For Sale: A 45-Building Village You Can't Live In

Owners asking $2M for Canadian village that's basically a 19th-century movie set
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 3, 2017 7:23 AM CST
For Sale: Iconic Canadian Village, Largely Decorative
The village for sale includes 45 buildings "and all their content."   (Sotheby's Realty)

A Canadian village an hour north of Montreal could be yours for a cool $2 million, but there's an asterisk: The 45 buildings spread out across the 140 acres of Canadiana Village are largely just for show, with only one house in livable condition. That's because for decades the village has been something of a tourist trap, successfully designed to feel like a 19th-century pioneer settlement that used to attract 30,000 visitors a year, reports the CBC. "You can buy it, but live in it? You'd have to build homes on it that are livable because these ones are really used for decor," says the real estate broker with Sotheby's International Canada.

Still, she says there's been interest globally, with a few potential buyers calling from Europe, as well as fans who've seen Canadiana in films. It's been featured in more than 100 movies and TV shows, including the Bob Dylan biographical drama I'm Not There. Indeed, the listing describes the village as having "everything to please the most demanding producers," from ample parking to an adjacent local airport. The owners say they'd like to find a buyer who will maintain the village, which features a saloon, church, general store, covered bridge, taxidermist store, prison, mill, and cemetery, in addition to nearly two dozen homes. CTV News reports that since Sotheby's took over the listing two months ago, it has fielded 100 calls about the property. (One hamlet in South Dakota was a comparative deal at less than $400,000.)

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