At first glance this residence may escape notice due to the prominence of the buildings that surround it. Robarts Library and the School of Graduate Studies draw your eye to the north and Knox College lies to the south. Constructed in 1872 by the owner and iron founder Nathaniel Dickey, the design of this residence hybridizes elements of Italianate and Second Empire styles. Due to its south-facing entrance, it presents a somewhat blank face to St George Street despite the projecting eaves and articulated keystones that grace its west elevation. The history of the Macdonald-Mowat House is what really sets it apart, as an Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque explains:

Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, purchased this house in 1876 and lived here [from] 1876–78 … Macdonald owned the property until 1886 and it was occupied by his son, Hugh John, [from] 1879–82. The Hon. Oliver Mowat, prime minister of Ontario, bought and occupied the house in 1888 and retained ownership until 1902. The property was leased [between], 1897–98, to the Hon. Arthur Sturgis Hardy who succeeded Mowat as prime minister, and sold to Knox College in 1910.

Nancy Byrtus

Plaque text courtesy of the Ontario Heritage Foundation