Canada's Largest Home & The Billion Dollar Home You've Never Heard About

Canada’s largest home hits the market

It’s a Canadian fixer-upper but, if you want a home to grow into, it might just be what you are looking for – provided you don’t mind the thought of dusting 65,000 square feet or its $25-million price tag. Would you call this thing a “home” ?

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Believed to be the largest home in Canada, it’s also a little off the beaten path.

You won’t find it Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary. To see it, you’ll need to go to Haileybury, Ont., about 140 kilometres north of North Bay.

The house sits on 40 acres along the shores of Lake Temiskaming and it’s about the same size as Bill Gates’s property near Seattle.That makes it as big as the White House, which is about 55,000 sq. ft., and 24 Sussex Dr., home to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which is approximately 11,000 sq. ft., put together.Until now, the largest home sold in Canada was a 48,000-sq.-ft. house in Oakville, Ont., which went for $45-million in 2006.”It’s quite the property,” said Troy Wilson, a Royal LePage agent in New Liskeard, Ont., who is handling the Haileybury sale. “This thing is just, wow, jaw-dropping.”The building includes a boat house big enough for a 40-foot yacht, two elevators, an indoor pool, a giant hot tub and 30-foot fireplaces in the master bedroom and living room.

There’s an exercise room the size of a small gym. Plumbing has also been installed on the grounds for a few golf holes.

But buyer beware: The house is far from finished. There’s no flooring, no finished bathrooms and few wall coverings. “Any buyer who would be really, truly interested in a property like this has to have their own architect and their own engineer come up with them,” Mr. Wilson said. He estimated it will cost at least $1-million to finish the place.

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And more stunning homes …

The Billion Dollar Home You’ve Never Heard About

While many of you have no doubt heard about India’s Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world and a popular tourist destination in India. You may not have heard about the Antilla, a billion dollar home in Mumbai, India that quietly became one of the most expensive and luxurious personal homes on record. This twenty-seven story luxury home named after the mythical island Antilla, and it truly has been created as if to embody a legendary mystique. Construction costs alone topped $1 billion, making this 400,000 square foot skyscraper one of the most expensive luxury homes in the entire world.

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SPACE TO STRETCH OUT

While the magnificent structure is home to just one family, Mukesh and Nita Ambani and their three children, it was created to allow for an abundant amount of hospitality and entertainment. Six underground parking garages provide space for 168 automobiles, and three helicopter pads allow swift access through the bustling urban neighborhood. Since many of the floors have double-height ceilings, the actual height of this building (570 feet) is closer to 40 standard floors, and it employs a staff of 600 to manage all the luxury real estate operations.

UNIQUENESS GUIDED BY AN ANCIENT SYSTEM

It has always been important to the Ambanis that their home be constructed according to India’s ancient Vastu Shastra philosophy, which (like Feng Shui) governs the spiritual harmony of architectural spaces. On each floor, unique materials have been used, so that no two floors incorporate the same plans or visual textures. The placement of furnishings and art objects in each space was also governed by this classical doctrine, so that the flow of energy would move benefically throughout the entire structure.

A CITY WITHIN A HOME

Rising up into the sky, Antilla contains so many features that it almost becomes its own self-contained city. Its lobby, with nine elevators, is the entrance point. Within this high rise is a ballroom with crystal chandeliers that cover 80 percent of its ceiling. Performance stages, green rooms, bars, and entourage areas for security personnel promise a future of extravagant Indian hospitality and corporate entertainment. The health level of the home includes a swimming pool and yoga studio, and even an ice room with man made snow, to provide refreshment from the intense Mumbai heat.

SPACE FOR SUNLIGHT AND SPIRITUALITY

Naturally some areas of the residence are reserved for the private life of the family, and these rooms are mostly situated at the top of the building, where an open-air atrium offers the refreshment of lawns, gardens and patios. Nita Ambani explained to Vanity Fair magazine that this allows her family’s living quarters to catch the sunlight. The family’s personal lifestyle is vegetarian and spiritually focused, according to the Vanity Fair interview, and Antilla includes a temple with statues to a number of Hindu deities.

Antilla, perhaps the most widely discussed personal real estate in the world as well as the most expensive, has already become a well-known landmark in Mumbai.