Grosvenor Lodge

It is a co-operative community endeavour promoting heritage and environmental activities and organizations in the London area. "For over 120 years, Grosvenor Lodge, which has been described as an outstanding example of ""Tudor Gothic"", was home to one of London's pioneer families. His training as a civil engineer and land surveyor seemed to fit with the requirements of the new land. His first employment was with the Canada Land Company in Goderich. However, his wife and family preferred London and there was plenty of work for a surveyor in the rapidly growing community. They bought 500 acres of land from George Goodhue and had their nephew design the house. The result was a Victorian residence in the manner of a Tudor country home. There are paired gable finials and paired gable panels, one with the date stone and the other with Samuel Peters monogram. Emphasized quoins toped by corbels mark the corners. Work on the house began in 1853 and the family moved in a year later. The imposing entrance has Gothic heads to sidelights and door and recessed spandrels emphasize the Gothic heads with rectangular frames. Sidelights and transom have leaded glass with decorative treatment and monograms. The door and side panels are linen fold panels and the alignment of the paneling indicates much attention to detail. The stained glass window over the front door has the initials S and A, for Samuel and Anne, entwined in a Victorian love knot. Grosvenor Lodge remained in the Peters family for 3 generations. This extensive country estate was also a working farm, refined into a gentleman's farm under the stewardship of son John who inherited the property. John was a Justice of the Peace and raised thoroughbred horses and greyhounds on the farm. Leila Gertrude Peters, John's daughter, was only 25 years old when she inherited the home in 19115 and a gracious, yet industrious, family life continued through the twentieth century. She raised shorthorn cattle, made her own butter and ran the farm business from the kitchen. She married James Paul Dunn and had a son. Leila Peters Dunn lived in the house until her death in 1974. Two years before she died, Leila sold the property to the University of Western Ontario under the condition that it be preserved as an historic site. The Lodge was designated as a Heritage property in 1972. The London Public Library Board took over and in 1981 the Lodge opened as the Lawson Museum and History Centre. Today the Lodge is the London Regional Resource Centre for HERITAGE and ENVIRONMENT. The Lodge is owned by the city of London and since 1992 has been managed by Heritage London Foundation.