Fulford Place

Fulford Place
Location Ontario, Canada
Nearest city Brockville
Built 1901
Original use Private residence
Current use Historic house museum
Architect Albert W. Fuller, Olmsted Brothers
Governing body Ontario Heritage Trust
Website Fulford Place
Designated 1992

Fulford Place is the start of the 20th century mansion home of Senator George Taylor Fulford, a Canadian businessman and politician. The home is now a historic house museum reflecting Edwardian period decorations, and is operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1992.[1][2]

History

The Fulfords had a mansion built for them in Brockville, Ontario on the shore of the St. Lawrence River where several other beautiful estates were located, many of which were owned by other successful businesspeople. In 1898, Fulford commissioned their estate to be built on the King’s Highway, on the eastern edge of Brockville. Architect Albert W. Fuller from Albany, New York, designed Fulford Place and it was elaborately decorated in the Beaux-Arts style. It was finished in 1901, and had 35 rooms making up 20 000 square feet. Since Fulford was an important figure in both the political world and the business scene, entertaining was one of Fulford Place’s primary functions. The house thus contains a grand hall, a dining room to seat over fifty guests, a spacious verandah, and a rococo-style drawing room for the ladies and a Moorish smoking room adjacent to a billiard room for the gentlemen.

Notably, the grounds at Fulford Place were designed by the Olmsted Brothers, and the recently restored formal Italianate garden is a rare and important example of a privately owned Olmsted-designed garden.

Fulford Place
Fulford Place

The property was reduced to three of its original 10 acres (40,000 m2) when George Taylor Fulford II was forced to section off prime lots of real estate to sell in order to afford the maintenance of the house. He remained proprietor of Fulford Place until his death, when he bequeathed it to the Ontario Heritage Foundation (now Ontario Heritage Trust). All of its original contents were later donated by his widow and his son, George Taylor Fulford III.

Museum

The Trust did extensive restoration on the house, and opened it to the public as a historic house museum in 1993. It has been interpreted to how it looked in the Edwardian era; this was done relatively accurately because of the existence of early photographs of rooms (taken for insurance purposes) and a collection of original artefacts (not reproductions). The opulent and lavishly furnished mansion has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada, and is a major tourist attraction in the Brockville area.[3]

The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.

References

  1. ↑ Fulford Place, Directory of Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada
  2. ↑ Fulford Place, National Register of Historic Places
  3. ↑ Ontario Heritage Trust - Fulford Place (Brockville)

External links

Coordinates: 44°35′50″N 75°40′15″W / 44.59728°N 75.67079°W / 44.59728; -75.67079

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