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Marie Dressler House
Museum & Town of Cobourg Visitor Information
Office |
Dressler
House would always enshrine an unbreakable connection between
Marie Dressler and the town of her birth in its several incarnations
- from private residence to place of business to Chamber
of Commerce office to Town of Cobourg Visitor Information
office.
Built in 1833, the cottage was of simple design, with two
rooms off each side of a central hallway. Yet it contained
embellishments suited to a family of means: high ceilings,
large windows, impressive mouldings and an elaborate front
door.
The Von Koerber family was renting the house from John
Field for $8.00 a month in 1868 when their daughter Leila
was born on Nov. 9 in the northeast room, a child who would
go on to fame as Marie Dressler.
By 1934, the year of Marie's death, the Field family was
living in the house. It had been a wedding present from John
to his son Frederick, who would become the father of Lenah
Field Fisher -- also born in the northeast room of that house.
The star's death on July 28 spurred interest in her life,
including her birthplace. By 1937, the family had transformed
their home into a restaurant in response to her many loyal
fans who begged the chance to see the house. |
In
those days, Cobourg's busy harbour owed a good part of
its hubbub to wealthy Americans who made summer homes
for themselves in town. Cobourg's small-town atmosphere,
with the Victoria Park bandstand, quaint stores and little
dance pavilion, was as attractive to visitors then as
it is now. Several steamer sailings a day from Rochester,
New York, brought summer residents and tourists to town,
and the birthplace of the star of Tugboat Annie was an
irresistible draw.
The restaurant, then and ever afterward, would cater to a clientele who valued
fine dining, superb food and gracious ambience. It offered the first licenced
patio service in Ontario. |
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Above
is Marie Dressler House in its prime days as a Restaurant
in the 1950's
Click photos for a larger version |
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If its guest
book is any indication, it became known worldwide. Customers
had come through its door from each American state and
each Canadian province, as well as from Europe and the
Orient.
The spring 1988 edition of Epicure magazine described
it by saying, "The red-brick bower of roses and
geraniums, in which Marie D. of the silent screen was
born, offers many appealing dishes. Excellent duck/hazelnut
pate, silky-cool cucumber soup, ratatouille, local rainbow
trout, pink lamb medallions as tender as can be, grilled-to-succulence
chicken breast treated to a tangy basil/orange butter.
Luxourious sweets. Rooms finished 1860s-style." |
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The Restaurant in its prime |
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| The property remained in the Field
family until 1974 when it was sold to Luigi Brandino, who soon
afterward sold it to Kevin Parker. Parker spent almost a year
restoring the building and facilities, making the rooms historically
correct for the 1860s in their decor, a reflection of the house
as it might have been when Marie was born. |
The
wallpaper and chandeliers were imported from Williamsburg and
England. Many antiques were collected, to augment a few that had
survived from the time the Von Koerbers had been in residence.
The famous collection of 2,000 antique buttons was displayed in
the room where Marie had been born.
In 1985, the restaurant was sold to its final owner, John Wilkinson, the four
rooms of the cottage had become two large dining rooms by that time. The summer
kitchen at the back had been replaced by a modern restaurant kitchen wing, the
back yard by a parking lot.
More than a half-century in business by that
time, it was known well beyond Cobourg's borders. A Belleville
Intelligencer article from 1987 speaks of its working fireplaces, valance
boxes over the windows, needlework samplers hanging in a graceful entrance
hall, "all
as they were when Marie Dressler was born Leila Koerber
in 1868." |
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| From outside - the entrance at
the rear away from the street |
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Author Cathy Hunter admitted it was "a small restaurant minutes off the beaten track,
but it has an elegance that draws regular customers from miles around." |
Then on Sunday,
January 15, 1989, owner-manager John Wilkinson discovered
a fire in the wee hours of the morning and firemen battled
the blaze well into the following day.
Although extensive damage almost resulted in complete
demolition, the building was declared basically sound.
Cobourg and District Chamber of Commerce director Bill
Patchett was appointed chairman of fundraising and so
was born the Marie Dressler Foundation. Efforts continued
and the house was purchased from the Wilkinsons and restored
through the efforts of the Foundation. For many years it
operated as the home of the Chamber of Commerce but is
now owned by the town of Cobourg and operates as the town's
visitor information office. |
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Fire
at Dressler House - January 1989 |
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Left. Marie
Dressler House as it is today.. |
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