Mackenzie King Estate | Domaine Mackenzie King
Leader: Denis Messier,
Manager of Historical Interpretation Services and Special Events, National Capital Commission
Service d’interprétation historique et d’événements spéciaux.
Author | Auteur : Mackenzie King Estate (2002).
Photo by Sean Kheraj
The Prime Minister and the Picturesque: The Amateur Landscape Architecture of Mackenzie King’s Kingsmere Estate
When Canadians are asked to note the historical importance of William Lyon Mackenzie King, one suspects the most popular responses recall that he was Canada’s longest-serving prime minister, or possibly that he had a interesting spiritual relationship with his dead mother. What most Canadians probably do not know, however, is that Mackenzie King was a dedicated amateur landscape architect. Attendees of this year’s NiCHE summer school in Ottawa saw the design skills of Mackenzie King first hand on a tour of the former prime minister’s Kingsmere Estate, located in Quebec’s Gatineau Park.
When Mackenzie King purchased the estate in the early 1900s, the site was a former farm field dominated by open space. During the 1930s, he arranged for the planting of mostly coniferous trees, as part of a reforestation scheme by the Quebec government. Today, Parks Canada today strives to preserve the Kingsmere Estate in the era of the late former prime minister, as workers continually plant new conifers to replace the dying arboreal remnants of Mackenzie King’s time.
The most well-known aspect of the Kingsmere Estate may be the various relics found on the site. Our tour guide historicized these objects, as he told us how many landscape architects used relics to create picturesque landscapes - places of charming and quaint scenery. One relic, “Arc de Triomphe,” uses discarded materials from the British North America Bank Note Company’s head office in Ottawa. The relic is a fascinating illustration of the views of Mackenzie King concerning the relationships between humans, history, and nature. The arch divides a coniferous forest from landscaped gardens. One side of the arch embraces classical themes and faces the estate’s Moorside cottage and manicured lawn. This side presents a picture of “improved” nature: a space in which humans and nature coexist in an orderly fashion. The other side of the relic, in contrast, uses medieval masonry techniques and faces what Mackenzie King perceived as a primeval forest, with all its symbolism of untamed wilderness.
Kingsmere Estate is a fascinating space of not only public history but also amateur landscape architecture from the first half of the twentieth century. While Mackenzie King was certainly more affluent and possessed resources greater than most ordinary Canadians, the site exhibits popular trends in landscape design during the first half of the twentieth century, notably its use of relics.
Photos by Sean Kheraj
Visit the Mackenzie King Estate Website
