A mansion, located on a sprawling estate in the suburb of Senneville on the western tip of the island of Montreal, has just fetched a pretty penny.
Real estate broker Joseph Montanaro made the $8-million sale last Friday.
“This is the highest single-family home sale on the island of Montreal since the beginning of the year,” he told Global News.
The five-bedroom mansion boasts three smaller adjoining buildings and sits on over 30 acres of land, including a vast apple orchard.
The waterfront property, located on the Lake of Two Mountains, is also a home steeped in a rich history.
“It was built by John Abbott, one of our former prime ministers, as a summer home in 1865,” Montanaro said.
“It was a more modest house in the beginning then with the successive owners it got added onto. It was originally built in a neo-Gothic style and then took on more of a Tudor appearance.”
Another cachet? The original gardens were designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm.
Their father, Frederick Law Olmsted, is the landscape architect behind Montreal’s Mount Royal Park as well as New York’s Central Park.
The 19th-century home, according to Montanaro, was on the market for a little over six months.
“Generally, these properties can take very long to sell, you know. It’s a very high price point,” he said
“But relative to the price point, this was quite a quick sale.”
And like most homes being sold on the island, there was more than one interested buyer.
“Two of my own buyers were bidding on it at the same time,” Montanaro said. “In terms of the market, it’s really been a very active market at all price levels…a very active seller’s market.”
While the seller did not receive the listed asking price of $9.5 million, Montanaro estimates it was nonetheless “a very decent price.”
“Over and above the purchase price, there’s going to be a multi-million-dollar facelift with the outside, with refurbishing the accessory buildings and redecorating the house,” he explained.
IN PHOTOS: Take a peek inside Senneville’s $8-million mansion