From the Sky Dome, gazing north up John Street, beyond the busy shops of Queen and King Streets, one can see The Grange, serene in its park setting. First home of the Art Gallery of Ontario and Toronto’s oldest remaining brick house, this Georgian building was built in 1817 by D’Arcy Boulton Jr for his family.

The Grange was owned by the Boultons for almost one hundred years; and, like any home, it has changed over time. The original house was two storeys, 60 x 40 feet, with a low hipped roof containing a circular window. There were five bays (windows), and the three central ones projected out slightly from under a pediment. Reflecting a sense of Georgian balance, the front door opened onto a central hall with the dining room on the left and the drawing room on the right. At the back of the house and on the second floor were the bedrooms for the family, and there were four large rooms in the attic, probably for the servants. The kitchen, food storage areas, and scullery were in the basement.

In the 1840s (the era of the second generation of William and Harriette Boulton), the family enlarged the house by removing the main-floor bedrooms to create a back stair hall and breakfast parlour, and three of the upstairs bedrooms to create an assembly room or ballroom. The main floor was extended to the west for an office. The Grange remained in this form until 1885, when Harriette Boulton’s second husband, Goldwin Smith, added a Victorian Library and a new oak staircase.

The Grange underwent two more changes in the 20th century. In her will, Harriette left the house to what was then called the Art Museum of Toronto to be its first permanent home. Opening in 1913, the earliest exhibitions were held in the drawing and assembly rooms. As the Art Museum expanded, The Grange rooms were used as museum offices. In 1973 the next metamorphosis occurred when Art Gallery of Ontario volunteers sponsored the restoration of the house to its earlier glory and The Grange opened as a historic house.

Jennifer Rieger