Harrington Lake the lake, expanding his total holdings to some 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres). He also ordered the demolition of the mill buildings at Harrington Lake, and replaced them with a 16-room cottage that was designed in the Colonial Revival style, very common in the 1920s according to the NCC, but with the addition of large fieldstone chimneys. In 1951, the lake and the property (including neighbouring land belonging to William Duncan Herridge and Stanley Healey) were acquired by the King in Right of Canada to build up preserves of natural areas around the capital. In 1959, supporters of Prime Minister John
Gatineau Park to create a park around his Kingsmere property and ease access to it by building a parkway. Though he denied the charge, the criticism would shape King's subsequent decisions regarding the park. It would take another eleven years for the park to be created in embryonic form on July 1, 1938, as a result of efforts by Percy Sparks of the Federal Woodlands Preservation League. By choosing to create the park through gradual property acquisition, the King government allowed private property to continue existing in Gatineau Park—a situation that has prevented the park from becoming a national park. Today, the