Government House was the

official residence An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of th ...

of the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper 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 America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. Four buildings were used for this purpose, none of which exist today, making Ontario one of four provinces not to have an official

vice-regal A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

residence.

Early accommodations

The colony's first Lieutenant Governor,

John Graves Simcoe Lieutenant-General (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British army officer, politician and colonial administrator who served as the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 u ...

, occupied a couple of residences during his tenure. Upon his arrival in

in 1792, he used one of the buildings at

Navy Hall Navy Hall is a wooden structure encased within a stone structure that was the site of Upper Canada's (Ontario's) first provincial parliament, from 1792 to 1796. It is a unit of Fort George National Historic Site located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, O ...

Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York (state), New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the R ...

as a residence, sharing the space with Upper Canada’s legislature. When Simcoe moved the colonial capital to

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

(present-day

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

) in 1793, he built a summer residence,

Castle Frank Castle Frank Brook is a buried creek and south-west flowing tributary of the Don River in central and north-western Toronto, Ontario, originating near the intersection of Lawrence Avenue and Dufferin Street. Residential and industrial developme ...

, north of the settlement in 1794. Simcoe's successor and the colony's second Lieutenant Governor, Peter Hunter, initially continued to reside in his own home, Russell Abbey, located at the south-west corner of Princess and Front streets.

First Government House

The first official government house was a one-storey,

U-shaped Many shapes have metaphorical names, i.e., their names are metaphors: these shape A shape is a graphics, graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface. It is distinc ...

frame house built at

Fort York Fort York is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort housed members of the British and Canadian militaries and defended the entrance to Toronto Harbour. The fort featu ...

in 1800, designed by Captain Robert Pilkington and first occupied by Hunter. The structure was destroyed when a nearby powder magazine exploded in 1813 during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

.http://www.toronto.ca/culture/brochures/fortyyork_report_low.pdf ''Fort York and Garrison Common: Parks and Open Space Design and Implementation Plan''. City of Toronto, 2001. Retrieved 27 February 2009.

Second Government House (Elmsley House)

After the destruction of the Fort York house, York did not have another Government House until after the

. In 1815, the government purchased Elmsley House, a more commodious Georgian residence, for its Lieutenant Governor. The new Government House was located in a wooded area to the west of the settled portion of the (then) Town of York, roughly midway on the block now occupied by

Roy Thomson Hall Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located downtown in the city's entertainment district, it is home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and the esports team Toronto Defiant. Opened ...

and

Metro Hall Metro Hall is a 27-storey Postmodern architecture, Postmodern-style office tower at the corner of Wellington and John Street (Toronto), John Street in the Downtown Toronto, downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It looks out onto Pecaut Squ ...

in downtown Toronto. Built in 1798, the residence had been the home of the Chief Justice and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly,

John Elmsley John Elmsley (1762 – April 29, 1805) was Chief Justice of Upper Canada and afterwards of Lower Canada. In both of the Canadas he served as President of the Executive Council and Speaker of the Legislative Council. During the Hunter admini ...

, and it served as the colony's Government House from 1815 to 1841 (and intermittently from 1841 to 1858, during some of the times when Toronto served as the capital of the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

). From 1847 to 1849 it was home to the

Toronto Normal School The Toronto Normal School was a teachers college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1847, the normal school was located at Church and Gould streets in central Toronto (after 1852), and was a predecessor to the current Ontario Institute for ...

. For many years after its purchase by the government, the residence was still known by the name of its former owner, with the correspondence of the Lieutenant Governor typically dated from "Elmsley House". In 1846, the grounds were used for the first annual Provincial Agricultural Fair. Beginning in 1849,

Lord Elgin Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine, ( ; 20 July 176614 November 1841), often known as Lord Elgin, was a Scottish nobleman, diplomat, and collector, known primarily for the controversial procurement of marble sculptures ...

, the

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

of the then united Province of Canada, resided for two years at the similarly-named Elmsley Villa, located near what is today the intersection of Bay and Grosvenor Streets (northwest corner), rather than at Elmsley House. Elmsley Villa was a two-storey Georgian structure that stood until at least the 1860s. Elmsley House was destroyed by fire in 1862.
Roy Thomson Hall
'. Lost Rivers. Retrieved 27 February 2009.

Third Government House

Four years after the fire at Elmsley House, the firm of Gundry and Langley of Toronto was commissioned to design a new Government House on the same site. In 1868, construction began on a new Government House, designed in the Second Empire style by architect Henry Langley. A three-storey red brick home, trimmed with Ohio cut stone, the building featured a tower, steeply sloped mansard roofs and dormer windows, with the main entrance and carriage porch facing Simcoe Street. The drawing room on the first floor and the state bedroom on the second floor faced

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 (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

over a large landscaped garden. Completed in 1870, the house cost , and its first resident was

John Beverley Robinson John Beverley Robinson (February 21, 1821 – June 19, 1896) was a Canadian politician, lawyer and businessman. He was mayor of Toronto and a provincial and federal member of parliament. He was the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario between ...

. By the 20th century, the development of railways and industrial uses nearby prompted the provincial government to seek a more appropriate location for its vice-regal residence, as it had done more than a century before. The third Government House was sold to the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

in 1912 and demolished in 1915.

