A historic tudor-style mansion for sale in Victoria shows the stark contrast of real estate values between the capital and Vancouver.
The British arts and crafts tudor revival home, built in 1910 by Samuel Maclure in Rockland made news this week as it went up for sale through a rare live auction and listed at $1.998 million.
At 7,200 square-feet with six bedrooms and six bathrooms, the house, named Grierson Mansion, is immaculately finished and landscaped and sits on an 890 square-metre lot near Craigdarroch Castle and historic Government House.
It features a wrap-around deck, heated floors, theatre/media room, billiards room, and a 2,000-bottle wine cellar, among other amenities. Since it is also part of a strata, things like grounds-keeping are taken care of.
The house also consists of two strata-titles, meaning the new owner could subdivide it into two residences, pending approvals.
But while over 2,000 people visited Grierson Mansion during its daily open houses from June 10 to 22, only one person ended up bidding on the property.
“You can’t really have an auction with one person,” said realtor Andy Stephenson.
“We’re now working in a more traditional method of selling the property. The house has not yet been sold but we have brought the price up to $2.2 million, so it’s no longer at its optimal auction price. It’s open for general inquiries.”
It is now listed by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada at $2.2 million, far lower than a comparable house would fetch in Vancouver.
For instance, another 7,200-square-foot heritage mansion for sale in Vancouver’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood is listed for $21 million. It has six bedrooms and was built in 1912, however it sits on a lot over three times the size of the Grierson Mansion.
“I do think there was some opportunity missed last night for bidders, for people that were sitting on the fence with this house. Time will tell.”
The benchmark price for a single family home in Victoria was $706,500 in May, up 19 per cent from the year before.
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