Rideau Hall

Floor plan of the original McKay villa superimposed over the present day footprint of Rideau Hall. The building was significantly expanded after its acquisition by the Crown.

The site of Rideau Hall and the original structure were chosen and built by stonemason Thomas McKay,[13] who immigrated from Perth, Scotland, to Montreal, Lower Canada, in 1817 and later became the main contractor involved in the construction of the Rideau Canal. Following the completion of the canal, McKay built mills at Rideau Falls, making him the founder of New Edinburgh, the original settlement of Ottawa. With his newly acquired wealth, McKay purchased the 100 acre[16] site overlooking both the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers and built a stone villa where he and his family lived until 1855 and which became the root of the present day Rideau Hall.[17] Locals referred to the structure as McKay's Castle.[16]

Even before the building became a royal residence, the hall received noted visitors, including three Governors General of the Province of Canada: the Lord Sydenham, the Earl of Elgin, and Sir Edmund Head. It was said that the watercolours of Barrack Hill (now Parliament Hill) painted by the latter governor's wife, Lady Head, while she was visiting Rideau Hall, had influenced Queen Victoria to choose Bytown (now Ottawa) as the national capital. Also, on 2 September 1860, the day after he laid the cornerstone of the parliament buildings, Prince Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), drove through the grounds of Rideau Hall as part of his tour of the region.[18]

After Bytown was chosen as the capital of the Province of Canada, a design competition was launched in 1859 for a new parliamentary campus. The Centre Block, departmental buildings, and a residence for the governor general were each awarded separately. The winning scheme for Government House was a Second Empire design by Toronto architects Cumberland & Storm. However, it was never built, owing to cost overruns on the construction of the parliament buildings.[19]

Depiction of a tobogganing party held at Rideau Hall, circa 1875

In 1864, Rideau Hall was leased by the Crown from the McKay family for $4,000 per year and was intended to serve only as a temporary home for the viceroy until a proper government house could be constructed. The next year, Frederick Preston Rubidge oversaw the refinishing of the original villa and designed additions to accommodate the new functions.[20][21] It was enlarged to three or four times the original size, mostly by way of a new 49-room wing,[20] and, once complete, the first Governor General of Canada, the Viscount Monck, took residence. These additions were opposed by George Brown,[22] who claimed that "the governor general's residence is a miserable little house, and the grounds those of an ambitious country squire." Prime Minister John A. Macdonald agreed, complaining that more had been spent on patching up Rideau Hall than could have been used to construct a new royal palace. Nonetheless, the gatehouse was enhanced by Rubidge and the entire property purchased outright in 1868 for the sum of $82,000.[21][23]

Thereafter, the house became the social centre of Ottawa—even Canada—hosting foreign visitors (the first being Grand Duke Alexis, son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia), investitures, swearing-in ceremonies, balls, dinners, garden parties, children's parties, and theatrical productions in the ballroom (initiated by the Earl and Countess of Dufferin), in which members of the household and viceregal family would participate.[16][17] Probably the largest event held in the ballroom was a fancy dress ball hosted by the Dufferins on the evening of 23 February 1876, which approximately 1,500 guests attended.[24][25]

Rideau Hall from the southeast in 1884

Still, despite the popularity of the events that took place in the building, negative first impressions of Rideau Hall itself were a theme until the early part of the 20th century. Upon arrival there in 1872, the Countess of Dufferin said in her journal: "We have been so very enthusiastic about everything hitherto that the first sight of Rideau Hall did lower our spirits just a little!"[26] In 1893, Lady Stanley, wife of Governor General the Lord Stanley of Preston, said "you will find the furniture in the rooms very old-fashioned & not very pretty... The red drawing room... had no furniture except chairs & tables... The walls are absolutely bare... The room which has always been the wife of the G.G.'s sitting room is very empty... There are no lamps in the house at all. No cushions, no table cloths, in fact none of the small things that make a room pretty & comfortable."[27] Echoing these earlier comments, the Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair said upon her departure from Ottawa that Rideau Hall was a "shabby old Government House put away amongst its clump of bushes..."[28]

