Elmbank
1100 Dorchester Street, Montreal, Quebec
Completed in 1867, for Andrew Robertson (1827-1890), President of the Montreal Board of Trade etc., and his wife Agnes Bow (1827-1899). The house had a long frontage on Dorchester Street, sitting on 1.8-acres between St. Mathieu and St. Martin Streets. In the grounds there were greenhouses for grapes and hothouses for exotic flowers, stables, a gardener's house, and a coach-house. In 1884, when the 1200-members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science descended on Montreal, Robertson held a garden party here for 500-guests. It was also the scene in 1875 of the marriage between the Robertson's eldest daughter, Mary, to James Stewart Tupper, eldest son of Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Bt. After Robertson's death here in 1890, the mansion became the home of his daughter, Bella, and her husband Hugh Paton....
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In 1887, in an article on Mount Royal, an Australian commentator wrote: "Thus at Mr. Andrew Robertson's residence, Elmbank, the ancient forest trees which have been left standing give the place an appearance of antiquity, of a long-settled family home, which as a rule, you only see in Europe. I do not know any place in Australia with such charming surroundings as the grounds of Elmbank." The Patons lived with Mrs Robertson and divided their time between here and their island estate north of Montreal, Île Paton.
After Mrs Robertson died in 1899, "Elm Bank" (as it was originally written) was put up for sale and the highest bid came in at $30,000. Unsatisfied, the Robertson heirs withdrew it from the market and by the following year (1901) they decided to apportion the Dorchester Street front of the property into building lots, placing the remaining 1.1-acres back on the market. It can be assumed that the mansion was demolished around about this time.
After Mrs Robertson died in 1899, "Elm Bank" (as it was originally written) was put up for sale and the highest bid came in at $30,000. Unsatisfied, the Robertson heirs withdrew it from the market and by the following year (1901) they decided to apportion the Dorchester Street front of the property into building lots, placing the remaining 1.1-acres back on the market. It can be assumed that the mansion was demolished around about this time.
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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 06/02/2019 and last updated on 06/04/2023.
Rackets in Canada and the Montreal Racket Club (1990) by Christopher G. Marks; John William Dawson: Faith, Hope and Science (1996), by Susan Sheets-Pyenson
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