Big Fat Deal: $17.5 million for days of future past in Shaughnessy

BCBusiness takes you inside one of the most outrageously upmarket real estate offerings in the province

Address: 1316 Connaught Drive

Price: $17,500,000

Listing: R2571995

The skinny: Five-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 9,615-square-foot house on 19,301 square feet in Vancouver’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood

The bling: I wonder what an alien might think of 1316 Connaught Drive if they stumbled upon it. It was built in 2004 with the apparent thought process of “Let’s actually make the interior look like it was designed in 18th-century England.” That’s how you get gold-rimmed fireplaces, tacky wallpaper, insanely overdecorated couches that look inherently uncomfortable and chairs plucked directly from King Arthur’s Round Table commingling with flat-screen TVs and a very modern bar.

Really, it’s something of a throwback to the X-Men film Days of Future Past, with both timeframes existing in the same universe. It has to be said that the movie pulls it off better than the house—the home theatre, while awesome, is just too out of place to get our heads around. Plus, this dwelling doesn’t have Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy in it, though I suppose for the price, you could at least ask for one or both to be thrown in. Speaking of film, I’m 90-percent sure that exact bedroom was used in Netflix’s The Crown.

And while the house has ostensibly been on the market for a month and a half, that’s a bit inaccurate. The owners first listed 1316 Connaught for $18.6 million back in January and had to lower that to the current figure in late April. But hey, I wouldn’t feel too bad for them. Even the reduced price is a massive uptick on the $13 million they bought it for back in 2018. 

Time is so cruel. Except to Vancouver real estate, I guess. 

The hidden extras: Three fireplaces, a rec room and a freaking indoor pool with a hot tub and a sauna