User:This Works Too/sandbox

The Bate-Fenton House is a prominent heritage example of Canadian Victorian architecture situated on Embassy Row in Sandy Hill, Ottawa near Strathcona Park. It was described as the "homestead property" of the influential Bates family.

History
Construction began on the house in 1894 and was completed in 1895 by Major Hermine Gerald Bate, who had previously been living at at 216 Chapel. Hermine Gerald was one of eleven children of the entrepreneur and head of the Ottawa Improvement Commission, Henry Newell Bate. Henry Newell had previously built a house, "elaborate even for its time, sparing no decorative detail" at 318 Rue Fraser in 1875, and the nearby Bate Island at the Champlain Bridge was named for him. While Gerald lived at the Bates House at 455, his brother Harry lived at 440, his brother Thomas at 469 and his sister Claudia at 396. When Gerald's wife, Kathleen M. Bates, died in January 1924, the Anglican funeral procession left from 455 Wilbrod. In addition to noting the presence of prominent Canadians such as former Prime Minister Robert Borden, Secretary of State George Halsey Perley and Chief Justice Francis Alexander Anglin, the Ottawa Citizen also printed the names of all 94 individuals who brought flowers. The architect Werner Noffke drew up construction plans for a new Sandy Hill residence of Gerald Bate's son G. Aldous Bate in 1930 at 32 Range Road, which are today kept in the National Archives of Canada. The Ottawa Citizen ran a story when G. Aldous Bate received a $2-3 fine "for a breach of parking regulations", identifying him as now living at the Range Road property. In November 1934, Gerald Bate died following three weeks of illness during which he didn't leave the house, leaving a substantial estate evaluated at $747,527.78 (equal to $14,161,498.50 in 2019 ) which was apportioned between his two sons and his only surviving daughter Marjorie St. Helene Fenton, The newspapers reported on the probate of his will by executors Hill, Hill and Maclaren, in which "Mrs. Fenton receives his homestead property at 455 Wilbrod Street, together with all household goods, furniture and other chattels". As Marjorie and her husband Major Fenton took control of the property, they employed Louise Healey, Margaret (Madge) Hood and Theresa Glisinski as maids. By 1968, they had retained Healey and Hood, and also hired Florence Nichols as the live-in cook. In November 1970, Colonel Fenton died. It was the headquarters of the Iraqi-Canadian Friendship Association. In 2003, the "Western Canada Handbook" mistakenly identified the house as the Austrian embassy, which is actually adjacent to it. The Bate-Fenton House currently operates as a Bed and Breakfast and wedding venue

Description of the property
In 1952, the Ottawa Citizen ran an article "The Bates Were Into Everything", in which they noted the Bate-Fenton House as "a large impressive house on Wilbrod Street". In 2017, a Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment noted the Bate-Fenton House surrounded with cedar hedges around the property.