Spadina Historic House Museum

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Spadina Museum: Historic House & Gardens, sometimes called Spadina House, is a historic manor on Spadina Road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is now a museum operated by the City of Toronto's Economic Development & Culture division. The museum preserves the house much as it existed and developed historically. The art, decor and architecture of the house used to reflect the contemporary styles of the 1860s through the 1930s, including Victorian, Edwardian, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Colonial Revival styles. The museum closed for a year for extensive interior and exterior renovations. When it re-opened to the public on October 24, 2010, it was decorated in the style of the inter-war era of the 1920s and 1930s. The estate's gardens reflect the landscape during the Austin family's occupation of the house.HistoryThe first house constructed on the site was built in 1818 by Dr. William Warren Baldwin. He named his 200acre property and estate Spadina, which derived from the Ojibwe word espadinong, which translates as "hill" or "sudden rise of land". Baldwin himself designed the two storey wood frame house. The house burnt down in 1835, and owing to the three mile (5 km) trek from the estate into York, he moved to a house on Front Street. He built a smaller country estate on the property in 1836.