| Once dubbed "Howard's Folly" because of its long distance from 1837 Toronto, Colborne Lodge today offers a peaceful sanctuary within Canada's largest,most exciting city. With its stately verandas, informal planning and attractive placement in a beautiful setting, Colborne Lodge is a splendid example of Regency-style architecture, which swept the continent in the early 19th century. Itsdominant living room boasts three-sided south-facing bay windows overlooking a verdant garden landscape. While its interior is centered on a massive chimney, featuring three tall stacks, the whole capped by a penthouse master bedroom. The distinctive manor was completed as a suburban getaway in 1837 by John Howard (1803-90) and named for the English-trained architect's first patron, Upper Canada Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Colborne. Besides having success as an architect, Howard was also a shrewd investor who purchased the adjacent 160-acre site with a vision to develop a new satellite village. But it seems he was ahead of his time. For Torontonians were not ready to purchase his far-off subdivisions. But Howard's loss became Toronto's gain, as he donated the land after his death to form the present-day heart of High Park, a beautifully maintained, 400-acre urban oasis. Saved from the wrecker's ball by a group of community-minded women in 1925, Colborne Lodge was most recently restored in the 1960s by the Toronto Historical Board, which today operates the year-round interpretive center as"a furnished museum for the city." No outing to High Park would be complete without a visit. |
