Mackenzie House

Mackenzie House at 82 Bond St in downtown Toronto, Ontario, is a row house built in the 1850s that became the last home of William Lyon Mackenzie. Mackenzie was a newspaper publisher, Toronto's first mayor in 1834 and the leader of the failed 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada, after which he fled to the United States. He returned following an amnesty and lived in this house from 1859 until his death in 1861, supported by friends who bought it for him. The museum interprets the 1860s, and its rooms are furnished to show a Victorian household of modest means. Visitors see the parlour, the dining room, the kitchen and bedrooms, many fitted with period pieces and personal items related to Mackenzie, and a basement kitchen with a working hearth. The house also includes a recreated 1850s print shop in the basement, equipped with a replica Washington hand press on which staff and volunteers demonstrate how newspapers and broadsides were printed. This link to Mackenzie's career as a journalist is the most distinctive element of the interpretation. The building is a Georgian-influenced brick terrace house, typical of the better workers' and professionals' dwellings of mid-century Toronto, and it stands within walking distance of Yonge-Dundas Square and Toronto Metropolitan University. The City of Toronto operates it as one of its historic sites, and it has been restored to reflect the decade of Mackenzie's residence. Interpretation combines guided talks with self-guided exploration, and staff often discuss the rebellion, responsible government and the emergence of Canadian democracy. Seasonal programs include evening ghost tours that draw on stories about the house, offered mainly in autumn.