HomeMy WebLinkAbout289"Article copied from the Oshawa Times, March 12, 1985, written by Michael Barris,
Times Staff.
"
"TITLE: FAMOUS AJAX ESTATE SELLS FOR $1.8 MILLION
AUTHOR: MICHAEL BARRIS
SOURCE: OSHAWA TIMES, MARCH 12, 1985
PHOTOGRAPH: NOT AVAILABLE
FAMOUS AJAX ESTATE SELLS FOR $1.8 MILLION
An Ajax estate that once attracted Toronto's social elite has been sold to a Toronto food store
chain owner for $1.8 million.
Stonehaven, an 8,000 square-foot English manor home, and the attached Red Wing Orchards
has been sold to Charles Coppa, owner of Highland farms.
The deal - completed by Whitby's Royal LePage real estate office - includes the former home
of George McLaughlin, brothers of General Motors of Canada's first president R.S. McLaughlin,
and 195 acres of orchards, at the northwest corner of Highway 2 and Regional Road 23 -
the town line dividing Whitby and Ajax.
Wealthy members of the Toronto Flying Club would fly to the farm for garden parties in the
1920s and 1930s. ""It's sad to part with it, but based on deliberations over the last year or so,
it was a practical and realistic decision,"" said former owner Bill Irwin, 47, a Whitby lawyer who
grew up in the six-bathroom house.
""I felt the responsibility of maintaining a home like that would require too much time.""
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"Page 2
Royal LePage agent Stewart McTavish made the deal last November,
collecting more than $50,000 in commissions for getting the house listed on the real estate
market and selling it.
""This is a very special sale,"" McTavish, 62, said in an interview, terming the sale the biggest
of his 10 year career.
The sale includes three staff houses, a recreation hall, several large barns and cold storage
facilities. McTavish also sold two additional parcels of land - one 127 acres, and one
88 acres - to another farm market operation, and a cattle breeder for more than $900,000.
Highland Farms plans to continue and expand the orchard operation, handled by Irwin since
1974. Owner Coppa, whose company is based at Ellesmere Avenue and Kennedy Road,
will live in the house, containing 15 to 20 rooms.
George Mclaughlin, a production chief at GM in Oshawa, built the home in 1927 or 1928 as a
country residence for his daughter and son-in-law, Ethel and Norman Irwin.
The orchard was started as a hobby for the new occupants. Over the years, activities at the
estate also included the breeding and selling of cattle, horses, chickens, sheep and dogs.
Norm Irwin died in 1983, Ethel in 1984, leaving the house to the children.
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