911 Caledonia Road

911 Caledonia Road, in the Town of Mount Royal, Quebec, was the long-term home of the Malcolm Gruner and Jessie Mullally family and one of the most important places in the family's twentieth-century history.

The house was originally built in 1939 by Malcolm Gruner for his parents, Oskar Cameron Gruner and Alice Nightingale.

Family accounts associate the property with several addresses over time, including 311 Berwick, 911 Caledonia, and later 505 Laird. The relationship between these addresses remains to be confirmed through municipal and property records.

After Alice's death in 1940, ownership of the house passed from Oskar to Malcolm. It then became the principal family home of Malcolm and Jessie and their children for approximately the next four decades.

According to Peter Hamilton Gruner, son of Malcolm, the original house was designed by an architect named Mr. Betts.

Peter described it as a stone house with a mansard roof, situated on a corner lot. The original layout included:

• three bedrooms
• a library
• a living room
• a dining room
• a kitchen
• a maid's room with its own bathroom
• a finished basement with hardwood flooring
• an attached garage with a flat roof

The house was initially built for Oskar and Alice Gruner rather than for Malcolm and Jessie themselves.

Alice Nightingale Gruner died in April 1940. Peter later remembered that she was waked in the living room of the house.

Following Alice's death, Oskar eventually transferred the property to Malcolm.

Peter recalled being present when Malcolm formally gave his father one dollar for the house. Oskar, he remembered, immediately pocketed the dollar.

Peter later described this moment as a major turning point for the family, since the house would become the centre of Malcolm and Jessie's family life for roughly the next forty years.

The property changed considerably after Malcolm and Jessie took over the house.

Peter remembered that the lot behind the house had originally been vacant and prone to seasonal flooding. The children sometimes used the flooded area for improvised play.

Malcolm and Jessie later purchased the lot, drained it, and incorporated it into the family property.

Peter remembered a substantial garden that included:

• strawberries
• grapevines
• vegetables
• roses
• red, white, and black currants
• fruit trees
• a rock garden

A shallow concrete pool was also added. Peter believed it may originally have been intended for water lilies, although the children used it extensively for swimming and play.

As Malcolm and Jessie's family grew, the house was altered several times.

One early addition was a bedroom constructed over the garage. Peter remembered built-in closets and drawers, a built-in desk, and access to a balcony overlooking the garden.

Around 1950, Malcolm and Jessie undertook a much larger renovation and again consulted the house's original architect, Mr. Betts.

The addition included a new living room with:

• oak panelling
• a bow window
• varied-width Kentucky oak flooring
• hand-hewn British Columbia fir beams supporting the floor above

Above the new living room was a new master bedroom, bathroom, and sewing room. Below it was a large playroom.

The former master bedroom was then intended for the family's two daughters.

The house was not only a residence.

In the spring and early summer of 1950, Peter Gruner worked in the library at 911 drafting prefab plans for a group of houses Malcolm was building in Pointe-Claire.

The home therefore also functioned at times as an informal extension of Malcolm's engineering and construction work.

911 Caledonia was also preserved in Malcolm's family films.

Several interiors appear in homemade productions involving the Gruner children.

One particularly valuable sequence appears in Malcolm's Aladdin film. The story shows Malcolm and Jessie discussing their plans for the house, followed by a staged “magical” transformation revealing the completed addition.

Because of this, the surviving family films may provide unusually detailed visual documentation of the house before and after renovation.

911 Caledonia became much more than a family residence.

It was:

• originally the home of Oskar and Alice Gruner
• the place where Alice was waked after her death in 1940
• transferred from Oskar to Malcolm
• the childhood home of several of Malcolm and Jessie's younger children
• the setting for decades of family gatherings, films, holidays, and everyday life
• repeatedly altered as the family grew
• a place connected with Malcolm's construction work and Peter's early drafting experience

For several members of the Gruner family, it was the principal home associated with childhood and family life.

• What was the exact legal address of the property in 1939?
• How do 311 Berwick, 911 Caledonia, and 505 Laird relate to one another?
• Can municipal assessment rolls or property records confirm the address changes?
• Can the original architect “Mr. Betts” be fully identified?
• Are the original architectural plans preserved?
• Are building permits available for the original house or later additions?
• When exactly did Malcolm and Jessie move into the house?
• When was the rear lot purchased?
• Can the approximate dates of the bedroom-over-garage addition and the major 1950 renovation be confirmed?
• Are photographs preserved showing the original exterior, garden, pool, or later addition?
• Can surviving family films be used to document the changing interior of the house?
• When did Malcolm and Jessie leave the property?
• Who owned the house after the Gruner family?