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" I THE LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENT SMYTHE ;- ROBERT • Kingswood ; a history of the little cottages, Mackenzie King Estate. BIBLIOTHEQUE DU PARLEMENT

Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

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Excerpts from Robert Smythe's book "Kingswood: a history of the little cottages, Mackenzie King Estate," 1982. Contains diagrams and floorplans for the log cabin King had wanted to build at Kingswood. References to locate plans in the National Library also included.

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Page 1: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

"

I THE LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENT

SMYTHE ;- ROBERT •

Kingswood ; a history of thelittle cottages, Mackenzie KingEstate.

BIBLIOTHEQUE DU PARLEMENT

Page 2: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

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Plans for a log bungalow, to lie made from S.C. timber shipped from the Skeena River district,were prepared by the Canadian National Railways Chief Architect's office. The bugalow was tobe a guest house for the Kingswood cottage, with a large comfortable living room, two bedrooms,several verandahs, and an impressive three-sided open fireplace. Although rustic in style, theproposed guest cottage offered conveniences as modern as the lady carrying gol f clubs at the right.The log house was never realized, although elaborately detailed drawfn~s for it have surviNed.

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Page 3: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

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prepared for theNATIONAL CAPITAL COMMISSION1982

ROBERr 8MYTHE

HERITAGE RESOORCE PLANNING

99 Cart1er Street - SUite 604Ottawa Ontario K2P lK2613 2,33-5184

USnARY OF PARLIAMENTC/\f\!!\OA

Nnv 13 1998

B1BLlOTHtQUE DU PARLEMENT

Page 4: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

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GROUND FLOOR. FRAMI NG PLAN

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Left: One of the sheets of plans fora log guest cabin, inspired byCanadian National Railways bun-galows at Jasper Park Lodge,King was struck with this ideaduring his 1924 tour of westernCanada, and the execution of

+- these plans is associated withseveral other realized andunrealized projects whichwere born of that trip,

Part Ill:SPECIAL PROJECTS

Page 5: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

A Log Bungalow, Rustic Lanterns & Creeping Bent

On his tour of western Canada in 1:he Fall of 1924 King had many thoughts concerning Kingsmere. While onboard a Canadian National Railway!. train, en route from Prince George to Prince Rupert, he dictated a massive..letter to Sir Henry Thornton, pre! ident of the C.N.R. It set out very detailed specifications for a logguest house at Kingswood - 'I 1001. forward to making my little summer re tre at at Kingsmere more and more aplace of real interest to visitors from different parts of our own country, and especially abroad. I wouldlike to make this little cottage a guest house which I could turn over to a gentleman and his wife duringthe time they might be visiting me. I have already, as you, I think, know a little cottage adjoining minewhich I have used in this way where one or two of the ministers and their wives have come to see me. What

. .1 really need is ~~ment to t~ cottage 1 already have, so that if I ~,;shed to have four or five friendsat a time I shou1 d be able to entertai n them sa ti sfactorily' .

The log bungalow was to be constructed of B.C. fir or cedar 'on the model of a Swiss cottage', with plentyof windows made with small panes, overhanging eaves, ~ verandah having splendid views to the lake and mount-ains, and rooms with abundant light. A central fireplace was important, as was the size, dimensions, lay-outand purpose at the list of rooms to be included in the cabin.

King's request for a set of plans brought an immediate reply from Thornton to the Premier's officewhich was forwarded to his hotel in Vancouver. A flurry of telegrams, letters and meeting ensued.of the Chief Architect and Engineer prepared prf1iminary sketches, and the blueprints were shown toWinnipeg, on his return trip to the capital.

in Ottawa,The offi ceKi ng in

Early in December Sir Henry was able to 'enclose herewith sketches and plan!. showing the outward appearance andinterior arrangements of such a bungalow as I think will meet your views. The plans have been prepared by thearchitect who was responsible for the building at Jasper Park'. He also indicated that the western logs fromwhich the cottage was to be constructed would be shipped from their point of origin to Ottawa courtesy of therailway: this, 'you can leave ...to me without any possibility of complication'. The logs themselves were tobe supplied by Mr. Olaf Hansen who held large timber interests in the Skeena River district, the region whosemountain and forest landscape had inspired King on his first Prince George-to-Prince Rupert train ride.

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Page 6: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

The dreams for a log bungalow along the lines of the Jasper Park Lodge cottages did not materialize, butthey did produce a handsome set of er cht tec ture ljp lans fo r a robust, if incongruously luxurious, guest cabin.The interior was to be dominated by a baronial three-sided fireplace, and while guests were to be furnishedwith many rustic references, they were to be spared nothing for their personal comfort.

One tiny aspect of the scheme was shipped t1 Ottawa. In the first letter to Thornton, King described some ofthe proposed decor: The only pictures on the log walls were to be of B.C. scenery, relieved by a 'few properlyprepared heads of British Columbia an1m~ls'. Textiles would be ho~espuns made in Quebec, and the furniturewould be inspired by the wooden bedsteads, tables, chairs, and ottomans in use at the Jasper Park Lodge, w1th'accessories for example, such as thelanterns in the lodge at Jasper'.

These six C.N.R ..lanterns of an unknown design, made from wire, eventually made their way to Ottawa and thenKingsmere. While in Jasper King asked his old friend Colonel S. Maynard Rogers, Superintendent of the JasperNational Park, to supervise their dispatch. It was a rugged journey, judging by the volume of transcontinentalcommunications required to bring them east.

