I might usefully amend the title of this entry to read instead, “What little I know of the grand homes of Almonte” because in the past 46 years of my currency in Almonte I have never taken photographs of the interior of any of the grand homes I have visited; and, my sparse knowledge of the history of the mansions is limited to what is either popular information or my personal evanescence. Accordingly I apologize at the outset for what I am certain will be shallow observation.
The Elgin Street properties:
The negotiation of my employment in 1976 by Messrs. Galligan and Sheffield, Barristers &c. transpired over dinner at the Mississippi Golf Club in the original club house which subsequently burned to the ground. It wasn’t until weeks later that I had my introduction to a fine home in Almonte proper. The home was that of Charles James Newton, QC who was then the Crown Prosecutor for the County of Lanark. He lived on Elgin Street which, like immediately parallel Church Street, was a line of historic distinguished properties. The evening took a twist when I was subsequently introduced to Jim’s wife, Betty, who strangely arrived at table with her friend Jim Collie (of Collie Woollen Mills repute) whom I mistook for a relative of the family. I believe he may have been a paramour.
In later years I became acquainted with the home of John Hawley Kerry and his wife Marion. They lived almost directly across the street from Mr. Justice C. J. Newton; and, next door to the home of Stewart Lee (son of N. S. Lee) of Lee Pro Hardware.
At the end of Elgin Street near High Street was the former residence of Maisie Whitten whose late husband had owned the Almonte Hotel on Bridge Street across from the Royal Canadian Legion Br. 240.
Clyde and Brougham Street properties:
The first place in Almonte I lived was a small house on Martin St N belonging to the then Rector of St. Paul’s Anglican Church Rev. George Bickely and his wife Anne who then resided in the manse attached to the church. The manse was alone impressive for its position immediately overlooking the Mississippi River across from the Almonte Fair Grounds and Agricultural Hall on Water Street.
Next door to the manse at the corner of Queen Street was the home of Dr. William Mostyn, MD who built the house in about 1860 shortly before he oversaw the laying of the cornerstone of St. Paul’s Anglican Church under the auspices of the local Masonic Lodge Mississippi No. 147 of which he was the first Master. The so-called “doctor’s house” would, until the death of Frank Murphy MD, continue to be owned by an Irish born medical practitioner including Dr. John Dunn MD.
On the same side as the doctor’s property, but immediately adjacent the river, is the former residence of Mr. Justice James Knatchbull Hugessen. The home is now called Riverside Inn owned by Rob Prior.
At the end of Clyde Street is a mansion formerly owned by an architect. Because of its secluded position it is seldom seen. Immediately across the street is another much smaller home formerly belonging to George Slade who was one of the Borstal Boys from England. He was reportedly left the house as a legacy from the ladies who initially hired him as a farm labourer in nearby Ramsay Township. Until the house was subsequently purchased by Ian LeCheminant (who totally reconditioned the place), a wiry but elderly Slade could be seen chopping logs for the wood stove in the house to heat it.
Main Street East properties:
Early in my career I was introduced to clients of Messrs. Galligan and Sheffield who owned property on Main Street East at the corner of Union Street South. While this property was historic, it was the adjacent property later owned by James Mackie former senior director of Newbridge Networks which was exceptional. The property overlooks Mississippi River and the Old Town Hall. The home is vast, including a private theatre.
Newbridge Networks was an Ottawa, Ontario, Canada company founded by Welsh-Canadian entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews. It was founded in 1986 to create data and voice networking products after Matthews was forced out of his original company Mitel. According to Matthews, he saw that data networking would grow far faster than voice networking, and he had wanted to take Mitel in much the same direction, but the ‘risk-averse’ British Telecom-dominated Mitel board refused and effectively ousted him. The name Newbridge Networks comes from Sir Terry Matthews’ home town of Newbridge in south Wales.
Immediately across the street is Greystones which was then owned by Air Commodore Donald Blaine and his wife Norma. Norma was an artist who among other creations made dolls with ceramic faces and real hair. Reportedly her clientele was primarily men.
Strathburn Street properties:
Although Burnside, Old Burnside and the Glen are among the best known mansions in Almonte (succeeded only by Pinehurst) it was only through my professional involvement that I learned of them.
Old Burnside (along the Mississippi River near the basin at the end of Mill Street) was the former residence of James Mackintosh Bell whose son John (and his wife Halcyon) were clients of Messrs. Galligan and Sheffield. As John liked to quip, he recalled the days when the house was maintained by a skeleton staff of fifteen.
Next door Burnside was then the residence of Angus Morrison and his wife Carlotta. The home housed six pianos including an upright grand in the downstairs rumpus room overlooking the backyard garden. It was when playing that piano that I chatted with John Jamieson, owner of First Air and son of Raymond Algernon Jamieson QC.
Burnside shielded the Andrew Brown farm behind it.
Across the street was the former home of Edward Harrington Winslow-Spragge and his wife Isobelle. The home was called the “Gate House” for what I presume were at one time characteristic reasons. Subsequently the home was bought by two successive Rockcliffe emigrés (Connolly and Wilson) who naturally spent considerable time and money to enlarge the home to more majestic appearance before they too evaporated.
Perhaps the grandest looking home from the outside is the 23-acre property called the Glen belonging to Col. John Cameron and his wife Peggy. It was inherited by their son Bernard who was murdered in the home by a distraught and disturbed lover of Bernard’s daughter.
Malcolm Street which connects to Strathburn Street houses many lovely homes but for the most part they haven’t the same entitlement to celebrity.
Union Street North properties:
These homes are among the most celebrated in Almonte. Raymond Jamieson’s home (next door to the home of the late Dr. Lou Sharpe DDS) almost bordered Carss St (named after his mother’s family) which until 1998 when the municipality of Mississippi Mills was created, represented the limit of the Town of Almonte. Mr Jamieson‘s home was characteristic of a long-established Almonte home.
Mr Jamieson’s son John owns the lovely stone home at the other end of Union Street. He houses in his drawing room an exceptional Steinway grand piano with Louis XIV brown mahogany cabinet. I was invited to inaugurate the piano since it was I who, when gabbing with him at the Morrisons, had recommended the brand.
It is a compliment to the Jamieson family that John’s son built a new (and comparatively modern) grand home next to his grandfather’s house. I recall Raymond having told me that the lot on which his grandson’s house is built was obtained by Raymond in lieu of payment of his outstanding legal account with a client.
Pinehurst is accessible from Union St N but it is on the opposite side of the erstwhile B&O Railway line which has now transitions to the Ottawa Valley Trail. Mary Rosamond Hugessen was raised on Pinehurst. Latterly the property was owned by Keith and Penny Blades who subsequently sold it to the son of a former Town of Almonte municipal officer Mel Ashby.
Perth Street property:
As far as imposing properties go, the present home of Mr. Justice Alan D. Sheffield and his wife Heather on Perth Street is right up there. The property formerly belonged to the father and mother of Almonte realtor Kathy Norton; namely, Stewart and Betty Burns who also owned the GM car dealership on Bridge Street across from the Legion where Bill Barrie Jr’s Almonte Bicycle Works in now located.
Country Street properties:
The most prominent mansion on Country Street near the corner of Church Street is that belonging to Dr. Matthew Tiffany. The home was formerly owned by a successful accountant with a distinguished national firm; and, by Dr. James B. Coupland DDS.