regal living
The house that beer built
It may be the house that beer built but it will take a champagne budget to buy Oakville’s Chelster Hall.
With an asking price of $59 million, the massive country estate of retired beer company executive Hugo Powell is Canada’s most expensive residential property on the Multiple Listings Service (MLS), according to agents Paul Maranger and Christian Vermast.
Only a “very finite number” of potential purchasers with a net worth of more than $200 million could afford the “crown jewel” on Lake Ontario, say the representatives of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.
With a down payment of $11.8 million, monthly carrying costs would be roughly $257,300, they calculated.
But who wants to get mired in such mundane matters when there’s a spectacular English country-style castle to goggle.
Designed by Oakville architect William Hicks, Chelster Hall - named after the Powells’ golden retrievers - was inspired by the Jacobean architecture of 400-year-old Blickling Hall, the ancestral home of Anne Boleyn, ill-fated second wife of Henry VIII.
Powell spent many of his early years in Britain before getting into the beer business, becoming president of Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. in Canada and later CEO of Belgium’s Interbrew SA, one of the world’s largest brewers.
“Classic and timeless,” the Powell family home on a rare 10-acre waterfront parcel was designed to look 100 years old and retain that appearance two or three centuries from now, Maranger explains.
Nothing about it was hurried, according to Vermast, who notes that five years of “careful contemplation, planning and construction” preceded completion in 2006.
The long driveway leads to an imposing and elegant façade, he says. But once inside, you’re enveloped in an atmosphere of calm, happiness and security.
While the rooms are “immense,” Maranger adds, the wood, materials and furnishings lend a homey feel.
From ubiquitous chandeliers and custom cabinetry to Europeaninfluenced fireplace mantels, “topdrawer quality abounds,” the broker says.
The opulent abode is all about entertaining, with Powell and his wife Tracy hosting business dinner parties, charity fundraisers and gatherings of family and friends.
A main-floor billiards room where guests gravitate “feels like a luxury hotel with a spectacular bar,” comfortable seating and views of the water, Maranger says.
The basement level was outfitted with a bowling alley, dance room and movie theatre for the couple’s then school-age daughter and her friends.
Upstairs, a two-storey library with a spiral staircase leading to a wraparound gallery offers ample room for reading and displays of family photos.
Another wing houses an elevator and self-contained housekeeper’s suite. Other highlights include a Tuscan wine cellar, gym, indoor and outdoor pools, pool house with kitchen and - for the car collector underground parking for 12.
An 800-square-foot chapel on the grounds would be ideal as a place of quiet contemplation, yoga studio or office, according to Vermast.
The Powells were committed to using Canadian-sourced materials and local artisans, Maranger says. Only the bricks were imported due to availability of the size, colour and shape of century-old bricks.