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We know Santa Claus is a stylish guy. He understands the iconic impact a two-tone colour scheme imparts for his work clothes and, whenever in civvies, he's always nattily attired. Mrs. Claus, while a tad dowdy, is nonetheless well put together and makes sure the elves are co-ordinated in their dress.

However, reports on the Claus's architecture and interior design at their North Pole compound are sketchy at best, since no known photographs exist; everything from icy medieval castle-like structures to abstract Marlon Brandoesque "fortress of solitude" affairs have been depicted in the media.

Since travel to the North Pole at this time of year is inadvisable (except with the aid of a certain red-nosed quadruped), my interior designer wife Shauntelle and I decided to visit four of the Greater Toronto Area's top shopping malls to see if Santa's temporary homes offered any clues as to a preferred architectural style.

To make things more interesting, we scrutinized other key items within each scheme. Elf/child accessibility, thinking outside the (gift) box, Santa's seat (and how it relates to the architecture), and the overall "twinkle factor" were compared and contrasted at Santa's digs in Square One, Scarborough Town Centre, Yorkdale and the Eaton Centre. While there were no winners and losers (everyone's a winner at Christmas), what we found did bring us to certain conclusions.

Scarborough Town Centre

A lot of elves could chill with "the man with the bag" in his Scarborough crib, and they do — this is one big castle in the "early fairytale" style. Some elves are waving banners from atop turrets — Shauntelle says the real purpose is to look down at the lineups and note who's been naughty or nice — and others lay intoxicated with the Christmas spirit among piles of presents.

Everything is red or gold, fences are fabricated from candy canes and Santa's sleigh is parked in the snow behind the castle. Elves and children alike move easily because the entrance and exit are clearly marked.

Most striking is the massive Christmas tree that has magically grown up around the middle of the castle, partially engulfing it. We think this constitutes some serious outside-the-box thinking on Santa's part. Warmed by an environmentally friendly video fire, Santa's chair, an oversized, well-padded red velvet throne with baroque carvings, is befitting of such a grand space. We give this one a medium-high twinkle factor.

Square One

Just as Mississauga's planners have allowed the city to spread out horizontally, so too has Santa constructed this abode: Standing by the drawbridge peering between two turrets painted icy blue and mauve, we can hardly see Ol' Saint Nick he's so far away. Sprawl is so rampant, castle decor extends into the food court with an impressive statue of leaping reindeer.

Luckily, there's a commuter rail service run by the elves (however there seems to be only one stop, "Penguinville") to shuttle toys about and collect stray wildlife (a few polar bears wander aimlessly in what seems to be a dried-up riverbed).

The only nod to high-density urban planning is the 10-storey spinning penguin turntable-condo, reminiscent of the famous Capitol Records building in Los Angeles, designed by Welton Becket in 1956.

Santa's chair, however, is notable — a long, dark blue settee that blends beautifully with his ice castle. Since there could be more lighting on Santa himself, we give this one a medium twinkle factor.

Eaton Centre

Standing in stark contrast to Square One is the verticality of this structure, which is more Jazz Age skyscraper than castle. While there are four corner turrets, they are dwarfed by the massive middle spire wearing full-on, ziggurated art deco dress — a nod, perhaps, to the Concourse Building, Sterling Tower and Commerce Court North a few blocks away. Clearly, Santa thinks it important to fit this home into its urban surroundings.

While no elves are about and children are sparse the night we visit, accessibility isn't a problem since Santa is right out in the open — perhaps too open as one could tug on his beard and bolt (not that we'd advise that) just as if he were sitting on the subway.

At his feet, an army of penguins keep watch; above him are narwhals, seals and polar bears carved in a style reminiscent of the former stock exchange building at 234 Bay St.

"It's incredibly symmetrical," Shauntelle decides. While Santa's seat is big enough for big kids, too, it's rather plain; Mies van der Rohe's 1930 "Barcelona" couch would work better. Over all, though, this one gets a high twinkle factor.

Yorkdale

Here, Santa Claus has decided to go the route of high-tech hippie. Eschewing the formality of a roof and walls, he communes with nature under a giant wreath in front of a quaint bookshelf directly on the forest floor. But this is no ordinary forest: Crafted, no doubt, by Silicon Valley-trained elves, two electrified trees display stripes, shooting stars and snowflakes in a constantly changing panorama of festive images, and a larger, middle tree has spouted a flat-screen television to display the photographs being taken. The overall effect is as if there was an explosion at the Lite-Brite factory.

Incongruous, perhaps, are various "Buck Rogers" elements in this scheme, such as the red velvet pillars capped with ornament-filled, Saturn-like planets trimmed with wreath-rings and the curved I-beams with circular cutouts. Or, perhaps, contrasting the retro-futurism of 20th-century cinema with actual 21st-century technology is a case of thinking way outside the box. If so, the further juxtaposition of Mr. Kringle's antique toys and artifacts on the bookshelf serves to smash the box altogether. While accessibility and the chair work well, the real star here is the light show, pronounced "the coolest thing ever," by Shauntelle. We give this "digital forest" a super-high twinkle factor.

In conclusion, we must stress that while the four Santa houses we surveyed ranged in their twinkle factor ratings, all had elements to recommend them. Unfortunately, since Santa varied his use of architectural and interior design at each, we were unable to draw any definite conclusions as to what his preferred style might be at his real home in the North Pole. There may very well be as many designs for his temporary outposts as there are shopping malls in the world.

Maybe, just as we all have our own unique memories of Christmas, Santa's place is whatever you imagine it to be. Merry Christmas