$4.8 million for a Gothic Revival hotel near Prince Edward County

Location: Picton
Price: $4,850,000 Size: 7,532 square feet Bedrooms: 14 Bathrooms: 18 Parking spaces: 25 Real estate agent: Trevor Fontaine (Sotheby’s International Realty)

The Place

A 14-bedroom, 18-bathroom, six-balcony boutique hotel in Wellington, this property comes with a commercial kitchen (formerly used for the in-house restaurant) and dining space, a huge wine cellar, and multiple communal areas that double as event venues. It also has a whack of modern art mixed with antiques—many of them collected by the current owner while travelling the world. Guests are a 10-minute drive from Prince Edward Country’s buffet of wineries, white-sand beaches and quaint shops.

The History

Originally a single-family home built in 1878 for Judge Edwards Merrill—the first magistrate of Prince Edward, whose father taught law to John A. Macdonald—this mansion was converted into a hotel in the ’80s.

In 2018, owner Jordan Martin bought the hotel with the goal of redoing it to incorporate his unique taste for art and design. He had considered a selection of vintage properties for sale in Europe but ended up falling for Picton’s Merrill House Hotel, both for its style and for its century-old roots. After purchasing the place, Martin revamped it from top to bottom, spending more than $3 million on renovations. Standout additions included a new asphalt roof, in-floor heating, an additional bathroom, fresh landscaping and eccentric decor. Now he’s selling the heritage-designated hotel and everything in it to pursue his next artistic adventure.

Related: $9.5 million for a Lawrence Park mansion with a temple to shoes

The Tour

Here’s the Gothic Revival brick exterior, featuring 13 gables. Martin preserved what he could and added period-appropriate flourishes such cast iron balusters.

Inside, this entry vestibule comes with three depictions of Edwards Merrill made by local artists. Toronto-based design house Fine and Dandy created that custom green-and-gold-foil pattern for the walls.

The original cast iron doors can be seen from this reverse angle, along with more custom gold foil along the ornate staircase. At different times of day, light filters through the doors and creates gold highlights along the floor.

Guests start their stay in the reception area. Here, William Morris wallpaper covers the space. This pattern is called Strawberry Thief.

Just off the main hall is the drawing room. Check out the Carrara marble fireplace on the right and the authentic handmade Persian rug under the couch.

This is part of the former restaurant. One of the first things Martin did when he bought the hotel was commission the mural on the left, which depicts the Egyptian creation myth. Martin’s husband painted the ceilings, doors and wainscoting. The floors are original maple, and their unusual pattern was likely based on a quilt.

Here’s a closer look at the mural.

This adjacent room, used as a library, was once a section of the porch. Martin added the checkerboard floor and filled it with antique books and lanterns from Morocco.

Moving downstairs reveals the gargantuan wine cellar and event space, with a four-temperature-zone fridge and room for more than 300 bottles.

Note the heated concrete floors and access to the enclosed three-season conservatory.

Now for that conservatory. Martin went for a “world in a glass” theme, peppering the walls with maps, fabric swatches and recipes for cocktails from the past 400 years.

These suitcases and knick-knacks belonged to Martin’s grandmother, and they’re supposed to evoke the feeling of a traveller dropping in from another era. Look closely to see an antique alligator bag and multiple global currencies.

Heading outside highlights the grounds, with plenty of communal spaces including a covered patio.

Back inside, here is the first of many themed rooms. This one is called the Prince Edward Room and would have originally been Merrill’s study.

The Marchioness of Lorne suite was the old hotel’s dining room. Its fireplace is from an 1880s home in Cabbagetown. A charcoal portrait of Queen Victoria’s daughter, who lost her ear in a sledding accident, hangs over it.

One of the only rooms to hang on to its original wallpaper, the Victorian Room would have once been a family bedroom and now comes with a king-sized bed.

The Future Room is the oddball suite. Since it’s the smallest, Martin kept things cozy by encasing the whole thing in wood. He also designed the pointy headboard, which has custom fabric from House of Hackney in the UK.

This is the Future Room’s ensuite, equipped with a hot tub.

Another idiosyncratic room, the Dreaming Suite, has cardboard busts of both a moose and elk, plus a classic four-poster bed.

During the pandemic, Martin spent many nights in the owner’s suite. When the hotel is in operation, this skylit sanctuary is generally reserved for managers or rented out as the property’s largest accommodation. Its living room (below) is covered in Voysey wallpaper.

The owner’s ensuite is the model for all of the hotel’s other bathrooms: checkerboard floor, antique sink and vanity, heated towel racks, and multimodal shower heads.

There’s a special passage between the living room and the bedroom, draped in textiles from Zanzibar.

And last but not least: the suite’s sleeping quarters.

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