Various improvements were undertaken over the decades, seeing the first gas chandeliers and a telegraph wire put in, as well as the construction of the ballroom in the same year. By the time Rideau Hall was to live up to its role as a royal home, when its first royal residents—the Marquess of Lorne and his wife, Princess Louise[29]—moved in at the beginning of 1878, many upgrades had been completed. Lorne stated of the hall: "Here we are settling down in this big and comfortable House [sic], which I tell Louise is much superior to Kensington, for the walls are thick, the rooms are lathed and plastered (which they are not at Kensington) and there is an abundant supply of heat and light."[30] The princess was not long in Rideau Hall before Fenians posed themselves as a threat to her life and she was ushered back to the UK for both rest and protection. When she returned in 1880, with the Queen greatly concerned for her daughter's safety, it was felt necessary to post extra guards around the grounds of the hall.[31]

Thereafter, members of the royal family would stay periodically at Rideau Hall, if not as governor general then as guests of the Crown, so that the palace played host to Prince Leopold (later also Duke of Albany) in 1880; Prince George (later King George V) in 1882, 1901, and 1908; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught,[32] and Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught (later also the Duke and Duchess of Strathearn), in 1890 and as the viceregal couple from 1906 to 1912; Princess Louise in 1900; Princess Patricia with her parents from 1906 to 1912; Prince Albert (later King George VI) in 1910 and 1913; Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), in 1919, 1923, 1924, and 1927; Prince George (later also Duke of Kent) in 1926 and 1927; and Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, in 1929.

A member of the royal family, Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, lost his life on the grounds of Rideau hall. Theo Aronson, in his 1981 biography of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, simply stated that the Duke "was found dead on the floor of his room at Rideau Hall on the morning of 26 April 1943. He had died, apparently, from hypothermia."[33] The diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles, King George VI's private secretary, published in 2006, recorded that both the regiment and Athlone had rejected him as incompetent,[34] and he fell out of a window when drunk and perished of hypothermia overnight.

Left to right: Queen Elizabeth, King George VI, Governor General the Lord Tweedsmuir and Lady Tweedsmuir at Rideau Hall on 20 May 1939

When King George VI and his consort, Queen Elizabeth, arrived at Rideau Hall on 19 May 1939,[35] during their first royal tour of Canada, official royal tour historian Gustave Lanctot stated: "When Their Majesties walked into their Canadian residence, the Statute of Westminster had assumed full reality: the King of Canada had come home."[36] The King, while there, became the first monarch of Canada to personally receive the credentials of an ambassador, that being Daniel Calhoun Roper as the representative of the United States.[37] It was thought for a time, after the outbreak of the Second World War, that the King, Queen, and their two daughters—Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret—would move permanently to Canada for the duration of the conflict in Europe; though, Hatley Castle, in Colwood, British Columbia, was purchased by the King in Right of Canada for this purpose, instead of using Rideau Hall.[38] However, it was decided that the royal family leaving the United Kingdom at a time of war would be a major blow to morale and they remained in Britain.

During the war, the palace became the home in exile of a number of royals displaced by the invasions of their respective countries back in Europe.[39] Among the royal guests were Crown Prince Olav (later King Olav V) and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway, Grand Duchess Charlotte and Prince Felix of Luxembourg, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, King George II of Greece, Empress Zita of Austria and her daughters, as well as Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, her daughter, Princess Juliana (later Queen Juliana), and granddaughters, Princesses Beatrix (later Queen Beatrix), Irene and Margriet. Though the resident governor general's wife, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, could do little to add her personal touch to Rideau Hall, due to rationing and scarce supplies, she put many of the other royal ladies to work making clothing for those who had lost their homes in the Blitz.[39] It was then in 1940 that the governor general's office in the East Block of Parliament Hill was closed and moved to Rideau Hall.[40] In December 1941, Winston Churchill arrived at the hall, where he presided over British Cabinet meetings via telephone from his bed.[41]

