What if the stones beneath your feet had stories to tell? Right here, standing before Duggan House, you’re not just facing a building. You are stepping into a layered history, a place where echoes of Montreal’s past resonate.
Duggan House is an English Gothic mansion. It stands proudly at 3724 Rue McTavish. This house is one of the oldest buildings on the McGill University campus. It is a reminder of the city’s unique heritage.
Originally named Braehead, it was built in 1861 for Orrin S. Wood. Wood managed the Montreal Telegraph Company. Andrew B. Taft, a New York architect, designed the house. Wood even used materials salvaged from the McTavish Mansion. This connects the house to an even earlier piece of Montreal history.
Simon McTavish, a wealthy fur trader, once had his castle on this very site. When McTavish died in 1804, his castle fell into disrepair. The last ruins were cleared in 1861. Stones from that castle found new life in Duggan House. Some say these haunted stones contribute to the eerie atmosphere.
Wood sold the house after a few years to Charles Daggett Proctor. Later, Matthew Hamilton Gault, the founder of Sun Life Financial, acquired it in 1869. Gault lived there with his wife Elizabeth Joanna Bourne and their sixteen children. It’s believed the Gaults named the house Braehead.
After Gault’s death, his son Leslie Hamilton Gault inherited the house. In 1911, George Herrick Duggan, a celebrated engineer, bought it. The Duggans allowed the army to use their home as a convalescence hospital. This was for disabled Canadian soldiers returning from World War One.
In 1944, George Herrick Duggan gifted the property to McGill University. He stipulated that he could stay there until his death. He passed away in 1946. McGill’s School of Commerce first occupied Duggan House. Later, in 1977, it became home to McGill’s Faculty of Education.
But the story of Duggan House doesn’t end with its bricks and mortar. It has a reputation for being haunted. Some claim to see a woman in a 19th-century petticoat on the spiral staircase. Others whisper about a worker who fell to his death during the demolition of McTavish Castle.
Could it be the ghost of Elizabeth Joanna Bourne? She lost five children in infancy. Perhaps she still roams the halls, tending to her lost ones. Or maybe, it’s the restless spirit of Simon McTavish himself. Some say he toboggans down the slopes in his coffin.
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, Duggan House holds a captivating past. It stands as a testament to Montreal’s evolving history. From a grand castle to a telegraph manager’s home to a university faculty building, Duggan House has witnessed it all. Take a moment to appreciate the layers of history embedded in its walls. Who knows what stories these stones might whisper to you?