Holyrood Estate, Oakville, Swimming Pool
Description
- Media Type
- Image
- Text
- Item Type
- Photographs
- Description
- Three photographs showing the inground, concrete, cold lake water swimming pool on the Holyrood Estate, Oakville, Ontario in about the 1930's. The estate was at the foot of Dorval Drive.
The main photograph shows Alistair and Roy Lessels, their mother Alice, family of estate groundsman Jack Lessels, and Mrs. Gordon ready to jump or dive into the pool.
"Holyrood 22a" photograph: The photograph shows Alistair ready to dive in and Roy already swimming in the deep end of the pool. Lake Ontario is in the background.
"Holyrood 22b" photograph: shows Roy on the lower of the two diving boards.
The cement pool had to be drained and scrubbed down to remove algae once a week. There were no chemicals. The valve to drain the pool was down a man-hole and it had to be first opened to drain the pool, then closed before starting the pumps to refill the pool. As the pool drained into Lake Ontario, the Lessels boys and groundsmen followed, scrubbing with stable brooms. The pipe into lake Ontario was about 100 feet with a filter on the end that also had to be cleaned. The pump house was below the gazebo, at the water's edge. Roy says it "took quite a while to fill it up". - Notes
- Information and photographs of Holyrood house, the Lefebvre family and the history of the property in the Trafalgar Township Historical Society digital collection were shared by Mr. Roy Lessels in May 2016. Roy's father was the head grounds keeper for the estate from 1929 to 1945, in the employ of Gordon Lefebvre who was head of the Pontiac Division, General Motors Company, and again from 1955-1969 for David Knapp. The images with notes remain the property of Mr. Lessels.
The "Groups of Related Records" link will take you to the other records, maps of the property and photographs of the estate people in Mr. Lessels photo album.
To view the different photographs, pull open "Pages" "Select". To come back to the main record, use the return/back arrow of your internet browser. - Inscriptions
- Album notes for the main photograph: Shallow End - Change and Guest Bungalow to the Right.
Album notes for the photo of Alistair and Roy swimming near the diving board: The Lefevres were away from Oakville many days at a time on business trips. Mr. Lefevre always told Dad that when they were away on business, let the boys (Alistair and myself) use the swimming pool and tennis court.
You can see by the pictures that we made good use of the pool and court.
Album notes for the photo of Roy on the low diving board: Concrete Swimming Pool. Approximate Size: 20' x 60'. Depth: 4' sloping to 12' to 15'. Diving Tower: Wood construction. Diving Boards: Hardwood, Burlap coverings. Swimming Pool pump house was on the beach below the gazebo. Filler and drain pumps extended well out into the lake (Lake Ontario). - Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Alice Lessels, d.age 99, 11 months, 14 days, married John (called Jack) Lessels, b.1902, d.March 5, 1986, age 84. Son John Roy (called Roy), b. February 13, 1930, married Joyce. (He worked for Rubbermaid for many years, Joyce worked for Oakville dentist, John McLennan.) Son Alistair Anderson, b.January 27, 1932 (in Edinburgh, Scotland), married Diane Hammer in March 1964, d.July 29, 2014. (He had a real estate brokerage in Collingwood.)
- Local identifier
- TTJRL000509
- Collection
- Trafalgar Township Historical Society
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
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Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.4334083993785 Longitude: -79.6764612406922
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- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Recommended Citation
- Holyrood Estate, Oakville, Swimming Pool
- Contact
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Trafalgar Township Historical Society Sponsor: Jeff Knoll, Local & Regional Councillor for Oakville Ward 5 – Town of Oakville/Regional Municipality of Halton