At the end of the global war, the first peacetime ball at Rideau Hall was held for President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower, after which life within the household returned to normal. The transition from war to peace was marked by the appointment as governor general of the Viscount Alexander, whose son, Brian, reportedly used the portraits of former governors general throughout the hall as targets for his water pistol.[42] During Alexander's tenure, Government House's first post-war Canadian royal visitors were the heiress presumptive to the throne, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (later Queen Elizabeth II), and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who came in late 1951 and, amongst other activities, took part in a square dance in the ballroom (replete with checked shirts). Churchill, once again Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, returned to Rideau Hall in January of the next year, where, sprawled on a sofa with a cigar in one hand and a brandy in the other, he persuaded Alexander to join the British Cabinet.[43]

In the State Dining Room, Queen Elizabeth II (seated, centre) presides over a meeting of the Privy Council, including Prince Philiip (to her left) and Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (at her right)

With the death of the King only a month following Churchill's 1952 visit, the front of Rideau Hall was covered with black bunting as a sign of mourning. As one of his last acts as king of Canada, George VI appointed Vincent Massey as not only the first Canadian-born viceregal resident of his Canadian home, but also the first who was single, with Massey having been widowed two years prior to his installation; his daughter-in-law, Lilias, thus acted as Chatelaine of Rideau Hall. Massey spoke of Rideau Hall as "a piece of architecture that might be regarded as possessing a certain lovable eccentricity," in spite of "some of the most regrettable pieces of furniture I have ever seen."[44]

The number of formal occasions at Rideau Hall increased through the 1950s and 1960s, as Canada's diplomatic corps increased and the country gained greater international standing; visitors during Massey's tenure included Queen Juliana, President Eisenhower, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the presidents of Germany, Italy, and Indonesia. With the greater ease of travel, more members of Canada's royal family visited as well, including the Queen Mother; Princess Mary, Princess Royal; Katharine, Duchess of Kent; Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; and, in 1957, Elizabeth was again in residence, though for the first time as queen.[45] The Queen also stayed in her Ottawa government house and held audience with an influx of 53 foreign heads of state and government during Expo 67, held in Montreal, and Canada's centennial celebrations.

Darker days fell on Rideau Hall during the October Crisis of 1970, when, under threat from the Front de libération du Québec, who had planted bombs and conducted kidnappings in Quebec, the palace was heavily guarded for a number of weeks.[46] The relatively free access to the grounds, which had been traditionally allowed since 1921 and enjoyed by tourists and local neighbours alike, ceased during Jeanne Sauvé's time as governor general; access was requested only through invitation, appointment, or pre-arranged tours on certain days. The decision to do so was based on concerns expressed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the National Capital Commission for the security of the vicereine and brought Rideau Hall in line with other official residences, including 24 Sussex Drive and Buckingham Palace, that did not allow public access. However, Sauvé was reported to have also been personally concerned for her safety, saying: "I'm worried about those crazy men out there."

Governor General Jeanne Sauvé hosting a garden party outside Rideau Hall in 1985

This caused controversy not only because Sauvé had contradicted her earlier statement about Rideau Hall, wherein she said: "oh yes, definitely, it has to be open," but also because it denied Ottawa residents the use of the grounds. One group formed under the name Canada Unlock the Gate Group and asserted the closure was more due to Sauvé's selfish desire for privacy than any real security risks; The Globe and Mail reported in 1986 that the group planned to boycott the Governor General's annual garden party because of what they called her "bunker mentality". Sauvé's successor, Ray Hnatyshyn, reopened Government House and its gardens to the public.[47] Sauvé also entertained a plan suggested by management consultants Price Waterhouse to move from Rideau Hall into Rideau Cottage, both for privacy and cost savings.[48]

Julie Payette did not take up residence in Rideau Hall during her tenure since, at the time of her appointment in October 2017, renovations that are part of a long-term plan toward 2067 were underway. In particular, the private apartments of the palace were being altered to provide a "sense of privacy and intimacy". Payette instead moved into 7 Rideau Gate, the residence, immediately outside the main entrance to the Rideau Hall grounds, normally reserved for dignitaries on official visits to Canada. Though the alterations to the viceregal family suite were complete by March 2018, further renovations to improve accessibility began immediately after. There was an intent for Payette to move to Rideau Hall in the summer of 2019, but she spent the summer at the Citadelle of Quebec.[49]

