Harrington Lake estate is the name of the official country retreat of the Prime Minister of Canada and also the name of the land which surrounds it. It is located near Meech Lake – where the Meech Lake Accord was negotiated in 1987 – approximately 35 kilometers northwest of Ottawa, in an area known as Gatineau Park, amidst the Gatineau Hills in Quebec. The estate is not open to the public, but the Mackenzie King Estate, the retreat of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King at Kingsmere, is a tourist attraction a few kilometers further south in the park.
| Harrington Lake | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival style |
| Town or city | Gatineau, Quebec |
| Country | Canada |
| Coordinates | 45°34′N 75°57′W / 45.567°N 75.95°W / 45.567; -75.95Coordinates: 45°34′N 75°57′W / 45.567°N 75.95°W / 45.567; -75.95 |
| Construction started | 1925 |
| Technical details | |
| Size | 16 room home on 5.4-hectare (13-acre) property |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Macpherson Edwards |
| Owner | The Queen in Right of Canada |
| Landlord | National Capital Commission |
| Architect | Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Macpherson Edwards |
Beside the cottage, the Harrington estate consists of three other buildings:
- staff cottage
- upper guest cottage
- lower guest cottage
- boat house and paddleboat dock
- long dock (located the northeast of the retreat)
The lake itself and the area around it are also referred to as Lac Mousseau. The name Harrington is thought to be a misspelling of Hetherington, the name of a family which settled in this area. The French name Mousseau comes from another early settler to the area, Louis Mousseau.
The retreat to accessed by Chemin de Lac Meech with armed (by the RCMP) gatehouse at driveway to the retreat.
Famous quotes containing the words harrington and/or lake:
“Chippenhook was the home of Judge Theophilus Harrington, known for his trenchant reply to an irate slave-owner in a runaway slave case. Judge Harrington declared that the owner’s claim to the slave was defective. The owner indignantly demanded to know what was lacking in his legally sound claim. The Judge exploded, ‘A bill of sale, sir, from God Almighty!’”
—For the State of Vermont, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Wordsworth went to the Lakes, but he was never a lake poet. He found in stones the sermons he had already hidden there.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)