$5.5M for a historic Toronto house once owned by a Titanic survivor

When the Titanic survivors arrived in New York in April 1912, one lucky bloke was happy to be off the doomed ocean liner and on his way back home to Toronto.

Lt.-Col. Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, a prominent Toronto businessman, yachtsman, and, most notably, survivor of the Titanic, once owned this stately property at 105 Roxborough St. E.

Peuchen was a seasoned transatlantic traveller who had reportedly crossed the Atlantic around 40 times before boarding the Titanic for its ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912.

The foyer. 

And his escape from the sinking ship was particularly dramatic.

A view into the dining room and kitchen. 

As Lifeboat No. 6 was being lowered, a call went out for another experienced seaman to help aboard the boat. Peuchen, an experienced yachtsman, volunteered.

The living room. 

Rather than simply stepping into the lifeboat, Peuchen was told to climb down a rope from the Titanic and into the boat below. He apparently swung himself over the side of the ship and climbed down hand-over-hand, becoming the only male passenger Second Officer Charles Lightoller allowed into a lifeboat that night.

A secret wet bar. 

During the escape, Peuchen reportedly lost his wallet in the water and left behind some $300,000 worth of money, jewellery and securities in his cabin. What did he manage to save? Three oranges and a lucky pin.

One of the bedrooms. 

He would go on to live for another 17 years, spending his final days at 105 Roxborough St. E. before his death in 1929.

And now, more than a century later, his former home is on the market for $5,495,000.

Another bedroom. 

Built in the early 1900s, the five-bedroom, five-bathroom detached home has a whopping 4,909 square feet of living space.

A view of the backyard and driveway. 

The house also sits on an enormous 50-by-145-foot south-facing lot, giving it a width and sense of scale that's increasingly difficult to find in Toronto.

The family room. 

Inside, there's a traditional centre-hall layout with enormous principal rooms, plenty of original character and some seriously impressive ceiling heights.

The dining room. 

The main floor boasts soaring 10-foot ceilings, while the second floor has nine-foot ceilings and even the third floor comes in at more than eight feet.

Large windows throughout the home also mean there's no shortage of natural light.

The kitchen with a breakfast nook. 

Admittedly, the interiors aren't exactly on trend.

The primary ensuite. 

Plenty of finishes could use updating, and anyone dreaming of a sleek contemporary Rosedale mansion would likely be looking at a fairly substantial renovation.

The kitchen. 

Probably first on the list is the mint green kitchen with its basic Home Depot-style appliances, or the worn-out wall-to-wall carpeting upstairs.

But that's also part of what makes 105 Roxborough St. E. interesting.

The stairwell with the original banister and leaded windows. 

Unlike so many century-old Toronto homes that have been gutted, opened up and covered in white oak and marble, this place still feels distinctly old-school.

A bedroom with a fireplace. 

The home boasts ornate fireplaces, wood trim, traditional rooms, and the kind of proportions you simply can't replicate in a new build.

The floor-to-ceiling windows add plenty of natural light. 

Basically, the bones are very, very good.

A bedroom or home office with a walk-out to a deck. 

So while you could move in and embrace the home's decidedly traditional aesthetic, there's also plenty of potential to turn it into something spectacular.

The basement with a separate entrance. 

And given the nearly 5,000 square feet of space and massive lot, there's certainly a lot to work with.

A bedroom. 

It's also worth mentioning that the asking price isn't totally outrageous by Rosedale standards — which is admittedly a pretty ridiculous sentence when we're talking about a $5.5-million house.

The primary bedroom closet. 

Homes in the neighbourhood sell for around $5 million on average, while some properties can fetch upwards of $10 million.

The driveway. 

The property also has another feature that's surprisingly hard to come by in this part of the city: parking.

The garage and backyard. 

A private driveway runs alongside the house to a detached double garage at the rear, plus there's additional parking on the property.

An office or bedroom. 

For Rosedale, where many of the grandest old homes were built long before anyone was worrying about where to put multiple cars, that's a pretty big perk.

Of course, you're also getting the location.

The back deck. 

The home is tucked into one of South Rosedale's most coveted pockets, within walking distance of Yonge Street, Rosedale subway station, shops, restaurants and several schools, including Branksome Hall and Rosedale Junior Public School.

But really, it's the history that makes this house stand out.

The family room with a fireplace. 

Plenty of Toronto mansions can boast grand rooms, huge lots and multimillion-dollar price tags.

Far fewer can say one of their former residents survived the sinking of the Titanic by literally climbing down a rope into a lifeboat.

The back of the house. 

And for a house that's already more than a century old, 105 Roxborough St. E. certainly has one heck of a story to tell.