The grounds were again closed through much of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that period, on 2 July, a man from Bowsman, Manitoba, drove his truck through Thomas Gate, a pedestrian entrance in the fence surrounding the park. He continued in his vehicle approximately 120 metres along the path beyond before proceeding further on foot, hiding in the rose garden for a few minutes and then moving on towards the greenhouses behind Rideau Hall itself. Groundskeepers noticed the intruder and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were eventually called. The man, who the police noted was armed, was arrested without incident. Neither the Governor General nor the Prime Minister, who is using Rideau Cottage as a temporary residence while 24 Sussex Drive is under renovation, were on the Rideau Hall property at the time.[50][51] According to a preliminary investigation by the RCMP, the man intended to have the prime minister "arrested" for recent policy decisions.[52]

The Edwardian-style entrance hall inside the Mappin Wing is partly clad in marble; the door across from the top of the stair enters into the Reception Room

The sole remaining part of the original McKay villa is the reception room on the ground floor and the royal suite directly above. The former was created in 1913 by removing the interior partitions of the villa; the baseboards, mouldings, and trims date from that era.[63] It is where small ceremonies and presentations take place, while the latter is an oval room that was previously the drawing room of the original McKay villa and was subsequently used as a ballroom, a studio, and a study before becoming the monarch's bedroom.[73] Some signs of the McKay house are still visible, notably in the now blanked window on the north wall of the reception room and the ornate plaster ceiling in the royal suite.

Directly west of these rooms is the Edwardian Mappin Wing, which contains the entrance hall. Its walls are partly panelled, partly clad in marble; the lower floor covered in mosaic tile and the upper with wood. The two levels are connected by a wide, white marble, central stair; to each side, at the upper landing, are marble guards with ornate, Neoclassical balustrades. Across from the top of the stair is a door (to the reception room) flanked with wood panels documenting the names and escutcheons of each of the governors general for New France, British North America, and Canada.[78] On the opposite wall, to the left of the entrance, is the Royal Window—a stained glass piece commemorating the 40th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne, displaying, between the Queen's Canadian royal standard above and the Great Seal of Canada below, the monarch's coat of arms for Canada surrounded by the shields of each of the provincial coats of arms. Additionally, in the top two corners are images of Elizabeth's royal cypher, balancing out representations of the Sovereign's badges for both the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit in the bottom two corners. Another stained glass window is found to the right of the entrance, marking the first appointment of a Canadian-born governor general; the viceregal position is symbolised by a crowned lion holding a maple leaf and surrounded by the shields of the arms of the first seven persons to hold the post.[79] In 2012, bronze and glass handrails, funded by a private donation from Rouge Herald Extraordinary Roger Alexander Lindsay,[80] were added to each side of the stair in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.[81]

Ballroom

Tent room

State and formal events are typically held in either the tent room, or the ballroom, both located in the Mappin Wing

Book-ending the Mappin Wing are the Tent Room—used for slightly less formal gatherings—and the ballroom—the centre of state life at Rideau Hall. It is in the latter space that honours and awards ceremonies take place, members of the Cabinet are sworn in, ambassadors present their diplomatic credentials, and large-scale state dinners are held; as such, it is the second most photographed and televised room in Canada, preceded only by the House of Commons.[16] A double-height space, it is lined with tall, arched windows between rectangular pilasters that are topped with gilt, acanthused capitals. Cable moulding trim surrounds most of the openings and, around the perimeter of the room, at the intersection of walls and ceiling, is a deep and ornate plaster crown moulding formed by a godroon textured frieze and a heavy dentiled bed-mould between layers of talon and gorge mouldings. Above this is the Victorian, lacunar, clear span vaulted ceiling, from the centre of which hangs a Waterford Crystal chandelier, presented by the British government on Victoria Day in 1951 as a token of gratitude for Canada's role in World War II. Also, in an alcove to the south of the ballroom's main door is a stained glass window that celebrates the excellence of Canadian performing artists and the establishment of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.[82]

