Residences: Homes of Canada's Leaders

Patricia Vervoort is an assistant professor of art history at Lakehead
University.

A guided tour with words and pictures of the official homes of Canada’s political leaders, this is Maureen McTeer’s first book. As the wife of former Prime Minister Joe Clark, she writes from personal experience. Numerous photographs (75 black and white, 15 colour, with new photographs by Ted Grant) record the past and present appearances of these homes and their distinguished residents and visitors, including the Queen and various American presidents.

24 Sussex Drive, originally called “Gorffysfa” (Welsh for “place of peace”) was built in 1866-68 for Joseph Currier, an Ottawa business man and politician; it was designed by his brother, American architect J.M. Currier. In 1950, it became the official residence of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. The first two floors, with floor plans, are described in detail with furniture and decorations taking precedence.

Stornoway, built in 1914 for Asconi Major, was designed by Allan Keefer of Ottawa. In 1923, it was named “Stornoway” by the Perley-Robertson family after their ancestral home on the Isle of Lewis. It was the home of Princess Juliana of the Netherlands from 1942 to 1945 and became, in 1950, the official residence of Opposition Leader George Drew. Floor plans again aid in clarifying the descriptions of the decor.

Harrington Lake, located 20 miles north of Ottawa, is described as “typical of the country residences of the well-to-do during the first quarter of the twentieth century — a true country mansion on a hill” (p. 118). It became the official country house of Prime Minister Diefenbaker in 1959. Unlike the other two homes, no floor plans accompany the descriptions.

Residences relates the history of these homes in regard to former owners and major structural changes, but the emphasis is on the interior decoration, not the architectural history. The anecdotes, from a midnight raid on the refrigerator at 24 Sussex Drive to the persistence of mice at Harrington Lake, impart the down-to-earth and very personal experiences of Ms. McTeer.