What: A castle-themed, cliff top home designed by venerable architect Edward Lennox 100 years ago.
Where: 3025 Queen St. East
Amenities: A three-bedroom owner's unit on the main floor and five rental units on the main and second floors.
Asking price: $1,999,900
Taxes: $8,276 (2004)
Income: $8,264 a month.
Agent: Jillinda Greene of Re/Max Hallmark Realty Ltd.
The property: Owner Jim Dickinson calls his rambling, creaking stone-and-stucco mansion the "grand old lady," and hopes that the new owner will care for "her" with as much love as he has.
The home has a rich history, and Mr. Dickinson took pains to restore its original grandeur when he bought it in 1992 after it had endured years of neglect as a set of rental units.
The front portion was built in 1892 as a whimsical summer cottage with a single turret and a Queen Anne flavour.
The first owner, William T. Murray, built it on land carved from the summer estate of well-known industrialist and romantic Sir Henry Pellat, who commissioned Casa Loma for his wife and also owned a huge parcel of land overlooking Lake Ontario at the farthest reach of Queen Street East.
In 1910, Mr. Murray hired Edward Lennox, the fabled architect of Casa Loma, Old City Hall and the King Edward Hotel, to build a 2½-storey addition with elaborate gabled balconies and two more turrets, true to the Queen Anne style.
Sir Henry saw his own neighbouring summer house razed by fire in the early 1920s, around the time his own fortunes went into decline. (When he died in 1939, he was broke, widowed and shacking up with his chauffeur).
The land on which Sir Henry's summer home stood was expropriated by the city in 1923 for the R.C. Harris water filtration plant that remains today as a shining example of art deco architecture.
Mr. Murray named his home Chateau des Quatre Vents (Castle of the four winds), leading local folklorists to believe mistakenly that the owner was a Frenchman, Mr. Dickinson says.
While the address is on Queen Street, the mansion is set well back from the street and is reached through a 100-foot-long pathway leading toward the cliff edge. It sits atop the low cliff, overlooking the ruined foundation of a 1930s jazz club.
Its height allows for uninterrupted views of the lake from most of the windows.
Inside the 1,700-square-foot owner's suite, the 100-year-old ambience is beautifully preserved.
The huge living room has ribboned and raised oak panelling and a large, brick inglenook fireplace with oak pews on either side. There's a large stained-glass window with an oak and tapestry window seat, and the ceiling is crisscrossed with original oak beams. The circular dining room has oak wainscoting and gold-painted crown mouldings, as do the two bedrooms that are in turrets.
There is no attempt to cater to modern tastes for large, flashy bathrooms and kitchens. When the house was built, the bathroom was outside, and it's been difficult to incorporate modern facilities without pulling out historic décor.
There is a tiny bathroom off the master bedroom and another off the second bedroom, and the kitchen isn't big enough for a table.
But then, anyone who buys the home will be more interested in its history and atmosphere than in luxury-condo-level amenities.
"It will have to be somebody who loves vintage," Mr. Dickinson says.
"It's a special place," agent Jillinda Greene adds. "People either get it or they don't."
Mr. Dickinson is sad to sell -- in fact, the last time he tried to so four years ago, he was relieved when the buyer backed out. But now he wants to undertake some major travelling, and the home needs constant care and attention.
"I won't be able to take care of the old lady the way she needs," he says, adding that the administration of the five rental units is "not to be undertaken lightly."
The tenants are all excellent, long-term residents who take real pride in the home, he adds.