The present decor in the ballroom—powder blue walls with beige marbleised pilasters, cream trim, and shades of peach, cream, and Old Gold on the ceiling, all with gilt highlights—was implemented by Adrienne Clarkson when she served as the Queen's representative between 1999 and 2005. By stripping away a more monochrome palette that had been applied to the room in the 1970s, this restored the ballroom to a scheme closer to the original that was in place when the room was first completed in 1872.[83]

The appearance of the Tent Room is drawn from the original use of striped fabric draped on the walls and hung in swaths from the ceiling in order to temporarily transform what was normally the tennis court into a dining hall.[17] The room today has a wall covering of vertically striped red and gold fabric with a padded backing, which rises to meet the same fabric hung in a swag fashion outwards from a single coffer in the centre of the ceiling and trimmed around the perimeter of the room with a scallop edged valence of simple passementerie and tassels. This gives the space an overall resemblance to the interior of a large tent. The west wall of the room is broken by series of windows, each paired with a double door into the Long Gallery on the opposite wall, and between them a continuous frame and panel wainscoting. All this woodwork, including the door frames and other trim, is painted in a gloss white to contrast with the textured and patterned wall fabric.

The Pauline Vanier Room contains furniture and other cabinetry works crafted by Canadians

Within the Monck Wing, built between 1865 and 1866, are other living quarters and drawing and dining rooms generally for non-state affairs, such as the Pauline Vanier Room, a small sitting room where informal meetings are held with visiting heads of state and other officials. The room was originally created in the 1960s by Pauline Vanier out of an old aide-de-camp smoking room, giving the space pine panelling and filling it with antique furnishings from Quebec.[84] However, it was later again refurbished to remove the tongue and groove planks Vanier had installed and which were said to be reminiscent of suburban basement panelling popular in the 1970s. The Pauline Vanier Room today contains furniture and other cabinetry works by Canadian artisans,[85] as well as works by Canadian artists such as Kenojuak Ashevak, Emily Carr, and Norval Morrisseau.[68]

For more formal gatherings both before and after state events, as well as for entertaining visiting heads of state and their party, the Large Drawing Room, on the south side of the Monck Wing, is used. Previously called the Red Salon, the space underwent thorough renovations in 1901, updating it to the Edwardian style that was popular at the time, giving it boiserie panelling formed from plaster mouldings, a layered crown moulding, as well as windows and doors with chambranled montants, the latter openings also equipped with moulded, classical overdoors. On the walls of the drawing room are hung portraits depicting the viceregal consorts of previous governors general.[86] Directly across the hall from the Large Drawing Room is the State Dining Room, which is reserved for state dinners for visiting heads of state with smaller parties, with the table seating a maximum of 42 guests. in 1909, the dining room too was renovated to a similar Edwardian look, but its present day layout did not emerge until the late 1940s, after various subsequent renovations.[87] The sterling silver sets on display in this room are on loan from Buckingham Palace.[6]

Governor General Adrienne Clarkson (right) with Russian president Vladimir Putin (left) in the governor general's study, 2000

The governor general's study sits at the far east end of the Monck Wing's ground floor, next to another study allocated for the viceroy's consort. The former is panelled in carved wood that was installed when the room was constructed in 1906, with the names of each governor general applied in succession around the room,[16] below the dado rail and a rendition of the sovereign's arms for the United Kingdom as a focal piece above the fireplace (reflecting the era in which the room was fitted). When the prime minister arrives for an audience with the governor in the latter's study, he or she uses the dedicated Prime Minister's Entrance, which is situated on the north side of the Monck addition, and opens into the easternmost of the wing's two staircases, from which it is only a short walk to the viceroy's office. Across from the study, the library contains a complete collection of Governor General's Literary Award winning works.[n 1][16] This room began as a bedroom for Lady Monck, later becoming the governor general's office, a boudoir, the military secretary's office, a smoking room, a flower room, and a card room, before being assigned its current role in 1952.[88]

