A PEEK INSIDE T.O.’S $35-MILLION LISTING
We take a tour inside the most expensive home for sale in Toronto, a mansion sitting on four acres in the Bridle Path
The most expensive house on the market is this 30,000-square-foot Bridle Path chateau. The owners give us a tour of their ‘empty nest,’
For $35 million, a French château could be yours.
The four-acre Bridle Path property, with more than 30,000 square feet of living area, is the most expensive MLS Toronto listing as of Wednesday.
Behind the gates is a home with 10 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms (including his and hers), a state-of-the-art gourmet kitchen and an indoor 50-foot swimming pool, which features a structural floor that converts to a ballroom.
“There’s a lot of history with this property,” agent Barry Cohen says. “It’s an iconic home.” Built in the early 1980s by late financier Robert Campeau, who combined two adjacent properties where the mansion is now situated, it’s been the home — and ongoing project — of Harold and Sara Springer for the past 15 years.
Blessed by former Toronto archbishop Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter, notable guests have included Pierre Trudeau, Jane Fonda and Scandal star Tony Goldwyn. It’s also been the set of multiple films, including
Kissinger and Nixon and That Old Feeling, and appeared in an episode of Suits.
When the Springers arrived, they were inspired by the French château design of the front entrance and decided to transform the interior to match it, with the help of late architect Gordon Ridgely and landscape architect Ronald Holbrook.
“Originally when we bought the property, it did not deliver on the expectation of the gates,” Harold Springer explains. “It was our desire to deliver that authenticity through the property that is in keeping with the lifestyle of the Loire valley.
“If you closed your eyes, you would feel that you are there.”
A magnificent chandelier hanging over the foyer greets visitors as they walk in, with a fireplace and overhanging mirror straight ahead, surrounded with chairs on each side.
“The mirrors would have been rescued from the French Revolution,” Springer notes, adding that each element, including the chairs, is truly authentic, not reproduced. “Have you ever seen a foyer like this?” Cohen asks. Everything in the home, from the grand living room and its tall doors leading to the terrace, to the placement of clocks and paintings throughout, a lowrise, widened staircase and traditional hand-sculpted carvings in the walls and ceilings, is part of a “painstaking attention to detail” that recalls 17th-century France.
“The owners restored this all, carried it through, put in the proper patina,” Cohen says.
For Springer, the overflowing French culture culminates in the library, his favourite room, which also includes the chair and desk once belonging to Campeau.
He notes French cameo glass and window draperies replicated with silk tie-backs, as well as a fireplace mantle, are identical to what would have been found in the period of the Loire Valley.
“It’s discipline, it’s lifestyle and, fundamentally, it’s tradition,” Springer says.
A walk-through of the property reveals other luxuries, such as solid marble fireplaces, golden bathroom faucets, a double-sided elevator and multiple dishwashers. The master bedroom on the second floor (there are four floors in total) sits at about 580 square feet, while a secondary bedroom is more than 255 square feet. Other aspects are less obvious, such as hidden silhouette speakers in the walls of the grand living room.
The home also features a luscious garden in the back of the property, visible from the living room, and a tennis court.
Cohen said the property is one of the most impressive he’s worked with, and the most expensive.
The Springers bought the property for $7.5 million in 2002 and listed it in 2014 for $25 million.
While there was interest at the time, the Springers chose to stay for the time being until they could find a suitable place to move next.
“The Bridle Path is by far the most luxurious neighbourhood, if not in all of Canada, certainly the GTA,” Cohen said.
“I don’t think you would find four acres, groomed, together, flat and a river running through it (elsewhere). The culture of the home, the architecture . . . I can’t think of another home that has nailed it quite the same way. It’s all put together. This has at all.”
Springer, a lawyer and venture capitalist, together with his wife, managing partner of a major international law firm, are ready to downsize. “The point now is we’ve reached a stage in our lives where it’s time for someone else to celebrate what we’ve now completed,” Springer said.
“Our children are older, both have graduated and moved on and it’s essentially an empty-nester story.”