Home / Accueil

Woodside National Historic Site of Canada

528 Wellington Street North, Kitchener, Ontario, N2H, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1952/05/27

General view of Woodside showing the secluded nature of the house.; Parks Canada/Parcs Canada, 2003.
General view
General view of Woodside showing the form and design of the house.; Parks Canada/Parcs Canada, 2003.
General view
Exterior view of Woodside National Historic Site of Canada, showing the form and design of the house, as reconstructed as a replica of the original King home, 1984.; Parks Canada Agency/Agence Parcs Canada, 1984.
General view

Other Name(s)

Woodside National Historic Site of Canada
Woodside
Woodside

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1853/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2009/06/19

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

Woodside National Historic Site of Canada is a picturesque, wooded estate, set in the midst of a modern suburb in the north-east part of the city of Kitchener. It includes a one-and-a-half-storey house, reconstructed in 1942 as a mid-19th-century house and furnished in the style of the 1890s. The property also includes pathways and natural landscape features. These serve to recreate the sense of place experienced by William Lyon Mackenzie King when he lived here as an adolescent with his family. The formal recognition consists of the 4.5 hectare area occupied by the King family between 1886 and 1893.

Heritage Value

Woodside was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1952 because:
- of its association with William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada’s tenth Prime Minister, whose home it was during his formative years of 1886-1893.

William Lyon Mackenzie King was Prime Minister of Canada from 1921 to 1930 and from 1935 to 1948. Woodside was rented by Mackenzie King’s father, and was occupied by the King family between 1886 and 1893. Mackenzie King spent eight years of his adolescence here, and according to King, Woodside was where the values and beliefs he held throughout his life were formed. Whenever he spoke or wrote of the ideal family life in later years, it was always Woodside to which he referred. When the original 1853 house was dismantled and reconstructed in the 1940s, Mackenzie King and his sister gave advice as to the appropriate design and contents.

Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, May 1952.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements which relate to the heritage value of Woodside are:
- the picturesque character of the wooded grounds and the secluded nature of the dwelling within the grounds;
- the surviving landscape elements dating to the period 1886-93, notably the tulip tree near the lily pond, woodlands areas, and sections of the original entrance laneway;
- the surviving archaeological elements dating to the period 1886-93, notably the artifacts from the excavated privy, and the privy itself;
- the form and design of the house, as reconstructed as a replica of the original King home;
- the surviving original materials from the 1853 house occupied by the King family, which were incorporated into the reconstruction;
- the surviving object collection from the 1853 house occupied by the King family.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Federal

Recognition Authority

Government of Canada

Recognition Statute

Historic Sites and Monuments Act

Recognition Type

National Historic Site of Canada

Recognition Date

1952/05/27

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

1886/01/01 to 1893/01/01
1942/01/01 to 1942/01/01

Theme - Category and Type

Governing Canada
Politics and Political Processes

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Museum

Historic

Residence
Estate

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

National Historic Sites Directorate, Documentation Centre, 5th Floor, Room 89, 25 Eddy Street, Gatineau, Quebec

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

410

Status

Published

Related Places

Façade

House

The House, part of the Woodside National Historic Site of Canada, is set in wooded, park-like grounds within the town of Kitchener. The structure’s appearance is based on a Gothic…

SEARCH THE CANADIAN REGISTER

Advanced SearchAdvanced Search
Find Nearby PlacesFIND NEARBY PLACES PrintPRINT
Nearby Places