Further, the Monck Wing houses another, smaller drawing room and a billiard room. The viceregal suite, consisting of a study/living room, a large bedroom, and a kitchenette,[89] is at the far west end of the upper floor. Also on the second level is the royal suite (the bedroom being the former parlour of the McKay villa) and the other guest bedrooms, each being named for a former British governor. The descendants of these men were approached in the 1990s with a request for donations of historical memorabilia, to which, amongst others, the Devonshires—relations of the ninth Duke of Devonshire—responded with a Regency mirror that had been used at Chatsworth House.[6] On that floor is also a chapel, installed during the Michener period, and which was made ecumenical and opened on 2 July 1967, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, for both Anglican and Roman Catholic services.[90]

A copy of a portrait of Queen Victoria by George Hayter hangs in the Tent Room

Originally, most of the art in Rideau Hall was the personal property of the incumbent governor general and, as with much of the furnishings, was removed upon the end of the viceroy's commission. Starting in the 20th century, however, more and more pieces were added to the dedicated Crown Collection for Government House, either through gifts or purchases;[91] for instance, in 1946, Sir James Dunn presented the Crown with two paintings by Johann Zoffany. Today the collection of furnishing, art, and artifacts at Rideau Hall is composed of private gifts from the Canada Fund (a foundation created by the government of Canada) and the Friends of Rideau Hall.[92] The pieces, though predominantly Canadian in origin, also represent the Far East, Europe, and other regions,[91] and can be arranged thematically, such as the Asian influenced pieces in the Long Gallery, the portraits of Canadian governors general in the reception room. The Crown Collection works on display are also usually augmented with approximately 100 art pieces and antiques on loan from various museums, galleries, and private collections; this continues a tradition started in the 1930s, when the National Gallery lent pieces to the viceroy at the time, the Earl of Bessborough.[91]

Additionally, since the time of Clarkson's appointment, themed artistic exhibitions have been mounted at Rideau Hall, such as that during the tenure of Michaëlle Jean wherein the show "Body and Land" featured select silkscreen prints from the artist's book The Journals of Susanna Moodie by author Margaret Atwood and artist Charles Pachter. What had been praised during Clarkson's tenure,[89] however, was soon critiqued when it was revealed that into Jean's appointment, Rideau Hall's interpretation and exhibition planner, Fabienne Fusade, was removing from sight the portraits of Canada's past and present sovereigns and other members of the royal family, in order to fulfill Jean's wish to make the royal residence a showcase for Canadian art and give "a strong image of Canada";[n 2][93] the portrait by Jean Paul Lemieux of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh that had for decades dominated the focal wall of the ballroom was shifted to the rear wall,[94] thereby bumping the copy of George Hayter's state portrait of Queen Victoria that had hung there to the Tent Room, where the portraits of Canada's British governors general had been collected together. These moves and removals were criticized by the editorial board of the National Post, as well as other journalists,[n 3] as having "demoted and ghettoized" history in order to "siphon off the great symbolic power of the monarchy, to further [the staff's] particular tastes and agendas," noting that Rideau Hall should not be used "primarily [as] an art gallery."[95]

The Visitor Centre is one of several structures on the property

Other than Rideau Hall itself, there are 27 buildings around the property, including Rideau Cottage (currently serving as a temporary official home for the Prime Minister and his family),[107] offices for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, National Capital Commission, and Public Works and Government Services Canada, the Governor General's Foot Guards' house, the Gasometer or Dome Building (Rideau Hall offices),[108] the visitors' centre, the Farm Building, and stables. Additionally, there are six greenhouses.[109]

Though not on the grounds of Rideau Hall, St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church is located across MacKay Street on property once belonging to the MacKay Villa estate. It is regularly used by governors general and their families and sometimes by the sovereign and other members of the royal family, as well as by viceregal household staff, their families, and members of the Governor General's Foot Guards, for whom the church also serves as a regimental chapel.[110] Also nearby is 7 Rideau Gate, which is a guesthouse for distinguished visitors of the Crown situated just outside and facing onto the forecourt of the main gate of Rideau Hall.[111]