Lady Meredith House

Lady Meredith House
Lady Meredith House
	Edward Maxwell
National Historic Site of Canada
Official name	H. Vincent Meredith Residence National Historic Site of Canada
Designated	1990

Lady Meredith House, also known as the H. Vincent Meredith Residence, is a historic mansion located at 1110

National Historic Site of Canada on November 16, 1990.^[1]^[2] The house is situated at an altitude of 129 m.^[3]

History

The land on which the house stands was originally part of the estate of

Sir Hugh Allan, on which Ravenscrag

was completed in 1863. Using the same architects as his brother, Andrew Allan built Iononteh, a greystone mansion completed in 1865 that dominated Upper Peel Street, but which has since been demolished.

In 1888, Andrew Allan gave a parcel of his land to his youngest daughter, Isabella Brenda Allan (1867–1959), on the occasion of her marriage to Vincent Meredith, who would become the first Canadian-born president of the Bank of Montreal and in 1916 was created the 1st Baronet of Montreal.^[4] Meredith's brother, Charles, lived in the house immediately to the west of his home and their cousin, Frederick Meredith, lived only a few houses further down from them, also on Pine Avenue.

After their marriage, the Merediths lived on Sherbrooke Street in the house next door to the

Edward Maxwell to build them a house on the land gifted to them by Mrs. Meredith's father on Pine Avenue, at the corner of Upper Peel Street. Their home, which they named Ardvarna, was completed in 1897.^[1]^[5]

In 1941, Lady Meredith gave the house and its land to the Royal Victoria Hospital for use as a nurses residence.^[6] McGill University acquired the house in 1975, although it was shared with the hospital for several years afterward. In 1990, the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics, and Law moved into the residence.^[6] Following an attempted arson on January 7, 1990, the house was thoroughly renovated by architects Gersovitz, Becker, and Moss.^[6]

Architecture

The house is considered to be an example of

climbing vines and a kitchen garden, which have all now been replaced by a car park, as was the wrought iron gate in the style of Georgian Dublin. The two open-air verandas at the rear of the house, that gave uninterrupted views down over Montreal, the St. Lawrence River and onto the Green Mountains of Vermont, were filled in with windows sometime after 1941. In 1987, the house was described by Francois Remillard in his book Mansions of the Golden Square Mile

, Montreal 1850-1930:

This is one of Edward Maxwell's most successful designs. It was constructed in 1894, and designed in

terra cotta

, all red. The brickwork is excellent and in evidence on all four sides of the house. Such elaborate craftsmanship would be well-nigh impossible to replicate in our days.

Lady Meredith Annex

The Coach House, now known as the Lady Meredith Annex, is home to the McGill University's Wellness Office, which offers services to medical students and resident physicians within McGill's Faculty of Medicine.

A portion of this building is rented by the Medical Students Society of McGill University. The space is used to hold club meetings, conferences, courses, as well as other extra-curricular activities.