20-room, 9-fireplace Hamilton estate has highest price tag on market

If a massive, stately Queen Street South home currently listed for $4.25 million sells for that price, it'd be the most expensive home sale ever recorded on the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington rolls.

There's a hot housing market and then there's the market for multimillion-dollar estates.

The Georgian mansion on Queen Street South sits on four combined lots — more than an acre — and contains seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, nine fireplaces, a gym and two kitchens. 

The "exquisite twenty room Georgian mansion is filled with grandeur and elegance reminiscent of a bygone era that we can only dream of," says the property's sales listing. The property is one of the largest lots in the city, said realtor Sarit Zalter with Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd., who's selling the house for the second time.

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A property in Flamborough was previously listed for $4.3 million on the local database of homes for sale, but ultimately sold for less, said Realtors Association spokeswoman Valerie Webster. The highest recorded sale price in Hamilton to date is $3.25 million. "Having the top listed price doesn't mean it's going to sell for it," Webster said.

But Zalter is confident. The house was the top sales price when she sold it the last time for more than $2 million, in 2007. 

Since then, the owners have invested in renovating and restoring it — so it's not purely a story of Hamilton's hot housing market bringing its price tag up to $4.25 million.

When Zalter first saw the house, it was in "very, very, very rough shape" when clients of hers bought it in 2003, she said. But two owners' subsequent TLC and restorations have polished the jewel, surrounded by 100-year-old trees.

"It's there; it's a presence," Zalter said. "The person who wants it is the person who wants to say I have the nicest house in the city."

Zalter said she thought the house might sell for 10 times the price if it were in Toronto.

The listing caught the attention of Adam Wilson, who lives nearby. Wilson's blog "Fresh Brick" fuels the appetites of ga-ga real estate addicts, highlighting when old, charming houses hit the Hamilton market.

Wilson, a native Hamiltonian, works in advertising in Toronto and started the blog a couple of years ago after he and his wife wondered if the real estate listings they shared back and forth would be interesting to others. Wilson and his wife and kids now live along the base of the escarpment, in their own old, charming house.

"I'm not a real estate expert," Wilson said. "But I'm deeply proud to live in the city and I'm excited about the homes we have to offer."

He called the estate a "bammer." 

Here's a link to the listing. See the slideshow above for more photos, all taken by Tom Vogel.