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New Brunswick

Want to buy a castle for $700K?

Volunteers are cleaning up Monctons Castle Manor this weekend in the hopes it attracts a new owner.

Volunteers clean Monctons Castle Manor in hopes of finding new owner

People looking to buy a private castle with an on-site chapel, stained glass windows and parking are in luck: New Brunswick's Castle Manor is on the market.

The Gothic Revival-style Castle Manor on Moncton's Mountain Road was built between1906 and 1908 and is a landmark in the New Brunswick city. It has sat empty for several years and fallen into some disrepair.

A small team of volunteers descended on the beloved building this weekend to clean it up in the hopes it attracts a new owner.

It went up for public auction last May when the former owner defaulted on the mortgage.

No one bid on the property and it has sat empty since. Realtor Kathy Guitard says its got a new roof and is now back on the market.

The asking price is $699,000.

Mary's Home, as the castle is officially known, started life as a care home for orphans and foundlings. It was later a seniors' home.

Thereal estate listingsays with 19,000 square feet the building has "amazing potential" with "a chapel on site, incredible original mill work [and]stained glass."

Guitard said there has been no power or heat in the building and vandals have left behind a mess. The volunteers are cleaning it up out of civic spirit.

We've been picking away at [it] for the last couple of weeks. Today is kind of the finishing polish, she said Saturday. "The building really can't stand too much more of this cold. It needs to be dealt with this year."

The building is owned by a Toronto-based development company.

Rotting away

Laurent Maillet donated part of his weekend to tidy it up.

"I've always loved this building and found it sad that it was basically rotting away over the years, he said.

I hope they find a buyer and they do something with the building. It's beautiful."

He hopes it will be re-developed and remain a part of Moncton.

Guitard said it could be converted into a multi-unit residential building, a care home or bed and breakfast. Past plans have imagined it turned into a boutique hotel.