Eaton Hall

I finally made it to Eaton Hall! I have wanted to see it for ages, especially after reading the book “Eaton Hall, Pride of King Township”. Last time I tried I couldn’t get past the security gate at Seneca College. Today, while driving south on Dufferin after dropping my niece home after a visit, I passed the campus and thought I’d try again.

The security gate was open and I just drove in, along a wooded winding path, following a van that was probably there to do some work. We passed the old tea house and some cottages near the lake and after a pleasant sojourn in the woods, there at the crest of a hill in the middle of the King Campus of Seneca College, was Eaton Hall.

Followers of Snippets of History may recall reference to this site recently when I explored the site of Ardwold, the Eaton family home near Casa Loma and Spadina in Toronto. Although Sir John David Eaton and Lady Eaton acquired the property in 1919, the home is associated only with Lady Eaton. After her husband’s death at age 45 in 1922, Lady Eaton spent much time travelling overseas in Europe and living in another home, Villa Fiori, on the King property. By 1936 she no longer wished to use their custom-made Toronto home and she proceeded to have it demolished with dynamite.

The Villa Fiori was a transformed and expanded old farmhouse on the King property that Lady Eaton had constructed as her primary summer country residence not long after her husband’s death. The whole process is fascinatingly outlined in the book I mentioned before about Eaton Hall. I did not see this building today and it is my understanding that it is boarded up and has been in a declining state of ruin for many years.

The Eatons had always intended to build a large retirement residence on their King property and there are initial plans in the archives as early as 1921 for this building. But in reality, it wasn’t until 1930 when Lady Eaton began the plans in earnest. By 1932 the firm of Allward and Gouinlock started the design process and the home was ready to move into in 1938, though final touches were still added as late as 1941. When completed the home, built from local Humber River limestone, had 72 rooms.

The property was used at times by the North York Hunt Club, in conjunction with the nearby Pellatt Estate of Mary Lake. And during World War II, the property was used as a convalescent hospital for the Royal Canadian Navy. After Lady Eaton died in 1970 the property was sold by the family to Seneca College, who used Eaton Hall as an administrative building and later a conference centre and hotel. Many TV shows, including one of my Canadian favourites – Murdoch Mysteries, have been filmed there. Currently it is a private event space; I seem to have been extremely fortunate to gain access to the exterior today.

I missed photographing a couple of important things – the wrought iron E symbol over the servant’s entrance on Eaton Hall and the huge flagpole shaped like a ship’s mast, made by a company in Gravenhurst. I saw both of these but for some reason failed to realize their significance. I also didn’t photograph the teahouse because it was well off the beaten path, and I didn’t feel comfortable getting out of my car and going close. I was already certain that any moment security was going to come and boot me out! Next time…