The Map: who lives where along Oakville’s astronomically wealthy waterfront
Twenty-one years ago, Mattamy Homes construction tycoon Peter Gilgan razed an estate on Oakville’s waterfront and built a $36-million, 17-bathroom, 32,000-square-foot palace with Downton Abbey acreage. He sparked something of a mega-mansion building spree. Today, the lakeside stretch between Winston Churchill Boulevard and Sixteen Mile Creek is an ode to conspicuous consumption, with an average price per square foot that puts the Bridle Path to shame. Here, the seven envy-inducing homes that define the strip.
1 | THE HOUSE THAT FUNGI BUILT
154 Brookfield Crescent
The owner: Malvinder Singh, chairman of Agro Dutch, one of the world’s largest canned mushroom producers.
The house: Singh is transforming the existing house into an ultra-modern mansion. Plans include an infinity pool protected by glass walls that slide from hidden pockets to provide a buffer from the wind off the lake. Multimillionaire investor Eric Sprott lived here for 26 years before he sold the house to Singh for $8 million in 2012. It’s said to have one of the coast’s best views because it’s situated where the shoreline bends east, allowing a clear shot of Toronto’s sparkling lights at night.
2 | THE HOUSE THAT BANKING BUILT
100 Lisonally Court
The owner: Matthew Barrett was CEO of BMO and head of Barclays before retiring from banking in 2006 and moving to the Gold Coast. He now sits on the board of Harry Winston.
The house: It’s dotted with multiple fireplaces, an outdoor saltwater pool and a pantry that doubles as a bar. The $10.8-million property includes a 2.3-hectare ravine with trails.
3 | THE HOUSE THAT REAL ESTATE BUILT
1038 Argyle Drive
The owner: Jennifer Gilgan, ex-wife of Peter Gilgan, founder of Mattamy Homes.
The house: In 2012, five years after the Gilgans sold their Gold Coast mansion, Edgemere, Jennifer Gilgan purchased two nearby lots for $24.5 million—one with a luxurious home, the other to accommodate a tennis court.
4 | THE HOUSE THAT BEER BUILT
1150 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Hugo Powell, ex–big shot at Interbrew and Labatt.
The house: Powell, with the help of Gold Coast real estate king Christopher Invidiata, cobbled together three adjacent lots to assemble a property big enough for Powell’s outsize vision, at a cost of $50 million. The 47,000-square-foot house is an homage to Anne Boleyn’s ancestral home. It includes a bowling alley, gym, sauna, dance floor, movie theatre, library with spiral staircase, wine cellar, chapel, tennis court and pool house that doubles as a residence for the in-laws. Powell named the estate Chelster Hall, but Oakvillians call it “the beer house.”
5 | THE HOUSE THAT CAR PARTS BUILT
1198 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Magna auto parts inventor Klaus Bytzek.
The house: Former Microsoft Canada president Frank Clegg built the 26,000- square-foot house—valued at $30 million—only to discover his wife was allergic to the carpets and finishing chemicals, so they sold to Bytzek. The place features an indoor pool, a tricked-out basement featuring a vintage Porsche, and a two-storey coach house.
6 | THE HOUSE THAT CABINETS BUILT
2054 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Michael Selim, president of TechCraft Manufacturing, which designs furniture that integrates electronics.
The house: Selim installed a virtual-reality driving range under his garage. Images of the world’s top golf courses are projected on a wall while sensors detect the speed and trajectory of his swing. His terraced back garden descends gradually to the lake. The property is currently valued at $15 million.
7 | THE HOUSE THAT I.T. BUILT
2100 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Martin Lippert, executive VP and IT guru at MetLife. While at RBC, he out-earned CEO Gord Nixon.
The house: Lippert bought the house, which is currently listed for $17 million, from former Nortel CEO Frank Dunn. It’s wired to allow Lippert to adjust the blinds, control the temperature and operate the stereo from his smartphone. He installed an infinity pool and a private harbour with an automated boat ramp that can move a yacht of up to 28 feet from the lake to the boathouse at the push of a button.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/real-estate/the-map-oakville-waterfront/&title=The Map: who lives where along Oakville’s astronomically wealthy waterfront&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/oakville-gold-coast-intro-624x395.jpg&description=By Bronwen Jervis | Illustration by Aleksander Janicijevic
Twenty-one years ago, Mattamy Homes construction tycoon Peter Gilgan razed an estate on Oakville’s waterfront and built a $36-million, 17-bathroom, 32,000-square-foot palace with Downton Abbey acreage. He sparked something of a mega-mansion building spree. Today, the lakeside stretch between Winston Churchill Boulevard and Sixteen Mile Creek is an ode to conspicuous consumption, with an average price per square foot that puts the Bridle Path to shame. Here, the seven envy-inducing homes that define the strip.
[caption id="attachment_219766" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Photo: Invidiata Team/RE/Max Aboutowne)[/caption]
1 | THE HOUSE THAT FUNGI BUILT
154 Brookfield Crescent
The owner: Malvinder Singh, chairman of Agro Dutch, one of the world’s largest canned mushroom producers.
The house: Singh is transforming the existing house into an ultra-modern mansion. Plans include an infinity pool protected by glass walls that slide from hidden pockets to provide a buffer from the wind off the lake. Multimillionaire investor Eric Sprott lived here for 26 years before he sold the house to Singh for $8 million in 2012. It’s said to have one of the coast’s best views because it’s situated where the shoreline bends east, allowing a clear shot of Toronto’s sparkling lights at night.
[caption id="attachment_219767" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Photo: Derek Shapton)[/caption]
2 | THE HOUSE THAT BANKING BUILT
100 Lisonally Court
The owner: Matthew Barrett was CEO of BMO and head of Barclays before retiring from banking in 2006 and moving to the Gold Coast. He now sits on the board of Harry Winston.
