Berkeley House, York, Upper Canada

[1][2][3][4][5][6] Upper Canada's first small Parliament buildings were built next door to Berkeley House.

In 1795, John Small bought a one-acre parcel of land with a large log cabin on it, which he covered in stucco and expanded.

[7] The original log cabin had been built in 1793 by George Porter, a self described former militia sergeant.

Charles Coxwell Small further expanded the house[2] as an Italianate villa that became the centre of 1820s social life in York, after he inherited the property in 1831.

One of the maps bore the annotation "A sketch showing the land occupied by John Small, Esq., upon the Reserve appropriated for the Government House at York by His Excellency Lt. Gov.