Canada Guide
Manitoba and Saskatchewan
Government House
Address: 4607 Dewdney Ave at Lewvan Drive
Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am–4pm; tours every 30min
Price: Free
Government House, a couple of kilometres west of the city centre, was the residence of the lieutenant-governors of the Northwest Territories and subsequently Saskatchewan from 1891 to 1945. A stolid yellow-brick building, it has been delightfully restored to its appearance at the end of the nineteenth century, with offices and reception areas downstairs and a splendid, balconied staircase leading up to the bedrooms. The men's billiards room is decorated with an enormous bison head and a lemon-water stand, where the governor and his cronies would dip their fingers to hide the smell of the cigars. There are also a couple of mementos of one of the more eccentric governors, Amédée Forget, whose specially designed "salesman's chair", beside the entrance, was meant to be uncomfortable, with protruding gargoyles sticking into the visitor's spine, legs shorter at the front than the back and a flesh-pinching crack cut across the middle of the seat. The rocking horse in the office was for Forget's pet monkey. High tea, complete with finger sandwiches and fragile china cups, is served in the ballroom one weekend each month between 1.30pm and 4pm.