Description of Historic Place

Kingswood Cottage is a one-storey, rustic cottage with a hipped and gable-roofed profile, overlooking the lake at its treed site at Kingswood at the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park. It is a wood-frame building clad in horizontal wood siding. A gabled portico entrance to the building is decorated with a wooden trellis and an enclosed verandah runs across the lakeside façade. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

Kingswood Cottage is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
Kingswood Cottage is associated with Canada’s 10th Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. The building provides insight into the personality of a major Canadian political figure. The first cottage at Kingswood, built by King in 1903, with an addition in 1916, illustrates his interest in the development and design of the estate. The large estate, inclusive of three separate sites, Kingswood, Moorside and the Farm, were regarded by King himself as his true legacy to the Canadian people.

Architectural Value
Kingswood Cottage is valued for its good aesthetic and functional design. It is an example of the typical summer residences of the early 20th century, characterized by their rustic simplicity. Originally suited to a bachelor’s needs, the addition in 1916 provided three additional bedrooms and extended the front verandah. The building, site and setting reveal King’s developing taste for landscape design rooted in the informal British landscape tradition with serpentine driveways and low, stone walls.

Environmental Value
Kingswood Cottage reinforces the picturesque character of its country estate setting in Gatineau Park and is a familiar building within the immediate area.

Sources: Marc de Caraffe, La domaine Mackenzie King, Kingsmere, Parc de la Gatineau, Quebec, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, Building Report, 84-015; Mackenzie King Estate: Kingswood, Gatineau Park, Québec, Heritage Character Statement, 84-015.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of Kingswood Cottage should be respected.

Its good aesthetic and functional design, and good craftsmanship and materials, for example:
- the one-storey massing with a hipped and gable roof profile;
- the wood construction clad in horizontal wood siding;
- the open and enclosed verandahs;
- the gabled entrance portico decorated with wood trellis;
- the window treatment and arrangement;
- the interior layout.

The manner in which Kingswood Cottage reinforces the present picturesque character of its country estate setting and is familiar in the area, as evidenced by:
- its overall scale, design and materials, which harmonize with its landscaped and natural surroundings and complement the adjacent buildings at the estate;
- its familiarity in the immediate area due to its associations with a former Prime Minister of Canada;
- its visibility to visitors due to its location in Gatineau Park at Mackenzie King Estate.