In his reply to King's telegraphed inquiry as to their whereabouts, Colonel Rogers wired that the C.N.R. was'making your lanterns at Strathcona Winnipeg'. A telegram from J. Rogers of the C.N.R. Strathcona shops, toRogers at Jasper confirmed that the wire lanterns had left for Montreal, where they weDe to be put under the,care of A.S. McLean, General Manager and General Superintendent of the C.N.R. hotel sy~tem. As these eventsunfolded impatient memoranda from the Prime Minister'S office attempted to trace the lanterns' course.

Ten days after King'S first message to Rogers, A.S. McLean forwarded "six rustic lanterns" in a box about fourfeet square to the Manager of the Ch~teau Laurier in Ottawa, and from there they came into King's possession.The difficulty was worth the effort. King wrote to thank McLean, saying 'these lanterns far exceed anything inartistic beauty that I had contemplated and will always be associated in my mind with the unfailing courtesyof the Canadian National Railway system' .

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A third related request was made on that western. tour. It was for grass seed suitable for the growingconditions to which the struggl ing 1awns of Kingswood were subjected, l ate and early frosts, etc. t~aynardRogers, In cons ul ta t ton wtth the greenskeepersof the Jasper Park golf cour se , suggested a Creeping BentFescue Grass. Sod or seed was to have been shipped with the lanterns, but experts recommended that theshipment be held over until Spring because that particular strain required special care over the winter.The grass was scheduled for shipment the following year, and the responsibility for supplying it shiftedto the 'laboratory'of Stanley Thompson and Company of Toronto.

In mid-Aprii of 1925 King-reminaed Rogers of his commit~ent. Rogers made the necessary arrangements with·Stan 1ey-Thompson Co., and-a-f-te-r- repea ted proddi ngs from King four packages of creepi ng bent arri ved ea rl yin May. Unfortunately the sods came.without adequate instructions, and Mr. "Thompson followed a weeklater to straighten out th is confusion. It was too late. Frustrated by the company's apparent tardinessin sending the sods, King decided to plant the ~rea he had intended to cover with creeping bent grass, u~ihga local sod installed by Paddy Murphy.

The whole affair left him somewhat unsettled. Although he wrote a gracious note to Mr. Thompson, thankinghim for his interest and co-operation. To Colonel Rogers he was more open in relating the final outcome:'To be quite frank I found it a little difficult to account for the many de lays in obtaining any samplesand in fact rather than delay longer I decf ded to sod the lawn which I was proposing to plant with creepingbent before the latter arrived~ The representative of the firm called on me at Ottawa but I Was obliged totelegraph the Toronto Office once or twice be fo re his undertakings were c a rr f ed out. Subsequently I receivedabout a dozen bags of roots and which I have since planted as a sort of nursery and from which in the courseof a year or two I hope to be able to derive results'. (July 9,1925)

Sunday, May 17, 1925: "I took out a l.t r d bath I bought yesterday for the qar den Joan has made. It loakedbeautiful when I put it in place. J vent down to. my own little cattage and was delighted with the levelledlawn (still to be sodded) and the be qrm lnqs of the wall, which is going to look well, a1 so the terrace atthe end af the lawn."

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Page 8: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

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'.1 '.; .'1"IJ \ ;" :-;.1~------------~.--------~--Plans for a log bungalow, to lie made from B.C. timber shipped from the Skeena River district,

were prepared by the Canadian National Railways Chief Architect's office. The bugalow was tobe a guest house for the Kingswood cottage, with a large comfortable living room, two bedrooms,several verandahs, and an impressive three-sided open fireplace. Although rustic in style, theproposed guest cottage offered conveniences as modern as the lady carrying golf clubs at the right.The log house was never realized, although elaboratelY detailed drawin~s for it have surviNed.

".

174

Page 9: Mackenzie King's Log Cabin

CLASS or SERVICE DESIREO

Olt M""II -01, hllll

NICbl MIIIIIO -Nlc·lltller

PllrnAI Ihnulj Iflllk lA I 1,,0:IlIe the dass 01 smlce deslf,diOTHERWISE TilE MESSAGWILL BE TnAHSMITTEO AS

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CANADIA.~~lMrIONjaFurln (dOl. H'Jiladll\l FtHlI1 2.\·T. \V.

HEAO OFFICI, TORt NTO, ONT. w. ca. BARBER, OIlNIIlUL fotlAlUaot

Exclusive Connectionwith

WESTERN UNIONTELEGRAPH CO..

Cable Servicoto nil the World

Money Transferredby Telegraph

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Send Ihe followIng message, subjecllo the lerms on back hereof, whIch are hereby agreed 10

Ottawn. November 11, 1924Col. lJaynard Rogers,

JBaper Park, Alberta:

00uld YOIl tell me 11' bag of grnaa seed anal lontornsar'r angad for at Jasl)er Park weBe forwArded LlS pl anned. I shallh#lve Shipment t raosd if by My chance thQy nave been. rorwarded,

MHokonzie lUng

NI GHT1E'lvrEROHARGE: PRIUE ll111l'STRR '80}'HOE

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All Log Bungalow; Rustic Lanterns; and Creeping Bent TELEGRAPH, CORRESPONDENCE, and MEMORANDASERIES: PAC MG 26 J 10 Vo126: Gifts Received; Vo127 Horticulture; Vo127: Improvements, andVo128 Maintenance and Improvements; Vo128: Miscellaneous.

175

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The Mackenzie King Estate today

a - Parking

b - Visitors' kiosk

i-Tea room

f - Guest house o - Arc de Triomphe

p - Abbey Ruins

k - Moorside cottage

1- Gardenc - Garage

d - Pergola m - Window on the Forest

n - Hidden Gardene - Ice house

g - Boat house

h - Pump house q - Forge

i - Kingswood cottage r - Garage/Theatre

GAlLyoresta·scaphe \A

delifand

. mensquh

leisuexarholkKinf

menrecotlcul

the'Arcldiariin tr.joun