The house: It’s dotted with multiple fireplaces, an outdoor saltwater pool and a pantry that doubles as a bar. The $10.8-million property includes a 2.3-hectare ravine with trails.
[caption id="attachment_219768" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Photo: Daniel Neuhaus)[/caption]
3 | THE HOUSE THAT REAL ESTATE BUILT
1038 Argyle Drive
The owner: Jennifer Gilgan, ex-wife of Peter Gilgan, founder of Mattamy Homes.
The house: In 2012, five years after the Gilgans sold their Gold Coast mansion, Edgemere, Jennifer Gilgan purchased two nearby lots for $24.5 million—one with a luxurious home, the other to accommodate a tennis court.
[caption id="attachment_219777" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Photo: Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail)[/caption]
4 | THE HOUSE THAT BEER BUILT
1150 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Hugo Powell, ex–big shot at Interbrew and Labatt.
The house: Powell, with the help of Gold Coast real estate king Christopher Invidiata, cobbled together three adjacent lots to assemble a property big enough for Powell’s outsize vision, at a cost of $50 million. The 47,000-square-foot house is an homage to Anne Boleyn’s ancestral home. It includes a bowling alley, gym, sauna, dance floor, movie theatre, library with spiral staircase, wine cellar, chapel, tennis court and pool house that doubles as a residence for the in-laws. Powell named the estate Chelster Hall, but Oakvillians call it “the beer house.”
[caption id="attachment_219769" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Photo: Trevor Hammonds)[/caption]
5 | THE HOUSE THAT CAR PARTS BUILT
1198 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Magna auto parts inventor Klaus Bytzek.
The house: Former Microsoft Canada president Frank Clegg built the 26,000- square-foot house—valued at $30 million—only to discover his wife was allergic to the carpets and finishing chemicals, so they sold to Bytzek. The place features an indoor pool, a tricked-out basement featuring a vintage Porsche, and a two-storey coach house.
[caption id="attachment_219770" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Photo: Daniel Neuhaus)[/caption]
6 | THE HOUSE THAT CABINETS BUILT
2054 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Michael Selim, president of TechCraft Manufacturing, which designs furniture that integrates electronics.
The house: Selim installed a virtual-reality driving range under his garage. Images of the world’s top golf courses are projected on a wall while sensors detect the speed and trajectory of his swing. His terraced back garden descends gradually to the lake. The property is currently valued at $15 million.
[caption id="attachment_219771" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Photo: Invidiata Team/RE/Max Aboutowne)[/caption]
7 | THE HOUSE THAT I.T. BUILT
2100 Lakeshore Road East
The owner: Martin Lippert, executive VP and IT guru at MetLife. While at RBC, he out-earned CEO Gord Nixon.
The house: Lippert bought the house, which is currently listed for $17 million, from former Nortel CEO Frank Dunn. It’s wired to allow Lippert to adjust the blinds, control the temperature and operate the stereo from his smartphone. He installed an infinity pool and a private harbour with an automated boat ramp that can move a yacht of up to 28 feet from the lake to the boathouse at the push of a button.){kind=link}
Indoor plumbing? What will they think of next? A box that keeps things cold?
Something these guys are doing, must be right….I would just die of loneliness living in these mansions!
Toronto Life is wrong about the owners of at least two of these homes – won’t say which ones (as I think this article is tacky and voyeuristic enough**) but having grown up on Oakville’s so-called ‘gold coast’, one becomes familiar with the residents of these McMansions. I have long since fled this morass of vulgarity, greed and inauthenticity.
**mind you there are plenty in Southeast Oakville who would salivate over the opportunity to put their homes on display for the world to see
The Oakville I was a child in is quite different from the Oakville of today.
Don’t judge it all by just South Oakville, which is a town in itself and us Northerners like it that way.
So party at Gatsby’s?
I’ve been living in Oakville since the 80s in the same little house in the north end. We used to be surrounded by farms and I’ve watched the farms be sold, the soil turned, the houses and plazas and schools and churches begin to build its way around us until even those started to become old fashioned a decade later and then again the fields north of us get turned until the area I’m in isn’t even North Oakville anymore. I’ve watched the demographics change so quickly from my childhood into a brand new Oakville. I am not, however, grumpy about it. This is life. And I am grateful I got to experience a generation of changes of Oakville in front of my own eyes.
I have never once included this strange rich strip of Oakville as something that defines it by any means.
Excellent way to justify your small house!
Lol for your to have straightaway thought of that, you must have a tiny
you-know-what that you are embarrassed of that was made fun of by all
the ladies….why else would your brain immediately think of something
so unrelated? Poor, poor you, living in such a complex Hugo Little :(
Yeah I grew up in North East Oakville, and the downtown area and lakeshore mansions is a place all on its own – it is part of what makes Oakville lovely but also, snotty. I’m glad I was able to grow up in such a beautiful Town, but also grateful that I was somewhat removed from the snobbery (trust me there’s plenty in North Oakville too) – I remember going to drivers education with a kid who’s parents owned a Lakeshore mansion and he went to Appleby College, with the Mercedes ready and waiting for him upon receiving his drivers license – I think if his nose were any further in the air he’d get a nosebleed, just insufferable.
Its a shame that modern mega-bucks still can’t buy taste. Most of those properties, other than being really big and on prime acreage, come across as generically boring. I’m wondering which level I sign in at the pro shop,,,,
its funny cause i grew up on the largest property down there and theres no mention of it it belonged to the daughter of the inventor of wrigleys gum p.s. your map is wrong and ive been to 85% of these houses