EDMONTON -- The estate known locally as the Magrath Mansion officially went on the market Tuesday, with an asking price of $5.25 million.

Built in 1912 and sitting on five city lots overlooking the North Saskatchewan River valley, the house is the “BEST KNOWN and MOST historically important home in the Highlands,” the listing said.

Located on Ada Boulevard northeast of downtown Edmonton, the house was designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1975, according to the Alberta Register of Historic Places.

“This was a disaster. It was terrible when I bought it,” the late owner, Sid Braaksma, told CTV News Edmonton during a tour of the home in 2017.

Braaksma and his wife Petranella bought the house in 2000 for $750,000 and spent more than a year renovating it, he said.

Sid, “known by many as a successful entrepreneur,” passed away in 2019, according to his public obituary.

Since then realtor Cheryl Watt has been working with the surviving Braaksmas to list the home.

“It’s definitely been exciting to press that button and let everybody know about it,” Watt said Tuesday evening, just hours after placing the “for sale” sign in the yard.

Pricing a home as unique as the Magrath Mansion, especially amid a pandemic and related economic uncertainty, wasn’t easy, Watt said.

“There wasn’t much for comparables, obviously, so we do have to take into consideration other comparables and then add onto that.”

Still, Watt expects a lot of interest, although she said buyers need to be aware of the many rules that come along with a historically designated home.

“There’s a nice thick book of guidelines that goes along with the house,” Watt said.

During the tour in 2017 Braaksma pointed out interesting features in the home including mahogany shipped from Japan and furniture brought in from Poland and China.

Braaksma said he bought the Magrath Mansion because his wife wanted it. He quickly learned how much joy and excitement it brought to other people as well.

“I get them (visitors) all the time up the road here. We had Sunday, right til 10 o’clock, ‘can I take a picture of your house? Can I walk on the steps?‘“ Braaksma said in 2017.

The house features six bedrooms, five bathrooms, and five gas fireplaces.

The full listing can be viewed here.

The 2017 tour given to CTV News Edmonton is available here.