109 Reed Avenue - Bulkley Division

This large and imposing building was the former summer home of Mary Walker, the widow of Edward Walker, son of the famed whiskey distiller Hiram Walker. Upon Edward’s death in 1912, Mary was left a sum of money to build a ‘seaside house’ on land purchased from the Hatch Family heirs. She engaged the Montreal architect John Archibald who had been a draughtsman and assistant to Edward Maxwell from 1893 to 1897. The decidedly asymmetrical house features 21 rooms, 7 staircases, high ceilings and stout pillars enclosing a sundeck overlooking the bay below. The recent clapboard covers the original stucco cladding.

The home was owned briefly by C. D Howe (Canadian Cabinet Minister, 1936-1956) and his wife Alice in the early 1950s. 

The character-defining elements of this summer residence include:

• wooden door
• front entrance entablature and pilasters
• large exterior brick chimney
• porch enclosed by stout pillars

Source: John Leroux “St. Andrews architecture 1604-1966”