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Auchmar Estate, Hamilton ON

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The Infamous “Grow Op Mansion”

I’d like to set the record straight on the story behind this house once and for all, after hours of research and talking to the former residents I think I have a fairly good idea of what is the truth and what is strictly rumour.  This place absolutely blew up on social media, with dozens of videos on youtube referencing the house as a “Drug Dealer Mansion” or “Illegal Grow Op Mansion”. But none of those claims are true, the real story just doesn’t make as good of a clickbait title.

MYTH: The house was owned by a lady with cancer who grew medical marijuana, and when she died the real estate agent started growing illegally. TRUTH: The house was a federally licenced medical marijuana growing location and was never run illegally.  MYTH: Despite what people like “ExploringWithJosh” have said (and then others perpetuated through online forums, youtube videos, etc.) the house was NEVER owned by a drug dealer, nor did a drug dealer ever live there. 

TRUTH: The home was owned by [Name Redacted for Privacy] and was sold in 2012 to a real estate investor.  MYTH: The reason the house is abandoned is because it had a fire then the owner was busted for growing marijuana. TRUTH: The house had a fire in 2015 that resulted in minor smoke/water damage. This was likely the cause for being abandoned, but there was no “drug bust”. Here’s the true story behind the infamous “Grow Op Mansion” [Originally Posted March 23rd 2017, Edited for updated information April 4th 2017]

[History Pre-Abandonment]

The 9000 SqFt mansion situated on 5 acres of land at 14740 Keele St in King City, ON was custom built in 1995 for British businessman George Fejer. Fejer moved to Canada in the 90’s and founded a business selling kit-car parts titled “Canadian All-Terrain Vehicle Manufacturing Co.” The company had several non-compliance issues and was dissolved in 2004. The business was co-owned by his son Robert Fejer who also lived in the residence but later moved back to the UK to start a new business venture, becoming the first developer of an android-based live streaming dash cam system.

In 2008 [Name Redacted], the founder of a moving company bought the home and lived in it with his 4 children, 3 sons and 1 daughter between the ages of 8 – 17. In 2012 [Name Redacted] listed the house with Martin Sheikhan of the “Remax Performance Realty Inc.”. This is when the youtube video showing photos of the house was made.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhP3Vk80q0w

The 6 bathroom, 5 bedroom house sold for approx. $1,700,000 in late 2012 to a Real Estate Investor. The investor never took residence in the home, instead obtaining a license to grow medical marijuana there. This caused a fair bit of concern with neighbors who complained about the dangers of growing marijuana inside a home (fires, smell, etc.). A neighboring community had a public meeting to discuss mitigating the exposure of marijuana to children on Wednesday February 11th 2015.

In the early morning hours of Thursday February 12th 2015, just a few hours after the public meeting a fire in the foyer of the home was reported to local authorities. The cause of the fire was never publicly released, although it is suspected to be an electrical fire. No charges were laid and the property was abandoned.

That is all that is known about the home for sure. I suspect if the fire was caused by the electric system, the owner would’ve realized the property was no longer viable as a marijuana growing facility and that would explain why the smoke damage was never fixed and the house was no longer cared for. This would also make obtaining insurance for the house very hard and likely not worth it to the owner.

[Post-Abandonment]

Shortly after an explorer by the Alias “Drifting Pablo” discovered the home was empty it became a coveted top-secret location for urban explorers, with only a few people posting images from the pristine home in August of 2015. Around the summer of 2016 the real estate listing was found and publically shared on social media, which began the steady decline of the location. By the time November of 2016 came, the location had made its way onto Youtube,. With careless explorers giving full address details to anyone and everyone, this was the beginning of the end for 14740 Keele St. This was also supposedly where the rumors and clickbait stories began popping up, including the popular “old lady with cancer” and “drug dealer grow op” ones that gave the mansion it’s now infamous title of “Illegal Grow Op Mansion”.

