Government House (Manitoba) 2.98

Government House of Manitoba is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, as well as that in Winnipeg of the Canadian monarch. It stands in the provincial capital, on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building, at 10 Kennedy Street; unlike other provincial Government Houses in Canada, this gives Manitoba's royal residence a prominent urban setting, though it is surrounded by gardens.HistoryPrior to the foundation of Manitoba, the Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories occupied a designated residence within the walls of Upper Fort Garry; a house that was, at one point, used by Louis Riel as president of the provisional government of Red River. After the new province joined Confederation on 15 July 1870, a structure five kilometres outside of Winnipeg was leased for use as the lieutenant governor's residence, known as Silver Heights, but it was found unsuitable, given its size and distance from the capital. Instead, the lieutenant governor remained at Upper Fort Gary until the present Government House was completed.The house there, however, was in constant need of repair; after $10,000 was spent on the structure in 1873, Alexander Morris wrote to the federal Minister of Public Works: "You can fancy the state of the house when I tell you there was five feet of water in the cellar till middle of July. Year before till middle of August..." Further, as the population of the province was increasing, the need for public buildings became more pressing, and a delegation travelled to Ottawa to discuss with the Queen's Privy Council for Canada the matter of parliament allocating funds for a new legislative assembly and Government House for Manitoba. This was approved, and Thomas Seaton Scott, the Dominion architect, immediately set about drawing up plans for the structures.