Chateau Saint-Antoine

Dorchester Street West, Montreal, Quebec

Built in 1802, for Lt.-Col. The Hon. William McGillivray (1764-1825) and his wife Magdalen MacDonald (1775-1811). McGillivray succeeded his uncle, Simon McTavish, as the chief partner of the North West Company. The home McGillivray built for his family was, “a fine Georgian structure of cut stone,” and by 1816 it was considered “the most magnificent building in the whole city”. Here he, “lived like a lord and enjoyed a magnificent view of the city and river”. The original estate covered several acres of parkland on the north side of Dorchester that would today have been west of Guy Street, off Cote St. Antoine, roughly at the end of Boulevard Rene-Levesque. It neighboured the manors of John Gregory and Sir Alexander Mackenzie....

This house is best associated with...

William McGillivray

Lt.-Col. The Hon. William McGillivray, Fur Baron, of Montreal

1764-1825

Magdalen (MacDonald) McGillivray

Mrs Magdalen (MacDonald) McGillivray

1775-1811

John Young

M.P., Chairman of the Montreal Harbour & President of the Board of Trade

1811-1878

Amelia (Tilley) Young

Mrs Amelia Jane (Tilley) Young

1827-1922

This was the McGillivray's country house, set back above the Côte St. Antoine (that became Dorchester Street before being renamed Boulevard René-Lévesque) on 10-acres of farmland purchased from the Bouchard family who in turn had bought it from the Sulpicians in 1761. The McGillivray family moved in on its completion in the fall of 1805, and to access his new home, McGillivray built a private road leading up the hill to his driveway that is better known today as Greene Avenue in Westmount. 

The three-story, cut-stone house had a 50-foot facade with a depth of 36-feet attached to a pair of two perpendicular wings, each of which were enlarged in 1818 to 38-by-33-feet, giving the house a front facade of 126-feet - six feet longer than the McTavish Mansion. Adjoined by a vineyard, greenhouses, and orchards that ran down to Côte St. Antoine, they harvested apples, 200-plum trees, cherries, grapes, peaches and apricots. It was built by master-mason Jean-Baptiste Boutonne and master-carpenter Pierre Lambert, and outbuildings included a stone coach-house; stables; ice-house; offices; and, additional farmland was landscaped to create the formal gardens that featured an ornamental pond.

In the true style of the fur-trading "barons" of the Beaver Club, William McGillivray had a reputation for warm hospitality and laying on lavish banquets. He kept open house here, as he did at his townhouse on St. Gabriel Street within the old city walls, and this Highland hospitality was even imparted to his old rivals, Lord Selkirk and John Jacob Astor, with the latter dining here once a year on his annual trip up to Montreal.

The chateau is popularly - perhaps wishfully - said to be that shown (see images) in the foreground of James Duncan's 1854 painting, "Montreal from the Mountain," but for my two cents, I think that house is a romantic resurrection of the McTavish Mansion. According to the history of the house told in Westmount, the chateau was further around on the right, out of sight in this picture and on the slope of the mountain.

Entertaining at the Chateau

One of the only descriptions remaining of McGillivray’s house and the entertainments held here was given by John Jeremiah Bigsby in his entertaining book, The Shoe and Canoe. In 1819, Bigsby was invited to dine at Chateau St. Antoine. He gave a lengthy description of the mansion, his host, and the evening in general; summarised here:

I had the pleasure of dining with the then great Amphictyon of Montreal at his seat, on a high terrace under the mountain, looking southwards and laid out in pleasure-grounds in the English style. The view from the drawing room windows of this large and beautiful mansion is extremely fine, too rich and fair, I foolishly thought, to be out of my native England. Close beneath you are scattered elegant country retreats embowered in plantations, succeeded by a crowd of orchards of delicious apples, spreading far to the right and left, and hedging in the glittering churches, hotels & house roofs of Montreal…

Mr McGillivray (Mr M) was accustomed to entertain the successive governors in their progresses, and was well entitled to such honour, not only from his princely fortune, but from his popularity, honesty of purpose, and intimate acquaintance with the true interests of the colony… My host was then a widower with two well-educated daughters (Anna Maria and Magdalen Julia). The company was various and consisted of a judge or two, some members of the Legislative Council and three or four retired partners of the North West Company of fur-traders - notably David Thompson (1770-1857). Our dinner and wines were perfect. The conversation was fluent and sensible…

The guests at the wine table now joined the ladies for coffee, when one of the Miss McGillivray called to Mr M, and insisted upon his singing a wild ‘voyageur’ song, “Le Premier Jour de Mai,” playing the spirited tune on the piano at the same time with one hand. Thus commanded, Mr M sang it as only the true ‘voyageur’ can do, imitating the action of the paddle, and in their high, resounding, and yet musical tones. His practised voice enabled him to give us the various swells and falls of sounds upon the waters, driven about by the winds, dispersed and softened in the wide expanses, or brought close again to the ear by neighbouring rocks. He finished, as is usual, with the piercing Indian shriek… It is hardly necessary to say that I passed a very agreeable evening. Our host was a large, handsome man, with the pleasant, successful look of the men of his habits & mode of life.

