It’s been said your home is your castle.
But it’s literally true with one dazzling $12-million property in the city’s southwest suburbs — possibly the priciest ever to be listed in Calgary.
The 14,500-sq.-ft. French chateau-style home clad entirely in Rundle rock quarried from the Golden, B.C. area is the picture of opulence — the type of home its builder, Richard Pelletier, said could lead Calgary’s shy affluent to loosen up and flaunt their wealth.
“Even wealthy people in Calgary live in a little cocoon — people who live in real metropolitan centres aren’t afraid to spend … people who have money here are hiding it,” he said.
The hilltop castle with the sweeping mountain vista at 44 Aspen Ridge Hts. S.W. took 19 months to build.
A grand cantilevered staircase, the centrepiece of a bright, soaring parlour lit up by a Swarovski crystal chandelier required nine months of careful construction, said Pelletier.
“The biggest challenge we had was the staircase — to bend all the rails,” said Pelletier, president of Pace Signature Homes.
The five-bedroom mansion comes with five garages, Brazilian marble hallways, a roomy home theatre, spa, yoga-ballet studio and butler’s pantry.
It’s unlikely residents or visitors would ever wait for a vacant bathroom — there are nine of them.
Wine afficianados can peruse a racking area that can display 500 bottles and sample the wares in a tasting room.
An entertainment system comprises 11 flat screen TVs, 110 speakers. 16 amplifiers.
Pelletier said he was forced to move into the home after it was completed last fall due to a soft economy.
“You can’t leave a house like that empty — the insurer won’t insure it,” said Pelletier, adding it costs about $6,000 to underwrite it a year and $42,000 to cover property taxes.
He calls it “a great character house with a nanny suite and a caretaker suite and an elevator where you can grow old there and die there.”
Oddly enough, he says, he’s gotten used to living in a castle but a small time away from it brings back its majesty.
“You go vacation and spend a week in a hotel, then you realize how big it is,” he said.
The selling process — being handled by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada — is only accepting qualified potential buyers since it when on the market July 20.
“We could have had 150 showings by now but we’ve only had one, to a senior oil executive and they haven’t gotten back,” said Pelletier.
Previously, the most expensive home sold in Calgary was an Elbow Park residence owned by former Flames goalie goalie Mike Vernon that went for $10.3 million.
Despite global economic turbulence, Pelletier is confident that his castle will find a buyer, though it might take a year.
“There are many people in Calgary capable of buying this home,” he said.
“But we’re enjoying the beauty of the house until it sells.”
bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca