Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the first French-speaking Prime Minister, who held office from 1896 to 1911, lived in this house from 1897. After his death, his wife willed the house to Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, grandson of the rebel William Lyon Mackenzie. King resided here until his death in 1950, bequeathing the house to the nation, along with his estate in what is now Gatineau Park.