The McGillivray Art Collection

The ballroom at Chateau Saint Antoine was said to be “an enchanting site” and the significant art collection of McGillivray and his brother Simon McGillivray (1785-1840) decorated the walls of Saint-Antoine with “pictures painted by some of the most celebrated artists who ever lived”. His “extensive array of fine classical paintings (were) collected at a time when following the Napoleonic wars collections of Old Masters were coming onto the market”. This art collection went with McGillivray as he prepared to move to London, but only a few months after his death in 1825, the entire collection was sold by his brother to cover their debts following the collapse of the North West Company. The auction of their paintings was held over two days at Christies in London:

The collection now would do credit to any museum. The Flemish and Dutch section, commencing with Rubens, included seven works by Rembrandt a brace of Cuyps, one of them an unusual self-portrait, and three Teniers the Elder, representing with Jan Steen the ‘genre’ group. From Spain Velasquez and Murillo, and from France Claude Lorraine, Lancret and Watteau. The Italian works included Titian (four of these), Correggio, two Raphaels, Veronese, Guercino, Annibale Carraci, Sasso Ferrato, and Parmegiano.

The finest work, which under the hammer commanded nearly 20% of the total sale value, was a magnificent Sebastiano de Piombo, depicting the Virgin with Joseph by her side observing the infant Christ asleep on a cushion. The character and drawing of the Virgin was described as being in "grand style... with peculiar gracefulness she is about to draw a transparent coverlid over the Child." This painting, one of a number of the artist’s copies of the principal work now in Prague, is today in private hands in England.

Life After the McGillivrays

At its peak, the McGillivray fortune was thought to have been in excess of a staggering £250,000. But the collapse of their business saw their creditors paid back at just 60 pence to the pound and their art sale raised only £4,000, a mere fraction of what they'd paid.

Following McGillivray's death in 1825, contemporary sources indicate that John McKenzie was the next person to live here. Then, in April, 1829, Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1871) moved his family here, renting it while their home on Rue Bonsecours was undergoing repairs. He renamed it "Villa Rosa" and it was here in 1831 that he hosted, "une grande reception" for Lord Aylmer. From 1841, it was home to Joseph Donegani (owner of the original Donegana's Hotel that occupied the Bingham Mansion on Notre Dame Street) and in 1856 he sold "Villa Rosa" with its 11-acres for £7,500 to Mayor Charles Wilson who is listed in one 1857 directory as being resident at "Chateau Saint-Antoine" and in another at "Villa Rosa, 76 Dorchester West," that either way contradicts the next chapter.

John Young, "Rosemount"... and Charles Wilson

According to Westmount historians, the house and estate was acquired in 1843 by Asa Goodenough, the owner of the Exchange Coffee House that back then acted as Montreal's stock exchange. In 1847, he sold up to John Young - the Chairman of the Harbour Commission whose statue still stands in the Port of Montreal - who named it "Rose Mount". A map dated circa 1855 (see images) shows "Rose Mount" to be a very long house with two attached wings that on paper at least almost certainly suggests that the house was then still the original Chateau Saint-Antoine. In 1857, it was reported that, "John Young has commenced making extensive alterations and additions to his present house at 'Rosemount,' which when carried out, will render it one of the most commodious residences in the neighbourhood of the city. Architects: Hopkins, Lawford & Nelson."

Whether the map shows Chateau Saint-Antoine or indeed "Rosemount" before or after its alterations, most sources agree that at roughly the same time, rather than altering the house, Young demolished it, replacing it with the distinctly inferior and rather uninspiring greystone block that is seen today at No. 16 Severn Avenue. It is said he then added the more elegant - yet inexplicably incompatible and stylistically altogether different - addition that is now 18 Severn Avenue to accommodate his rapidly expanding family.

One way or the other, in 1861 Young moved to England to educate his daughters and sold off most of the land to the developer Robert James Reekie. To confound matters further in regards to Charles Wilson, in September, 1865, we find an entry in the diary of the Mayor of Quebec, Ulric J. Tessier, who had come up for the Exposition in Montreal, that reads, "I went back to his (Wilson's) magnificent residence, previously known as Chateau Saint-Antoine". As for Young,  he returned to his rather irregular house at about the same time where he died in 1878. The next owner of Rosemount was John H. Hodgson, partner in Abraham Hodgson & Sons, whose attempt to swindle the Bank of Montreal saw him arrested in 1887. After 1886, the house was divided into two homes, 16 and 18 Severn Avenue. Both still stand, as does the gate lodge (built 1870) at 70 Rosemount Crescent.

It seems clear that the house Papineau, Donegani, and Wilson lived in (described in 1844 as being at "St. Antoine, near Mountain Street") was not the same as the house described by Westmount's historians. If the real Chateau Saint-Antoine was indeed the former, then the house in James Duncan's painting may be it after all. Further research is needed, and if you can add any information to help solve the riddle, please leave a comment below.

Another Case of Forgotten History

In 1936, Archibald Chaussegros de Lery MacDonald (1862-1939), grandson of McGillivray’s brother-in-law, John MacDonald, loaned the McCord Museum some of the furniture formerly housed in the chateau’s dining room, offering us a small glimpse into how the room might have looked. It included the dining table itself; two card tables; a folding mahogany table; an antique clock; a copper semovar (being a Turkish teapot); an oil portrait of McGillivray (possibly by Sir John Martin R.A.); a family group of McGillivray, his wife, and their youngest daughter painted by Dulongpré around 1803; and, a pastel also by Dulongpré of Major Archibald Norman McLeod (1772-1837), "the Beau Brummell of Montreal". As for McGillivray's house itself, today's local street names are devoid of any clue that here he built, “the most magnificent building in the whole city”. 

You May Also Like...

Styles

Contributed by Mark Meredith on 02/11/2018 and last updated on 01/04/2023.
Joseph Papineau: de Montréal à la Petite-Nation: correspondance (1789-1840)

Connections

Be the first to connect to this house. Connect to record your link to this house. or just to show you love it! Connect to Chateau Saint-Antoine →