THE LISTING 1488 Elaine Trail, Mississauga
LISTING PRICE $4,650,000
TAXES $12,599.35 (2016)
LOT SIZE 314 ft. by 540 ft. (4.99 acres)
LISTING AGENT Joe Battaglia, Broker of Record, Re/Max Specialists Estate Group Inc., Brokerage
On the day Chris Batte moved into 14 Elaine Trail, he got a surprise.
“My wife, Susan, told me we were expecting our third daughter,” he said.
In honour of his girls, there are three red oak trees standing on the bank of the creek that runs through his Mississauga property.
“We planted two of them immediately, and as soon as Elaine was born we planted the third one,” he explained.
The saplings started off about four feet high and over the years, like his daughters, the trees have grown. They now stand at around 35 feet. Every year, on Labour Day, they take a photo of the girls beside their trees.
“When I bought the trees, the guy at the nursery said to me, ‘Your children’s great-grandchildren will be the first ones to see these things full grown,” Mr. Batte said.
The back story
But before Mr. Batte could plant his trees, he had to win the lot, which he almost didn’t.
When he and Ms. Eccles first came across the property in 2003, they knew it was perfect.
“I come from a small town … and Susan comes from the city. So this home was a compromise between the two,” Mr. Batte said.
They put in a bid but didn’t win. So they kept looking and looking and looking. Their search carried on for another year.
“We couldn’t find anything that compared to this,” Mr. Batte said.
But then the unlikely happened: The new owner of 14 Elaine Trail had his job transferred and he called Mr. Batte to see if he still wanted the house. So a full year later – in 2004 – they bought the house that got away.
One of the reasons why the house was perfect for Mr. Batte, who works in construction, was that he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the old mid-century bungalow that stood on the lot. After seeing the house for the first time, he started devising a plan to modernize it.
He had two main objectives: Open up the floor plan and maximize the views.
“I really like Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater in particular,” Mr. Batte said. “Part of his philosophy is combining the inside and outside spaces, emphasizing the views and the connection of nature to the house.”
“That’s what we tried to do here,” he said, before quickly adding: “Not saying that this is Fallingwater by any means, but there are certainly some design elements that we used.”
Those design elements include the roof overhangs that trim the outside of the bungalow and provide a frame for the panoramic windows that show off the long backyard and creek.
“I thought I was going to be walking into something very closed and compartmentalized,” said Mr. Batte’s real estate agent, Joe Battaglia. “But the layouts and the views made the space feel much bigger.”
In the end, the most of layout of the house was shifted around. The dining room is where the old kitchen was and it opens up to the living room (which used to be an office). The new kitchen and eating area are where the old sun room used to be. The only thing that was kept the same on the main floor was the configuration of the bedroom wing, including the layout of the master suite and adjoining nursery, which were created from an addition that a previous owner installed to the west side of the house.
The basement was also transformed to feature a rec room, complete with a bar and access to the backyard and pool. There’s also an in-law suite that currently has a bedroom, full bathroom and sitting area. Though it is also plumbed for a kitchen and has doors that could separate from the rest of the house.
And then there’s the wine cellar, able to hold about 2,000 bottles and clad in the same stone they used for their columns outside.
“Part of the deal with Susan for letting me to use this space for the wine room was that she’d have a cold storage,” Mr. Batte said. So he added it to one end of the wine cellar.
Outside, Mr. Batte also made substantial changes. He figures he has planted about 500 trees (including the three red oaks) and has installed one main fence (“to keep kids and dogs in”) that encloses the six different areas, including an outdoor kitchen, several patios, a large concrete pool and a firepit.
The best features
There is no doubt the creek is the defining feature of this home. And as such, all of Mr. Batte’s and Mr. Battaglia’s favourite spots involve it to some degree.
For Mr. Battaglia, he appreciates the house’s living room that looks out over the backyard and has a clear view of the creek.
“It feels open and you can see all sections of the home from this point,” he said. “But your eyes are really drawn outside.”
For Mr. Batte, his favourite place is sitting on the lower patio right beside the running water.
“It’s the spot at the end of the night that everybody goes down to and listens to the creek,” he said. “It makes you feel like you’re not in the city.”
The creek has also given his daughters life experiences they may not have had otherwise. Over their ownership, they’ve seen deer, a crane (who stops by once every year) and many ducklings.
“The kids absolutely love the creek,” he said. “They would come home with their friends and instead of being on devices, they’d put their rubber boots on and go play in the creek and explore.”