Pendarves (Cumberland House)

During the transition from the third to the fourth Government House, the Lieutenant Governor temporarily lived at Pendarves (later known as Cumberland House) from 1912 to 1915. Originally designed as an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

villa by

Frederick William Cumberland Frederick William Cumberland (10 April 1821 – 5 August 1881) was a Canadian engineer, architect and politician. He represented the riding of Algoma in the 1st and 2nd Ontario Parliaments, and he served in the House of Commons of Canada from ...

for his family's use and completed in 1860, the house is located at 33 St. George Street. It has been owned since 1923 by the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

and now functions as the international students' centre.

Fourth Government House (Chorley Park)

The government sought to construct a new government house on

Bloor Street East Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...

and 12 architects submitted proposals in 1909. However, as that area was becoming too commercial, the province moved the site to a parcel of secluded and undeveloped land in Toronto's Rosedale neighbourhood. The proceeds from the sale of the Bloor Street site were used to acquire the land in Rosedale. Chorley Park, the fourth government house, was constructed between 1911 and 1915. It was named for

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, the birthplace of Toronto alderman and first chair of the

Toronto Public Library Toronto Public Library (TPL) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2023 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making i ...

John Hallam John William Francis Hallam (28 October 1941 – 14 November 2006) was a character actor from Northern Ireland, who frequently played hard men or military types. Early life John Hallam was born, the son of a superintendent at the Port o ...

. The house was designed by

Francis R. Heakes Francis Riley Heakes (1858 - 1930) was a Canadian architect. He studied under Kivas Tully in the mid-1880s. Heakes was born in Toronto to British immigrants Samuel Heakes and Elizabeth Isabella Riley. He was at one time Chief Architect of the ...

and built of Credit Valley stone in a

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define ...

style, reminiscent of French châteaux in the

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

. It was one of the most expensive residences ever constructed in Canada at the time and outshone even

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence of the governor general of Canada, the representative of the monarch of Canada. Located in Ottawa, the Capital city, capital of the country, on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, th ...

in size and grandeur. Sir

John Strathearn Hendrie Sir John Strathearn Hendrie (August 15, 1857 – July 17, 1923) was the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1914 to 1919. John Hendrie was born in 1857 in Hamilton, Canada West and was educated at Upper Canada College. He became a rail ...

and his wife were the first viceregal couple to live at Chorley Park. The Prince Edward (later King

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

) stayed here for three days in late August 1919, on his cross-Canada tour. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

Mitchell Hepburn Mitchell Frederick Hepburn (August 12, 1896 – January 5, 1953) was the 11th premier of Ontario, from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest premier in Ontario history, becoming premier at age 37. He was the only Ontario Liberal Party leader in the ...

made it a key component of his party's election platform to close Chorley Park, promising that an opulent palace would not be maintained by the taxpayers of Ontario; Chorley Park used 965 tons of coal to operate, whereas the average Toronto home used only six to seven.Maloney, Mark; ''Toronto Star'': The Curious Case of Chorley Park; July 30, 2007
/ref> After Hepburn was appointed

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

, following the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

's victory in the 1937 provincial election, he ensured that

Albert Edward Matthews Albert Edward Matthews (May 17, 1873 – December 16, 1949) was the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Matthews was born in Lindsay, Ontario. He worked as an investment broker in Toronto and rose to the position of director of various c ...

would be the last lieutenant governor of Ontario to live in an official residence. In 1937, after only 22 years and seven lieutenant governors, Chorley Park was closed. The contents of the mansion were auctioned off the following year, bringing in a profit of $18,000 ( $ in dollars), and Ontario became the first province in Canada not to have a

government house Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories. The name is also used in some other countries. Government Houses in th ...

. (

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

also closed its

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories. The name is also used in some other countries. Government Houses in th ...

in 1938.) The estate was bought by the Government of Canada and thereafter served various functions, including a military hospital during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the headquarters of the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

in Toronto, and a residence for refugees of the

1956 Hungarian uprising The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, including several of

Imre Nagy Imre Nagy ( ; ; 7 June 1896 – 16 June 1958) was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (''de facto'' Prime Minister of Hungary, Prime Minis ...

's staff members. Under Mayor Nathan Phillips in 1960, the City of

bought the house for $100,000 ($ in dollars) in order to destroy it and create municipal parkland. At the time, Chorley Park was considered dilapidated and outmoded and municipal funds were being spent demolishing heritage structures throughout the city to make room for modern buildings. The building was demolished in 1961 and the grounds of the estate were added to the civic parks system. Chorley Park from northwest corner

The only trace of Government House left is the bridge to the forecourt and some depressions in the earth that outline the rough footprint of its foundations. The once formal gardens have long gone fallow and, today, Chorley Park is a naturalized parkland.

Current facilities

Ontario's Lieutenant Governor uses an office and reception rooms in the

Ontario Legislative Building The Ontario Legislative Building () is a structure in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It houses the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and the viceregal suite of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and offices for members of the provincial parl ...

, and lives in their private Toronto home or is provided a rented residence by the

provincial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, o ...

. Queen Elizabeth II stayed in the Royal Suite at the

Fairmont Royal York Hotel The Fairmont Royal York, formerly and still commonly known as the Royal York, is a large historic luxury hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located along Front Street West, the hotel is situated at the southern end of the Financial District, in ...

when visiting Toronto.

Footnotes

External links

Archives of Ontario entry for Chorley Park

Location of Chorley Park with links to photos, videos, and websites related to the area
{{Coord, 43.686054, N, 79.370009, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Toronto Buildings and structures demolished in 1961 Châteauesque architecture in Canada