| Architect: Francis M. Rattenbury of
Victoria, British Columbia. Rattenbury, Pat's friend and
business associate, also designed cold storage warehouses
and other buildings for Burns' expanding meat packing and
ranching business.
Contractor:
Thomas Underwood (three
time city alderman and mayor of Calgary 1902-1903)
Original
cost:
$32,000 - $40,000.
Additional costs included lavish furnishings, land and
landscaping.
Original
owner:
Patrick Burns. Burns was
born in Ontario in 1855 and homesteaded in Manitoba in
1878 where he began purchasing cattle and supplying beef
to railway construction crews. After moving to Calgary in
1890, he became a successful rancher and owner of the
Burns Meat Packing Company. He was one of the original
"Big Four" who organized the first Calgary
Stampede and in 1931 was appointed to the Senate. Between
1890 and 1928 Burns built one of the largest packing and
provisioning businesses in the world. Patrick died in
February 1937. His 1901 marriage to Eileen Ellis produced
one son Patrick Michael who died in September 1936, five
months before his father. For a good part of their
married life, Eileen did not live in Calgary with
Patrick. She died in Vancouver in 1923 at the age of
fifty.
Construction materials:
Sandstone from the
Shaganappi Quarry was cut on location. Lumber milled at
Colonel Walker's sawmill. Sash and solid oak doors were
supplied by W.H.Cushing mills.
Architectural style:
Neo-Gothic style with
both Arts and Crafts and Chateau motifs. It was once
described as "a mixture of French Chateau and Irish
castle." Symmetrical in design, it had steeply
pitched gables, ornate sandstone carvings of gargoyles
and coats of arms. Three storey tower.
Original interior
details:
Eighteen rooms including
ten bedrooms, four bathrooms and a conservatory.
Extensive use of fine eastern hardwood. Oak used for
doors, panelling, cornices, floors and fireplace mantles.
Rooms finished in quarter-cut oak. Furnishings were
imported from England.
Historical highlights:
- Construction began
on the twenty lot site in July 1900. Rattenbury
wrote his mother from the Alberta Hotel in
Calgary on July 26, "we are laying out the
lines of his [Burns] new house." By October
the stone foundation was completed.
- The 45 year old
Patrick Burns and his 27 year old bride, Eileen
Ellis were married September 4, 1901 in London,
England. On their return to Calgary in August
they took up residence in the Alberta Hotel where
they remained until the house was completed,
considerably behind schedule, in January 1903.
- The extensively
landscaped property, surrounded by a low stone
wall, resembled an English country garden.
- Head Gardener,
William Reader and his wife lived in the coach
house on the property until he left Burns' employ
and in 1912 became Calgary's Superintendent of
Parks. William Mayhew was the resident gardener
from 1917 to 1937.
- When Alberta became
a province in 1905, a reception was held at Burns
Manor for Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier. Over the
years the Burns' entertained members of the royal
family, aristocrats, authors and politicians.
- At the height of
the boom in 1911 the mansion and property were
valued at $150,000.
- Following Patrick
Burns death in February 1937 the house stood
empty for two years.
- In 1939 it was
leased to Mrs. L. Barber to house " 20
bachelor boarders." During the war years the
Department of Veterans Affairs took over the
house and used it as a convalescent home.
- July 30, 1941 the
Department of Pensions and Health was authorized
to purchase land in Calgary owned by the late
Senator Patrick Burns, and construction of a new
hospital began a year later. Burns' large
sandstone residence was included in the purchase
and used as part of the new hospital facilities.
- In May 1955 Mrs. A.
H. Turney, President of the Colonel Belcher
Hospital Women's Auxiliary led an unsuccessful
attempt tp save the "historical
landmark" from demolition lobbying the
Department of Veterans Affairs and the City of
Calgary. The Auxiliary wanted to use the
residence as a club and canteen for the DVA
patients.
- In May 1956 the
mansion was demolished by Bill Wearmouth to
" allow access to the new entrance of the
Colonel Belcher Hospital." A sign on the
lawn indicated "Salvage for Sale."
Calgarians hauled away oak mantles, staircases,
panelling, sandstone and tiles.
- City workers moved
sandstone from the demolished mansion to the
hillside at the north end of Riley Park and in
June 1956 construction began on the Senator
Patrick Burns Memorial Gardens.
- Portions of the
original fence surrounding the Burns property
(now Colonel Belcher Hospital) are the only
remaining evidence of the estate's former
grandeur.
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Patrick Burns 