Rich in history and heritage, the Stanley House Inn is a Queen Anne-style summer residence built of natural materials.The Inn is located in New Richmond at the mouth of the Grand Cascapedia River and overlooks the Baie des Chaleurs, one of the most beautiful bays in the world. The Inn was built as a summer home by Frederic Arthur Stanley, Lord of Preston, 16th Earl of Derby (1841-1908).Lord Stanley was Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893 and was no stranger to politics; he was born into British Aristocracy and his father was Prime Minister of England for three terms.
Lord Stanley had a prestigious career in the British Parliament and in the House of Lords; he fulfilled his responsibilities as Governor General of Canada with care and caution, distinguishing himself by his conciliatory spirit. In Canada, he is mainly known for his namesake, the Stanley Cup, which he first presented in 1893 to honour amateur hockey champions.
In 1888, assisted by a carpenter named Reid, (who was the first carpenter of the Parliament House in Ottawa) Lord Stanley had a house built nine miles from where he fished salmon on the Cascapedia River. The land originally belonged to the Duthie Family and was afterwards sold to John Robertson, then to Andrew Fairservice in 1888, and the same year to Lord Stanley.
Even though the house is most associated with Frederic Arthur Stanley, two other Governor Generals resided there.John Campbell Gordon, first Lord of Aberdeen and Temair, Governor General from 1893 to 1898, bought it in 1893 and sojourned there for four summers.In their memoires, John Campbell Gordon and his spouse Lady Aberdeen describe in detail their summers in New Richmond. The Earl of Minto, Governor General of Canada from 1898 to 1904, also spent one summer there.
Other owners followed and in 1962 the building was donated to the Canada Council for the Arts by Olivia Billings Terrell. From 1962 onwards, the Canada Council for the Arts used the venue for seminars and gatherings for artists and scholars, but budget cuts brought the end of these activities in 1984.The Council entrusted the upkeep of the property to a guardian until 1996, after which a citizen of New-Richmond, J. Edgar LeBlanc, purchased the property to operate it as the Auberge La Maison Stanley, with 11 rooms and meeting room facilities.
Auberge La Maison Stanley
371, boul. Perron Ouest, New Richmond
Telephone: (418) 392-5560
Fax: (418)392-5592
[email protected]
www.stanleyhouse.ca