area and imagining the same things that maybe I'm imagining,” he said. “It definitely inspires me to keep moving forward and keep on with my piano and keep going in life and work hard.”
The Kobelansky family had eyed the house on a tree-lined street because of its most famous resident for years. Their patience paid off.
“When the house came up on the market the first time, we missed out and when it came up on the market the second time we jumped on the occasion,” said the elder Kobelansky.
All the original mouldings remain, and even the bookcase is the same one on which Cohen would have stacked his inspiration.
“One of the previous owners had actually reported that when they moved in after the Cohens, they actually found a guitar and some sheet music, and they contacted Leonard and they said, ‘What would you like us to do with this?’ and he said, ‘Just throw it in the garbage,’” said Kobelansky.
A quiet tribute to the songwriter and poet was left at the home on Friday after news of his death.
“It feels like a way of engaging with music history,” said fan Zack Morgenstern. “I never got to see him live but it feels like it’s another way of having that opportunity.”
Image: NFB
