Laurier House National Historic Site

Story

Laurier House is a National Historic Site in Ottawa, Ontario, located at 335 Laurier Avenue East (in the Sandy Hill district). It was formerly the residence of two Canadian prime ministers: Sir Wilfrid Laurier (for whom the house is named) and William Lyon Mackenzie King. The house was built in 1878, but had significant later alterations. It now exhibits elements of the Italianate manner as well as traces of Second Empire style.Laurier lived there from 1897 until his death in 1919. His wife, Zoé Laurier, willed the house to Mackenzie King upon her death in 1921. King then lived there from 1923 until his death in 1950 and he willed the house to the Canadian Crown. The Cabinet then briefly considered designating Laurier House as the permanent official residence of the prime minister. However, the Prime Minister at the time, Louis St. Laurent, opposed designating it as such. Instead, 24 Sussex Drive—a property the Crown had acquired a few years earlier through expropriation—was selected and designated as the prime minister's official residence in 1951.Many distinguished Canadian guests were received at this house, such as King George VI, as well as foreign guests like Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and others.