The Livingstone House
“Window Seat” (above) and the “Yellow Door” (below) are both from a derelict farm house near Bracebridge that was originally owned by a Scottish immigrant and carpenter, Neil Livingstone. Mr. Livingstone came to Muskoka in around 1861 at the age of 40 and died here of pneumonia in March of 1905 at the age of 84.
Neil Livingstone was a skilled carpenter and became a prominent contractor of public buildings in the Town of Bracebridge before the turn of the century. He was responsible for the original Registry Office in 1877 and for the completion of the Town Hall in 1881. Only the Tower from the original Town Hall remains today. Livingstone also won the contract for the completion of the Dominion Hotel. It is still standing, however, I am under the impression that only the main floor is in use. I would love to get a look at the upper floors!
Without looking at the records, there is mention of a building permit for
a house on the Livingstone property in 1891. The 1879 Muskoka Atlas shows two
building there previous. I am going to guess that they were a barn and a homestead
and that the house built in 1891 is the one that stands today.
Looking at the architectural detail on the house, I was not surprised to discover
Mr. Livingstone was a carpenter. There are very few rural homes in this area
with such great attention to detail, a curved staircase with a complicated
arched ceiling and stunning hardwood that is rock solid even after nearly 15
years exposed to the elements. Most farmhouses in this region were very basic
and without much detail. Farming in Muskoka was often an impossible business
due to the rocky terrain, so few would have had the wealth to build a brick
house with so much elegant carpentry.
I have yet to make the trip to the Land Registry Office to determine who inherited the house in the early part of the last century. I am hoping to discover if Neil Livingstone had any children. There is no mention of them in local publications, nor mention of a wife. For me, there is a distinct female aura about the place. It makes me curious to know who else lived there before the farm was sold to commercial interests. That information should be in the next Newsletter in mid to late November 2009.
EDIT: I have discovered some exciting new information on Neil Livingstone, some of which is in the last newsletter (December 2009), however, I am currently in contact with the local archives. The full story will be published in my book in 2010.