Maplelawn, National historic site and former estate in Westboro, Ottawa, Canada
Maplelawn is a two-and-a-half-storey limestone house at 529 Richmond Road in Westboro, built between 1831 and 1834 as the centre of a 200-acre farm. Its British classical design is mixed with local Ottawa Valley and Quebec window styles, and a rare walled garden stands beside it.
William Thomson, a retired British army officer, built Maplelawn between 1831 and 1834 near Bytown. The property was originally the center of a large country estate and is now protected as a national historic site of Canada.
The name Maplelawn refers to the maple trees on the grounds. The walled garden was intended to be both ornamental and useful, and since 1993 the volunteer Friends of Maplelawn Garden have tended it. The garden is open to visitors, and flowers cut there have decorated the house's interior.
The property is open to the public, with the former residence now operating as a restaurant. The gardens can be viewed while volunteers regularly maintain them for visitors.
Maplelawn's walled garden is a rare feature for a Canadian farming estate; such walls were prized in Europe but never widespread in Canada. It was designed to be both ornamental and useful, and since 1993 volunteers from the Friends of Maplelawn Garden have tended it.
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