Sunnybrook Estates – McLean House
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a graduation celebration at the lovely Sunnybrook Estates McLean House. The architecture of the house is stunning and the rooms were all unique in their decor yet still flowed together with the overall era and design of the house. I didn’t have the opportunity to see every room, I would have loved to have seen the library, but I can see how the McLean House would be a perfect venue for a small wedding, large family gatherings or corporate events. What I like the most about the McLean House is that all of the proceeds from the venue go to funding research at Sunnybrook Hospital.
Here is a bit of history on the McLean House taken from the Sunnybrook website:
The history of McLean House dates back to 1928 when James Stanley McLean, President and founder of Canada Packers, commissioned architects George Moorhouse and King Associates to design a unique home for his family on 50 acres of rolling land that he had purchased for $92,000.
The result was Bay View, now known as McLean House, one of Ontario’s most splendid Georgian-style mansions. The fieldstone manor house was embellished with Palladian windows, classic moldings, a grand staircase, high ceilings, and spacious rooms. The acres of gardens were spectacularly landscaped by Gordon Culham, a landscape architect who worked in the grand English country house tradition.
McLean House remained the home of the McLean family until 1966, when the widow of J.S. McLean moved to a smaller home. The University of Toronto took over the property, and it was converted by Sunnybrook Hospital into a clinical facility. In 1982 McLean House was renovated and revitalized by the Junior League of Toronto and the Interior Designers of Ontario, who opened it to the public as a Designers’ Showcase home. Following this revitalization, McLean House was opened by Sunnybrook as a venue for social and corporate events, with proceeds going to fund medical research at the hospital.
Here are a few photos from yesterday:
