George Brown House is a historic building in the
Grange Park neighbourhood of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. It was home to
Father of Confederation
The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...
,
Reform Party politician and publisher
George Brown George Brown may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter
* George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist
* George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor
* G ...
. Its current address is 186 Beverley Street.
History
![Funeral of George Brown 1880](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Funeral_of_George_Brown_1880.jpg)
Brown built the
Second Empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
-style home, which he named Lambton Lodge,
between 1874 and 1876. In 1880, he died in the house after being shot in the leg in his office by a disgruntled employee at ''
The Globe'' newspaper which he founded.
Between 1889 and 1916, Duncan Coulson, president of the
Bank of Toronto
The Bank of Toronto was a Canadian bank that was founded in 1855 by a group of grain dealers and flour millers. On February 1, 1955, it merged with The Dominion Bank to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank, which is now known as the present-day TD Bank ...
, lived in the house with his wife Eliza and three children.
Following Coulson's death, the
Canadian National Institute for the Blind
The CNIB Foundation (french: Fondation INCA) is a volunteer agency and charitable organization dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded ...
obtained the house in 1920 and used it for office space until 1956. A school for the blind was attached in 1920, which was later replaced by a school for developmentally-challenged children, and demolished in 1984.
George Brown House was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment
An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...
in 1976,
George Brown House
Directory of Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada but was then in a bad state of disrepair. Threatened by demolition, the Ontario Heritage Trust
The Ontario Heritage Trust (french: link=no, Fiducie du patrimoine ontarien) is a non-profit agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. It is responsible for protecting, preserving and promoting the built, natural and cultural herita ...
intervened. The agency restored the house and re-opened it in 1989 as a conference centre with tenant offices on the upper floors. Archaeological excavations conducted in 1987 and 1988 revealed over 5,000 artifacts. These artifacts have provided insights into the construction of the house as well as the landscape surrounding it and include a collectible pint corker containing the letters "William Robertson", a silver ring and amber bead attributed to the Coulson period, and a St. George penny token from the 1850s.
Architecture
George Brown House was designed by William Irving and Edward Hutchings in the Second Empire style with Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
detailing. It is a red brick house characterized by Second Empire features such as pavilion massing and a grey slate mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
with window dormers. The carved stone doorcase is pronounced in a way that might be more expected of an institution than a private dwelling. The 1987 and 1988 archeological excavations revealed a unique "shell wall" below ground—a double foundation. An ornamental cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
fence and gate outlines the property along Beverley and Baldwin Streets. It rests on a red brick and stone base and complements the façade.
The interior was organized on a Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
centre hall plan, with the main floor containing public rooms, and the upper two floors containing private rooms. Twelve of the original fifteen fireplaces remain, and the drawing room's polished marble mantel has the initials of George and Anne Brown entwined on the cartouche. The Coulson family hired Toronto architect David Brash Dick to remodel the dining room in an Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
style in the 1890s, along with the ornate front hall fireplace.
Along with the exterior, the Ontario Heritage Trust restored the interior. The federal government also contributed the recreation of a Victorian library which now houses 2,000 of George Brown's personal books. By the summer of 2000, a Victorian-style garden was planted, and a partnership was formed with the to maintain it.
See also
*List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto
This is a list of the oldest buildings and structures in Toronto, that were constructed before 1920. The history of Toronto dates back to Indigenous settlements in the region approximately 12,000 years ago. However, the oldest standing structures ...
References
External links
Overview of George Brown Home (Ontario Heritage Trust)
*
{{coord, 43.655825, N, 79.39502, W, type:landmark, display=title
Houses completed in 1876
Houses in Toronto
National Historic Sites in Ontario
Second Empire architecture in Canada
Ontario Heritage Trust
Designated heritage properties in Ontario