Discover Ontario's history as told through its plaques
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Macdonell House
Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2009
Photo from Google Street View ©2011 Google - Posted January, 2015
Plaque Location
The United Counties of Prescott and Russell
The Township of East Hawkesbury
In Pointe-Fortune, at 25 Des Outaouais Road on the north side
east of La Grande Montee Road
Coordinates: N 45 33.807 W 74 22.993 |
Plaque Text
Constructed in 1817-1819 by Montreal craftsmen for John Macdonell and his Métis wife Magdeleine Poitras, this house was one of the finest of several built in the area by retired North West Company fur trading partners. An elegant local adaptation of the Palladian style, it was situated in an extensive working estate with easy access to the river and Macdonell's forwarding business. The family called it Poplar Villa. Its impressive stone exterior and exquisitely detailed interior proclaimed Macdonell's position as a major business and political figure along the Ottawa River.
Related Ontario plaque
The North West Company
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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.
Posted January 22, 2015
While the plaque calls this the Macdonell House, it's also known as the Macdonell-Williamson House. The added name recognizes that four generations of the Williamsons lived here, from 1882 until the 1960s, when it was expropriated for a Quebec Hydro project nearby.
The house is only a couple hundred steps from the Quebec border, and sits on the Ottawa River, directly opposite two national historic sites in the national park system: Carillon Canal and Carillon Barracks, both in Quebec.
The house is featured on the cover and throughout the December 2014 issue of Heritage Matters, from the Ontario Heritage Trust, which has owned the property since 1978. -Wayne
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