When we were on vacation we needed something to do before we went to our airbnb apartment. Enter in Colborne Lodge in the southern end of High Park in London. Our guide was wonderfully informative and very personable. You’ll have to pardon me if the pictures are a bit dark, no flash was allowed.
Colborne Lodge was the home to John and Gemima Howard. Mr. Howard was an architect and engineer originally from England. The house holds a number of pieces of art work that he did himself. A lot of the art work he did involved ships on the water, usually in trouble.
They had one of the first indoor toilets. There was a small replica of it so that we could see how it worked. This area of the house was built in such a way that when the door was closed it looked like a solid wall. If I recall correctly, it was because not everyone was accepting of indoor toilets.
Our tour guide walked us through all the different areas of the house, telling us about each of the paintings. She gave plenty of time for questions to be asked and answered. The Howards lived a fair piece out of town. The house was comfortable for them.
They had this rather neat picture frame sitting on the mantel. I can’t recall if this one is authentic to the house. They needed to do a fair amount of work on the house as it had merely been shut up when the Howards’ had passed on. Vandalism and theft had happened before the house was turned into a museum. I loved the intricate detail on this picture frame and how it fanned out like a peacock. It would have been neat to see photos in it. I would happily have this in my house.
They had these tiny corner closets. I have not seen closets like this before in these early homes. It’s hard to imagine only have three or four outfits to wear.
We were walked through the various bedrooms, seeing their vanities, dresser drawers and the like. There were paintings throughout the house, most done by the Howards, and the odd one by friends.
It’s hard sometimes to know what our student understands, so when he stops to take a picture I wonder what caught his attention. I never did figure this one out as when I asked he just flashed a grin at me.
It’s a fair sized house with a basement, main floor and upper floor. It has a greenhouse or summer patio attached as well.
Oh, I almost forgot this part. They are buried on the property, but not really close to the house! We needed to cross the access road to get to it.
All in all it was a lovely visit with a good tour guide. We learned so much! If you are the Toronto area, take in Colborne Lodge.