In December 2016 the entire home was boarded up, although this didn’t stop vandals from prying off the boards, breaking windows and spray painting hate speech and racial slurs on the walls, the couches were thrown down the stairs and all remaining glass inside was broken and shattered. By 2017 the home was unrecognizable. In March the iconic clam shell tub was broken, the lid hauled out to the front foyer and thrown over the railing, slamming to the floor below. Finally by the end of March 14740 Keele St was demolished.

  My photos from before the majority of the vandalism can be seen here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/skye_ann/albums/72157674290714282

  More recent photos that show the destruction can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/AsbestoPhotography/posts/1306870219388574

(Link used with permission, credit to AsbestoPhotography)

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Muskoka Sanatorium

The Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium was built in 1897 and originally consisted of one hospital building with capacity for 35 patients at a time. This was the first sanatorium of its kindin Ontario, operating on the theory that fresh air would cure tuberculosis. After careful consideration, the facility was placed on the shores of Lake Muskoka in Gravenhurst, Ontario. In the 1920s, major expansions to the hospital were made, which created space for up to 444 patients at a time. Within the next few years, multiple structures were added, including a laboratory for research, several residential buildings for the staff and surgical facilities. As treatment for TB advanced, the facility’s occupancy dropped significantly. In the 1960s, the facility was bought by the government of Canada to accommodate people with developmental delays. It's estimated that over 300 women between the ages of 16 and 80 were admitted to the hospital in its final years. Two hundred and seventy-five of these patients were housed in the Gage Building, which is the largest building on the property. Use of the multiple outbuildings was discontinued, and the facility closed its doors in 1994 after major budget cuts to health care. At the time, 300 people worked at the hospital. The 64 acre property houses several buildings, which are now being used as police dog training grounds. The buildings are scheduled to be demolished in the next few years.

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Millbrook Correctional

Perfectly placed in the middle of nowhere, Millbrook Correctional opened in 1957 and was, at the time, Ontario's only maximum security prison. Its use was short-lived the jail closed in 2003 after only 46 years of use and was replaced with the super jail in Lindsay. During these years, the prison held a wide range of criminals, from serial killers to petty thieves. The conditions at Millbrook were harsh. Prisoners were subjected to seclusion cells 24 hours a day, with little or no sunlight for their first 16 days at the facility. Good behaviour unlocked various rewards. These included yard time and social time with other prisoners.The top level reward was one outgoing and one incoming letter a week. There were three main cellblocks, and each was used for a different type of criminal. The first cellblock was dedicated to troublemakers who were there for theft, substance abuse or other minor crimes. The second cellblock was dedicated to high-risk criminals who had committed murder or sexual offences. The third was dedicated to inmates who were deemed to be homosexual. The cells were no larger than 4 ft by 7 ft and had only one small window. These cells commonly housed two or more inmates at a time. The conditions outside the cells were no better. By 2000, Millbrook was understaffed and minimally funded, which eventually lead to its closing in 2003.

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Versa Care Long-Term Health Facility

Versa Care was built in 1969 to support the elderly people of London, Ontario. Placed on the edge of several farms, the facility provided a rural setting for the elderly to spend their final years. Demand was higher than expected and within a couple years the facility had doubled in size and the 34,000 square foot nursing home was now licensed for up to 135 beds. Versa became overcrowded in the late 1980's and the staff were forced to put four beds in a standard two bed room. Sound minded patients were placed in rooms with people suffering from dementia, which caused lots of complaints. Patients were regularly neglected by the staff and an elderly woman even died after slipping in the bathroom while on her own. As time progressed the standards for nursing care facilities rose, and Versa Care couldn't rise to the required standards. In 2005 a new nursing home was built a couple miles away and in June of 2006 all the patients from Versa were transferred to the new facility. Since then the building has been up for sale multiple times, with no buyers. The future of Versa is currently unknown, but the building is being stripped down after a severe mould problem in the basement.

