Samuel Peters and his wife, Ann Philips, the builders of Grosvenor Lodge, left Devon, England, in 1835, and arrived in Quebec City after a six-week crossing. They traveled to London by riverboat, barge, and wagon. The family first lived on Ridout Street, where Peters built a house and an abattoir. He acted as a surveyor in London and elsewhere for the Canada Company. In 1850, Peters purchased a brewery west of Blackfriar’s Bridge, in an area he had surveyed and subdivided. It was known as Petersville.
Peters was an active and respected citizen. A founding member of London’s first Masonic lodge, he helped lay the cornerstone of St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1844.
In 1853, Peters employed his architect-surveyor nephew, Samuel Peters, Jr., to prepare designs for his house. The Tudor Gothic style of architecture chosen was influenced by a manor house in Merton, Devonshire, England, that Mrs. Peters knew. Among the house’s notable features are its locally crafted stained-glass windows encasing “S.P.” for Samuel Peters, and “A.P.” for his wife Ann Philips, in the design of the sidelights and the entwined “S” (Samuel) and “A” (Ann) in the fanlight.
Also of note is the stonework of the gables and windows. The plaques in the matching front elevation gables encase “S.P.” on one side and the construction date “1853” on the other. Among the interior features are wide-planked pine floors and individually carved marble fireplaces. The Gothic Revival fireplace in the dining room is of particular merit.
Grosvenor Lodge is now home to the London Regional Resource Centre for Heritage and the Environment.