With its circular design and steel and stone construction, the infamous Grant Mansion seems strangely out of place on the shores of Lake Temiskaming in Haileybury, Ontario.

The 65,000 square foot house was abandoned for nearly 20 years and over time became something of a local landmark.

“It’s one of the few interesting things to see here,” said Cobalt resident John Goerge Postma, who brought his out-of-town visitor to the edge of the property to admire the view.

“It looks like the house of a James Bond villain.”

Even though Postma is there to watch from afar, other visitors haven’t been as respectful.

Years of vandalism, damage from the elements

Over the years, vandals destroyed the interior of the mansion with graffiti, feces and trash.

Add to that the water damage that seeped through the ceilings in parts of the house and made the floors mushy.

“There are 107 windows here and they were all broken,” said Chris Fischer, who bought the abandoned property last year in hopes of turn his restaurant into a reality TV show called Impossible Mansion.

Some windows even have bullet holes in them, suggesting the vandals wanted to see if the rumor that forestry millionaire Peter Grant used bulletproof materials when he began building the mansion in the early 2000s was true. .

The broken windows and omnipresent graffiti, however, do not frighten Fischer.

Built for one

“It’s the size that amazes me. It’s a massive structure on the water’s edge, with a metal section on top that glows at sunset… It’s beautiful,” he said .

Fischer said there are many eccentric features that suggest Grant spared no expense initially.

“It really amazes me that he brought so many fake rocks when we are literally sitting on rocks,” he said, adding that the three heated pools were also a bit of an exaggeration.

Before encountering financial difficulties and being forced to abandon the mansion in 2005, Grant envisioned that it could be used as a retirement location for his business. The top floor includes a huge office and there is only one bedroom in the entire house.

Fischer said he couldn’t share his full vision for the renovation because it would be part of the TV show. But he says he wants it to be something the community is proud of.

Still looking for potential investors

Crews were ready to begin filming last spring, but producers have yet to find a television network or streaming service willing to pick up the series.

Theresa Kowall-Shipp, one of the Impossible Mansion producers, said the project has generated a lot of interest over the past year.

“It’s a really gripping cross-border story, with family struggles, mysterious cemeteries and even murder,” she said.

“But it’s not a home improvement series with a big reveal at the end,” she said, adding that the showcases alone could take up the entire first season.

This is what potentially makes selling to platforms difficult, according to Kowall-Shipp.

“It’s exciting. It’s different. It’s new. It’s fun. It’s real,” she said. “Anything different makes people excited, but it also makes them nervous because it’s untried.”