*Update* Versa Care has been Partially Demolished

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McCormicks Candy Factory

Thomas McCormick started McCormicks Candy in 1858, shortly after immigrating to Ontario from Ireland. The popularity of his little candy store grew quickly and, within a few years, Thomas had moved locations four times in order to accommodate growing demand. After his death in 1906, the company was passed down to his two sons. In 1913, they purchased a 10 acre site alongDundas Street, one of the busiest roads in London, Ontario, and in 1914, the current McCormicks candy factory was built. The facility cost a little over $1 million to build and was considered 100%fireproof. In 1926, McCormicks bought out its competitor, D.S Perrin Ltd. The company remained in the family until 1940 when it was bought by George Weston Ltd. Within the next few years, it switched hands several times until 1997, when it was bought by Beta Brands Ltd. By this time, McCormicks had several factories across Ontario. At its peak, McCormicks had over 1000 employees. In 2007, the company announced that the London facility would be closing due to bankruptcy, and 275 people lost their jobs. The factory is now a popular place for heroin addicts and homeless people to liveuntil they are kicked out by security who regularly patrol the area. The building has been used for several police training missions. The taxes on the property have not been paid in over 3 years, and the building is for sale to anyone willing to foot the $700 000 bill.

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Crowe Foundry

The Crowe Iron Company was founded by John Crowe in 1867, who passed the business down to his sons a few years before his death in 1930. A few years after their father’s death, the brothers bought a larger plot of land in Cambridge, Ontario and built the Crowe Foundry. The business stayed in the family for 45 years and then was sold to a large corporation that was later called Crowe Foundry Ltd. The foundry produced iron casings and iron machinery parts. During its most successful year, the foundry made $1 Million and employed 150 workers. Towards the end, the foundry had only 35 workers and made less than $300 000 a year, eventually leading to bankruptcy. Crowe Foundry ceased operations in 2009. Shortly after, an electrical fire started in the main building and resulted in parts of the building being demolished. Since then, the property has been bought by a neighbouring company and has been left to rot. The foundry is quite popular with scrappers who collect copper and steel from the remains of the building.

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Windfield Farms

This now derelict 1500 acre property in Oshawa, Ontario, was once one of the top horse breeding farms in North America. Windfields Farm was established in 1936 by E.P Taylor, a highly successful businessman. During its years of operation, Windfields Farm produced several high-earning horses, the most successful being Northern Dancer, who was the first Canadian horse to win the Kentucky Derby as well as many other awards, including "Best Sire of the 20th Century". Northern Dancer is considered one of the most important thoroughbreds in history. He passed away in 1990 and is buried along with 14 other horses in a small graveyard on the property. The beginning of the end for Windfields Farm started in 1968 when a fire in one of the barns killed 12 horses, one of which was fathered by Northern Dancer. A few years later, Mr. Taylor had a stroke and passed the business on to his son, who quickly downsized the property by donating several hundred acres to the local university. When E.P Taylor passed away in 1989, his son began selling off the horses. By 2008, the vast property, which once was home to over 800 thoroughbred horses, had evolved into a small private farm. Shortly after, the property was split up and sold to developers. The remaining100 acres is currently under the Ontario Historical Designation, preventing the developers from tearing down any of the 23 buildings, as well as stopping them from building anything new.

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Camp 30

Construction on what is now known as Camp 30 was started in 1922 and finished in 1927. It was built originally as a school for delinquent boys. In 1941, the government of Ontario removed the students from the property and, within seven months, transformed it into a prisoner of war camp. Between 1941 and 1945, the property was used to hold German prisoners captured during the Second World War. Camp 30 was known as one of the "best" POW camps in Canada because of the facilities it had acquired as part of the former school, including a full-sized gym and an indoor pool. The facilities held over 800 high-ranking German officers. Once the war was over, the property returned to its original purpose and became a private school. In 1999, it was changed into a Catholic college and a few years later it became the Darul Uloom Islamic University, which it remained until its final year of use in 2008. Since its closing, two buildings have been set on fire. The remaining 14 buildings are now unrecognizable, as they sit in a state of disrepair. Camp 30 is the only remaining German POW camp in Canada. It is currently protected under the Ontario Historical Designation and cannot be demolished, much to the irritation of the current owner, who would like to build condos on the property.