Thursday, July 6, 2017

A Place Of Comfort And History

I have more from Laurier House today, taken during my Doors Open visit. The building has quite a collection of art work, but it also feels comfortable, like a home.


A photograph of King with one of his dogs can also be found here. A lifelong bachelor, King left Laurier House and his estate in the Gatineau Hills to the nation in his will.


This is the master bedroom; both the Lauriers and King made it their own during their time here. 


Coming up to the top floor brings us to a room Laurier and King both made good use of. Laurier turned this into a billiards room, while King made it his office, running the country from here. I find it thoroughly appealing.


Perched at the back of the piano in this room is a crystal ball. King had an interest in spiritualism, and this was his.


This proclamation is a wanted poster that King took pride in. His grandfather, William Lyon Mackenzie,  a prominent journalist and politician, took part in the rebellions of 1837, and for a time was a wanted man.


The Breakfast Room was the housekeeper's room during the Laurier era. King preferred to have most of his meals in this room, right across the hall from his office. A display case here contains plaster casts of the hands and face of Abraham Lincoln, done in 1860, at the time of the Republican nomination, by Leonard Volk. These are one of three or four sets of the casts in the world. 


And this is the room itself.


Coming back out of Laurier House, I paused on the verandah, and then took a shot of the house from the street before crossing to my next destination for Doors Open, which happens to be a neighbour to this place. 

30 comments:

  1. This seems so much more a home than an historic center. I do like King's office. And the life mask of Lincoln is very interesting. There is one of him from not long before his death. Not surprisingly, he was very changed from this one from 1860. I was surprised when I saw it to realize it was a life mask.

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  2. Another very interesting building. Always enjoy the architecture of these places and love the look inside. Thanks William:)

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  3. ...verandah, a term rarely heard in this area!

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  4. The house looks beautiful, but the head and hands on the table look a bit creepy to me....

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  5. Hello, it is a beautiful house. The Lincoln mask is cool. I love the verandah too. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

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  6. @Kay: the Smithsonian has both. It's astonishing how much older he looks in the second one.

    @Denise: you're welcome!

    @Tom: it is a formal term.

    @Francisco: definitely!

    @Marianne: I just wonder how it wound up in Canadian hands.

    @Eileen: thank you!

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  7. Laurier House is beautiful William, enjoyed seeing it outside and in, last post too. I agree that how King transformed Laurier's billiard room into his office space is a delightful space.

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  8. It really is a beautiful place. That last photo shows such a stately home.

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  9. I like that office, it's very stylish.

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  10. I guess a large house with everything in it was necessary to give these people some kind of family life as they just couldn't go out and walk on the streets every time they wanted to.

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  11. @Grace: it's a good conversion!

    @Sharon: I like being able to visit it.

    @Marleen: it certainly is.

    @Red: that's true.

    @Norma: it is indeed.

    @Linda: thank you!

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  12. THose casts are a bit creepy. Interesting to see inside the home.

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  13. What a super place! I love the verandah. The casts are quite odd, William.

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  14. love seeing the outdoors shot at the end ... very curvy. ( ;

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  15. It's a real man's house, isn't it? I can see the fittingness of it. Is that a word?!

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  16. Incredible rooms, a very stately feel to it. Lincoln's head and hands is very weird.

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  17. @Halcyon: it was a peculiar tradition back in the time.

    @RedPat: I rather like them.

    @Beth: it's a beautiful design.

    @Jennifer: it's a word now!

    @Bill: I think it fits. He was a great man, and Laurier and King certainly were as well.

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  18. We could really use a Lincoln now.

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  19. This national historical site is well maintained and well-visited.

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  20. Wow, what a house, what a life ( I guess the dog had a happy life there too.) And what a gift to the nation. Thanks for sharing!

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  21. Interesting post....don't the casts look eerily lifelike? I like that green awning against the brick!

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  22. I have the strange feeling I have seen that display case with the plaster casts of the hands and face of Abraham Lincoln before ... Have you showed them in an earlier edition of Doors Open?

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  23. Very interesting post. I like Abraham Lincoln face and hands.

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  24. It does seem more like someone's home.

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  25. @Revrunner: very much so.

    @Mari: I can see that.

    @Kate: it is.

    @Gunn: you're welcome.

    @Tanya: they do.

    @Jan: I've shown it before.

    @Klara: so do I.

    @Jennifer: me too.

    @Norma: it does.

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