Abandoned mansion has long history in Scarborough
For almost 10 years, a two-storey Scarborough Bluffs mansion on a massive property overlooking Lake Ontario has sat, abandoned and unfinished, visited on occasion by raccoons.
Yet, the property — and the original mansion it replaced — has a long history. It’s the former summer home of one of Toronto’s prominent families at the turn of the 20th century, who were early proponents of public transit and electricity.
On May 1, the property at 4 Birchmount Rd. was put on sale for the fifth time since 2009 for $3.8 million. The current house is a modern 12,000-square-foot, two-storey house with 13 rooms, seven washrooms and four garage spaces. It has never been lived in.
“Home requires substantial work to complete,” the listing adds. “Basically a shell of concrete and steel beam.”
A video of the empty house posted this week shows a messy and decrepit interior. The ceiling is peeling, there are pieces of tiles and wood everywhere and the floors appear to show mould and water damage.
The sale of the home, currently registered to Christine Drotos, was ordered by the court. On April 18, an insolvency and debt solutions company, Rosen Goldberg Inc., was given charge over all the lands and premises registered under Drotos’s name, and, according to court documents, was authorized “to sell, convey, transfer, lease or assign the property.”
Court documents show Drotos is bankrupt and the house was seized by creditors. The Star tried to reach out to Drotos at her listed phone numbers and her company, but received no answer. Property records show Drotos bought the property’s original house in 2006 for almost $1.95 million.
The property was first owned in the late 1800s by Henry Redman — one of the neighbour- hood’s original residents and the first solicitor for the township of Scarborough.
Three generations of Redman family lived on the property, David Leinster, Redman’s great-grandson told the Star.
Before Redman built a house there in 1904, it served as the family’s summer destination.
As the town solicitor, Redman pushed the powers to be at the time to give the neighbourhood electricity. His house was one of the first ones in Scarborough with power. The Redman family was an early supporter of public transit too, with Henry Redman taking the streetcar to his law office on King St. from his home every day.
Leinster grew up on the property. His mother was married on the property. He fondly recalls all the births the property has seen, along with the big bonfires and large family gatherings.
The erosion of the cliffs was “always top of mind,” Leinster said for every generation. Redman embedded old motor-vehicles into the lower side of the cliff to reinforce it. His son, Bill, an engineer, helped retain the structure after him.
In1984, after Leinster’s grandmother died, it was sold to Gary and Elena Stephenson, who lived there for 21 years. When Gary Stephenson bought it, the house the had been vacant for two years.
He “updated and upgraded” the house for the first three to four months, enlarging rooms and building a downstairs addition. “I planned to live there forever,” Stephenson said.
In his 2006 listing, Stephenson wrote that the house was “perhaps the most significant property for sale in the beach area,” and that buying it was “the chance of a lifetime.”
Drotos bought the property and “built that monstrosity that’s there now,” Stephenson said. It’s been up for sale five times since, each time by a different realtor. Each listing emphasized the unfinished home as having potential for a new owner’s personal touch.
“It’s a magical property,” Leinster said.
“You could get lost on that property. It was spectacular.”