Inside Canada’s largest mansion — abandoned for more than 15 years and left to rot

· New York Post

Once envisioned as a luxurious lakeside palace, Canada’s largest home now sits abandoned, with broken windows and unfinished floors serving as eerie reminders of what could have been.

The Peter Grant mansion, sprawling across 65,000 square feet on the shores of Lake Temiskaming in Ontario, has been left to rot for more than 15 years.

The once-grand estate was the brainchild of Peter Grant, the former president of Grant Forest Products, who dreamed of creating an opulent retreat.

Once owned by forestry magnate Peter Grant, the home was designed with features like a subterranean boathouse, a golf course and an art gallery. Shutterstock / Freaktography
However, construction was halted during the 2008 financial crisis, leaving the mansion unfinished with broken windows and scattered construction materials. Shutterstock / Freaktography

The plans included over-the-top features like a subterranean boathouse, an art gallery and even a private golf course.

But those grand designs were shattered by the 2008 financial crisis. Construction came to a screeching halt, and the property was never completed.

Grant’s company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, leaving the colossal structure an empty shell, with half-finished walls and floors that never saw actual use.

Grant, who once ranked among Canada’s wealthiest, faced financial troubles, and his company filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Shutterstock / Freaktography

Despite its abandoned state, the mansion has gained fame as Canada’s largest residence. But aside from its sheer size, what’s inside the mansion now is far from a dream. Instead, scattered construction debris and graffiti tell the story of a project left in ruins.

The massive home was listed for a jaw-dropping $25 million, even though it’s far from livable. A Toronto-based company eventually bought the estate, but in 2023, it was reported that very little had changed beyond some security upgrades.

The mansion was eventually sold to a Toronto-based company, but little work has been done since, aside from security measures to prevent trespassing. Shutterstock / Freaktography
The cost to finish the property is estimated at around $1 million. Shutterstock / Freaktography

In an effort to stop curious onlookers from exploring the crumbling mansion, security cameras and fences were installed.

But the intrigue around the decaying home remains strong.

“Folks come into town, and they want to know where it is and [ask if they can] go have a look,” Temiskaming Shores mayor Jeff Laferriere told the CBC in 2023.

If it were completed, the mansion would have been grand. Shutterstock / Freaktography
The home occupies over 65,000 square feet. Shutterstock / Freaktography

Estimates to finish the mansion hover around $1 million, but whether it will ever be completed or simply left to decay is still unclear. For now, it remains an eerie monument to ambition gone wrong.

“It’s hard to even comprehend how much is still left behind here,” Jake Williams, founder of the Toronto-based Bright Sun Films, said in a video tour of the mansion.

“Since this building got so far in construction, many of the exterior and interior fittings were near completion,” Williams said. “Utilities were even in a working state by the time of abandonment.”

Although the property boasts distinctive elements, such as a massive waterfall beneath the mansion, its deterioration has turned it into an eyesore for the local community, with graffiti increasingly covering both the exterior and interior walls.