Colborne Lodge is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

located in an 1836 home in

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 anch ...

's High Park.

John George Howard John George Howard (born John Corby; July 27, 1803 – February 3, 1890) was the official surveyor and civil engineer for the government of Toronto in Upper Canada and later Canada. He was also the first professional architect in Toronto. He d ...

, an architect, engineer and prominent Toronto citizen, built this house, which became the property of the city following his death in 1890.

History

Built in 1836 by City Surveyor

to house himself and his wife, Jemima Frances Meikle, Colborne Lodge is perched on the top of a hill overlooking

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

. The home is a classic example of the

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

cottage style, and it was one of the first such buildings in area. The small house sought to blend in with the landscape around it, in sharp contrast to the rigid formalism of

Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover— George I, George II, Ge ...

that was then the standard architectural style. It was originally one storey, but Howard later expanded it by adding the upper level. The house was named after Sir

John Colborne Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedi ...

, Lieutenant-Governor of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North Americ ...

from 1828 to 1836 and the first Canadian patron of Howard's architecture. Next to the home is the Colborne Lodge gardens, first created by the Howards. The cottage sat on of land owned by Howard. His original intent was to start a farm on the property, and he did keep some animals. Later, he attempted to subdivide his holdings and sell off small lots to create a new neighbourhood. At that time, the area was still a considerable distance west of Toronto and a difficult commute to town. Howard himself maintained a separate home in downtown Toronto. The landscape of the property – with its steep hills, wetlands and sandy soils – would have been difficult to develop in any event. Howard and his wife had no children and thus deeded the property to the city in 1873, in exchange for a permanent pension. He continued to live in the house until his death in 1890. Additional land was purchased by the city in 1873 and 1930, thereby expanding the park to the current . Howard and his wife are buried in the Howard Tomb, a stone monument which overlooks Grenadier Pond. The cairn was designed by Howard, and the fence gate for the cairn was originally from

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

in London and had been designed by the famous architect

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 church ...

. It dates from 1714, and Howard had it shipped from London in 1875. Colborne Lodge

The building is now a museum run by the City of Toronto. The museum displays the house and furnishings of the 1800s, using much of the Howards' own furnishings and artworks. The museum holds an annual Harvest Festival, plus summer and March break camps for children. Annually at Hallowe'en, guides put on a "Haunted Walk" that discusses legends of ghost appearances at the Lodge.

References

*Cruikshank, Tom. ''Old Toronto Houses.'' Toronto: Firefly Books, 2003. *Denby William and William Kilbourn. ''Toronto Observed.'' Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1986.

External links

Colborne Lodge
{{coord, 43, 38, 25.7, N, 79, 27, 36.5, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark_scale:2500, display=title Houses in Toronto Museums in Toronto Historic house museums in Ontario Regency architecture in Canada

History

See also

References

External links