Draft:Stephen Leacock Museum
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| Stephen Leacock Museum / Old Brewery Bay | |
|---|---|
 The Leacock house at Old Brewery Bay | |
 Interactive map of Stephen Leacock Museum / Old Brewery Bay | |
| 44°36′29.73″N 79°23′38.32″W / 44.6082583°N 79.3939778°W | |
| Location | 50 Museum Drive, Orillia, Ontario, Canada |
| History | |
| Built | 1928 |
| Site notes | |
| Architect(s) | Bruce Wright and Kenneth Noxon |
| Designated | 6 November 1992 |
The Stephen Leacock Museum, also known as Old Brewery Bay, is a historic house museum in Orillia, Ontario, Canada. It occupies the lakeside property that the humorist Stephen Leacock bought in 1908 and the house he built there in 1928, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on 6 November 1992.[1]
Parks Canada designated the site because it "was an inspiration to Stephen Leacock, among the most celebrated of Canadian authors and humorists, and both an extension and a reflection of his life and personality".[1]
Property
[edit]The property stands on the shore of Lake Couchiching and covers almost four hectares, running down to the shoreline at Brewery and Barnfield bays and to a wooded point known as Leacock Point.[2] Leacock bought the land in 1908 and named it the Old Brewery Bay.[2]
The two-storey wood-frame house was designed by the Toronto architects Bruce Wright and Kenneth Noxon and completed in 1928.[1] Leacock took a close interest in its design, shaping the layout around his writing routine and the houseguests he liked to entertain.[1] The grounds include reconstructed arbours, a boathouse and a visitor centre.[2]
Leacock at Old Brewery Bay
[edit]Leacock spent summers at the property for some twenty-eight years, using it as a retreat from his teaching at McGill University.[1] Parks Canada records that he drew on impressions gathered there for Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, and that he pursued fishing, sailing and mixed farming at the site alongside his writing.[2] Between 1915 and 1925 he was, in the department's assessment, the best-known humorist in the English-speaking world.[1]
Museum
[edit]The house operates as a museum devoted to Leacock and is owned by the City of Orillia.[3]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Stephen Leacock Museum / Old Brewery Bay National Historic Site of Canada". Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. Parks Canada. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "Stephen Leacock Museum / Old Brewery Bay National Historic Site of Canada". Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- ↑ "Leacock Museum". City of Orillia. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
External links
[edit]Category:National Historic Sites in Ontario Category:Historic house museums in Ontario Category:Museums in Simcoe County Category:Houses completed in 1928 Category:Buildings and structures in Orillia Category:Literary museums in Canada Category:Biographical museums in Canada