Parkwood Estate

The Parkwood Estate, located in Oshawa, Ontario (Canada) was the home of Samuel McLaughlin (founder of General Motors of Canada) and was home to the McLaughlins from 1917 until 1972. Construction began in 1916 by the Toronto architectural firm of Darling and Pearson. In 1989, the 'Parkwood Estate' was officially designated a National Historic Site and tours are now given year-round.

The House

Parkwood was built for a cost of $100,000 and at the time was the most expensive house built in Canada. With 55 rooms it is also one of the largest. It took a staff of 40 to run the mansion including a secretary for Adelaide, three chauffeurs, a butler, cooks, maids and as many as twenty gardeners. Parkwood is an L shaped mansion based on the Georgian style. Parkwood is noted for having some very interesting features. It had the first private bowling alley in Canada and the first heated indoor pool.

Interior

When visitors in the McLaughlin's time entered they would be greeted in the front hall. Guest would see a two story cantilevered stair case and a rare aeolian pipe organ (one was on the Titanic). The Drawing Room was the most formal room of the house with wood paneling from France. This room has some furniture from Casa Loma and an Eaton's $10,000 piano sent to Hamburg Germany to be painted. Next to the drawing room is the Loggia and Sunroom. The Loggia was originally a glassed in porch until the 1930s when Sam decided to add the Sun room to help unemployed workers during the depression. On the celling there is a painted design with 22 birds. 22 represents Sam favorite number taking the month and date Sam and his wife Adelaide's marriage in 1898.

The hall the is beside the front hall has hand painted murals called "The Enchanted Wood" by Canadian artist Frederick Challener. In the mural there is an angel looking over some of the McLaughlin grandchildren with Sam's daughter Hilda (one of 5 daughters) reading to them.

The Library sits next to the hall. Through out the house there are a total of 10,000 books since both Adelaide and Sam were big readers. The Dining Room is a formal room with paintings of the family done by British artist Salisbury who also painted portraits of the royal family. The room has a copy of "After The Bath" done by Paul Peel. The original is now at the Art Gallery of Ontario donated after Sam's death in 1972.

The Breakfast Room is considered by many to be the "nicest" room in the house. This room has a handpainted celling in pastel shades. Upstairs in bedrooms for the family, guest and an Art Gallery which served at the daughters playroom until Sam needed space to hang his Group of Seven painting which are now at the McMichael Gallery in Klinburg.

There are two guest rooms one for important guest and one for more middle class visitors. reasons for knowing this are, the Green Room (for important guest) has a fireplace, covered radiators and a small closet. Closets were small because important guest would have staff to keep all their belongings in the room with them. The Blue Room (middle class visiters) does not have these features.

Downstairs on the other side of the house there is a Billiard Room with a billiard table that is 10,000 pounds and hasn't been moved since it has been installed. The room has handpainted murals showcasing the McLaughlin's activities.

The bowling alley, the pool and squash court. Off the bowling ally sits greenhouses a total of 11 in the McLaughlin's day used to host an annual Chrysanthemum Tea that started in the 1950s. There are numerous "hidden" passages and stairwells built seamlessly into the walls, these were mainly used by servants to circumvent longer passages which forced them to use the main stairs.

Gardens

The gardens of Parkwood feature 4 areas. The South Lawn, the formal garden, the service area, and the residential area. The formal garden done in the Art Deco style was designed by architect John Lyle. Built between 1935-1936 it has a small pool with two goose statues dropping water in and the other a large pool with gardens around. It is the best example of the art deco style in Canada. The Italian Garden off the Library has statues and benches that were importated from Italy. The garden used to feature a grass tennis court, but it is no longer kept for unknown reasons. The area is still grass but the next and lines have been removed.

Parkwood Today

After McLaughlin's death in 1972 the mansion was donated to the City of Oshawa and was declared a National Historic Site in 1989. Tours are available as well as lunch in the summer months by the formal garden and tea is served in the greenhouse during the winter. Parkwood Estate is used frequently for special events as well as motion picture and television show productions. The mansion and grounds can be seen in Chicago, Billy Madison, X-Men, Undercover Brother, Fever Pitch, Relic Hunter, Cow Belles, Monk, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, Queer as Folk, and Charlie Bartlett.

The Parkwood Mansion was also the set for the music video for "Smile In Your Sleep" by the band Silverstein and "It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken" by the Tragically Hip.

Parkwood is a common destination for wedding party photographs and it is not unusual to see 4 or 5 groups using different parts of the grounds at the same time. General Motors holds a golf tournament at the 101 year old Oshawa Golf Club yearly and at the completion of the tournament the host staff have set the Estate for dinner and drinks for many high ranking members of the company and honoured guests.

External links

* [http://www.parkwoodestate.com/ Official Site]
* [http://pc.gc.ca/apps/lhn-nhs/index_e.asp Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada]