McConnell house can be yours for $40 million
Historic 67-room mansion possibly the most expensive ever listed in Quebec
If you’ve ever wanted to own a home that once hosted Queen Elizabeth II as a guest, now might be your chance — that is, if you can afford the $40-million asking price.
The historic property, which recently went on the market, is the former residence of businessman and philanthropist J.W. McConnell and its listing price appears to be the highest ever asked for a residential property in Montreal.
The property is one of the few remaining estates from the glory days of Montreal’s Golden Square Mile and one of an even smaller number that are still residential properties.
The 67-room mansion, tucked away on an almost private road off of des Pins Ave. near the Montreal General Hospital, sits on a two-and-a-half acre yard, according to the listing posted by Sotheby’s International Realty.
“I call it a real-life Downton Abbey,” said Joseph Montanaro, the real estate broker representing the seller.
“This house still has two-anda-half acres of land in the heart of downtown Montreal, so when you’re in the back of this estate, it’s been manicured into beautiful gardens with fountains and waterfalls and you have all these different types of flora and fauna, one would be hard pressed to believe that you’re living in a metropolitan city.”
The mansion was designed by architect Charles A. Platt — known for designing homes for famous wealthy American families of the era, like the Astors, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts and, according to Sotheby’s, it is believed to be the only home outside of the United States that was designed by Platt.
Work on the house — which was commissioned by businessman Jeffrey Hale Burland — began in 1913 but stopped in 1914, after Burland’s death.
It’s been manicured into beautiful gardens with fountains and waterfalls and you have all these different types of flora and fauna.
McConnell later purchased the property and work was completed in 1924.
Some of the pieces in the home are even older than the house itself.
“The fireplace mantels and some of the woodwork and a lot of other finishing materials in the house were taken from three or four Italian villas and then brought by boat and used to finish the interior of the house,” Montanaro said.
Among the notable guests who have stayed in the home is the Queen, who spent a night in the house’s Blue Room, Montanaro said.
The property is listed in the Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec as a heritage site.
“We see it as an opportunity to have a part of history that’s still intact,” Montanaro said.
Sotheby’s estimates the mortgage payment on the house would be $159,766 a month — assuming a 25-year amortization, with a 3.5-per-cent interest rate.
That works out to just over $1.9 million a year.
Property taxes on the house, which is currently evaluated at under $7.5 million, are $61,016.13 a year, according to the city of Montreal’s tax rolls.
The home is the most expensive property currently on the market in Quebec — and may be the most expensive ever listed.
The most expensive property currently listed in Montreal on the Centris website is a Westmount “manor” with an asking price of $27 million.
“This property commands its price, taking the house, with the history, the size, the materials, the land, and bringing them to Toronto or Vancouver, would be a well over $100-million asking price,” Montanaro said. jserebrin@postmedia.com