Fulford Place facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fulford Place |
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| Location | 287 King Street East Brockville, Ontario |
| Built | 1899–1901 |
| Built for | George Taylor Fulford |
| Original use | Private residence |
| Current use | Historic house museum |
| Architect | Albert W. Fuller (house) Olmsted Brothers (garden) |
| Governing body | Ontario Heritage Trust |
| Website | Fulford Place webpage |
| Designated | 1992 |
Fulford Place is a grand old house in Brockville, Ontario. It was finished in 1901 for George Taylor Fulford, who was a Canadian businessman and also a politician called a Senator. Today, this amazing home is a historic house museum. It shows what life was like during the Edwardian era (the early 1900s). The Ontario Heritage Trust takes care of it. In 1992, Fulford Place was named a National Historic Site of Canada, which means it's a very important place in Canadian history.
Contents
The History of Fulford Place
Building a Grand Home
George Taylor Fulford became very wealthy after buying the rights to sell a popular medicine called "Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People" in 1890. With his fortune, the Fulford family decided to build a magnificent mansion in Brockville. This town is on the shore of the St. Lawrence River, where many other successful business people had their beautiful estates.
In 1898, the Fulfords hired an architect named Albert W. Fuller from Albany, New York. He designed Fulford Place in a fancy style called Beaux-Arts style. The house was built between 1899 and 1901. It has an impressive 35 rooms and covers about 20,000 square feet!
A Place for Important Guests
Since George Fulford was a very important person in both business and politics, Fulford Place was often used for entertaining guests. The house has a huge main hall and a dining room big enough for over thirty people. There's also a large veranda (a covered porch) and a fancy rococo-style drawing room for the ladies. For the gentlemen, there was a Moorish-style smoking room next to a billiard room.
The Beautiful Gardens
The outdoor areas at Fulford Place were designed by the famous Olmsted Brothers. They were well-known landscape architects. The formal Italianate garden has been carefully restored. It's a special and rare example of a private garden designed by the Olmsted Brothers.
Changes Over Time
Over the years, the property became smaller. George Taylor Fulford II, George's son, had to sell some of the land to help pay for the house's upkeep. He lived at Fulford Place until he passed away. Then, he left the house to the Ontario Heritage Foundation, which is now the Ontario Heritage Trust. Later, his wife and his son, George Taylor Fulford III, donated all the original furniture and items inside the house.
The Fulford Family Story
George Taylor Fulford was born in Brockville in 1852. He went to business school in Belleville, where he met Mary Wilder White. Mary was from Wisconsin, and she and George wrote letters to each other for ten years before they got married in 1880.
They had three children: Dorothy Marston Fulford (born 1881), Martha Harris Fulford (born 1883), and George Taylor Fulford II (born 1902). In 1900, the Prime Minister, Sir Wilfried Laurier, chose George Fulford to be a Senator. This meant George was both a successful businessman and a politician.
Sadly, in 1905, George Fulford died in a car accident while on a business trip. He was the first Canadian to die in a car accident. His daughter Dorothy married Arthur Charles Hardy in 1904. Martha married twice before she passed away in 1910. Mary Fulford lived at Fulford Place with her son George II until she died in 1946. George Fulford II and his wife, Josephine Weller, lived at Fulford Place with their three children: Martha, Dwight, and George III.
Fulford Place as a Museum
Restoring the Mansion
The Ontario Heritage Trust did a lot of work to restore Fulford Place. They opened it to the public as a historic house museum in 1993. The goal was to make it look exactly as it did during the Edwardian era. This was possible because they had old photographs of the rooms (taken for insurance) and many original items.
Treasures Inside
Among the original items you can see are a special butterfly-shaped Steinway piano, which George Fulford gave to his wife Mary. There's also a beautiful Tiffany Dragon Fly Lamp. This grand and richly decorated mansion is now a National Historic Site of Canada. It's a very popular place for tourists to visit in the Brockville area.
Museum Connections
The Fulford Place Museum is connected with other important organizations. These include the CMA, the CHIN, and the Virtual Museum of Canada.
Fulford Place in Movies
Fulford Place has even been used as a filming location! In 1982, parts of the mansion, including the drawing room, bedrooms, and the outside, were used for a TV movie. This movie was called Little Gloria... Happy at Last and told the true story of Gloria Vanderbilt.
