At the corner of Laurier Avenue East and Chapel
Street, in the grand old Ottawa neighbourhood of Sandy
Hill, stands a three-storey brick house with a green
wraparound veranda and green-and-white-striped awnings
shading it and the upper windows. Built in 1878 in the Second
Empire style, the house is two kilometres from the gates of
Parliament Hill, a convenient location for anyone working near
the city centre, but especially so if you are the prime minister.
This house was home to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, prime minister
from 1896 to 1911 and Leader of the Opposition from 1911
until his death in 1919. His wife, Zoé Lafontaine — Lady
Laurier — continued to live there until her death two years
later. In those years, the government didn’t provide an official
residence for the prime minister, so the Lauriers owned, decorated
and renovated their home, which has been described as
“comfortable and homey, well furnished but not rigidly formal.”
The Lauriers were childless, but their home life was far from
dull. They often hosted friends, relatives and political colleagues
for dinners, card parties and music. Lady Laurier kept a player
piano and a cage with pet birds in the “morning room.” She
also enjoyed knitting — on their 50th anniversary, Sir Wilfrid
gave her gold knitting needles.
One of Laurier’s accomplishments in his last year as prime
minister was to pass the Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act,
which created the Dominion Parks Branch, predecessor to Parks
Canada. So it was fitting that Canadian Geographic’s managing
editor, Dan Rubinstein, and I would be welcomed into Laurier
House’s ornately decorated front parlour in February for a conversation
with Parks Canada CEO Alan Latourelle about the agency’s
centennial this year. We have dedicated this issue to the anniversary, as well as, in a collaboration with Parks Canada,
a poster map, an issue of Géographica and online content.
The house’s story does not end with the Lauriers. Lady Laurier
bequeathed it to William Lyon Mackenzie King, the successive
leader of the Liberal Party and Canada’s longest-serving and,
arguably, most eccentric prime minister. He certainly left his
mark on the property (not to mention the country). Financed
by friends of the Liberal Party, King gutted and renovated the
house from top to bottom, sparing few expenses. For example,
oak harvested from the nearby Laurentians was shipped to
Scotland, turned into wainscotting and library shelving, shipped
back and installed throughout.
Today, those shelves in King’s third-floor den are filled with
his collection of first editions, reference tomes and Hansard
volumes, all of which were in the process of being assessed and
photographed, one by one, by a pair of Parks Canada conservators
on the day Dan and I visited. They said that it would take
about 10 weeks to complete their appraisal and that they travel
the country doing this kind of work at other historic sites.
Laurier House, with its myriad antiques and mementoes,
is just one of 167 historic properties, 42 parks and 4 marine
conservation areas that the agency’s staff of 5,000 manages
— on behalf of all Canadians — with an annual budget of
$600 million. All are gems that conserve salient points of our
history and geography, and each is well worth a visit.
Listen to Lady Laurier’s player piano as she would have heard it.
