From the Etobicoke Historical Society's article regarding the property:
"Clair Hague of Weston purchased the vacant land here in 1935. As General Manager of Canadian Universal Films Ltd., he was at the forefront of the burgeoning Canadian motion picture industry. He hired Kingsway/Sunnylea architect Frank Ridley to design his dream home as an English country manor, “like one in a Douglas Fairbanks movie.” Certainly Briarcrest is considered to be Ridley’s masterpiece.
Ridley’s father-in-law, artist Arthur Packer, hand carved charming wooden figures that decorate the home. The four faces over the main entrance door represent the four Medieval social classes: jester, knight, lady, and cleric. The two-storey windows in the home’s massive “Manor Hall” overlook Humber Creek, which runs through the northeast corner of the lot.  Today, this very-densely wooded valley shields the house from the view of anyone passing by. The house also had a secret door next to the main fireplace with a stone staircase leading down to a games room and bar, and up to a private meeting room."