Visit the McCrae House

At 108 Water Street, Guelph, Ontario stands the very same house Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae once lived in from his time of birth in 1872. The McCrae House was built circa 1857 and is constructed from limestone, overlooking a nearby park bordering the Speed River at the south end of Guelph. Today, it remains as a museum and tribute to the poet, doctor and soldier. The famous poem In Flanders Fields is a main attraction, dramatically presented to visitors on floor-to-ceiling wall panels and heard in all the languages into which it has been translated. The presentation was conceived to recognize the poem’s global impact. Renovated in 2015, the house features a bold poppy- themed entranceway that leads into McCrae’s first home where visitors learn about his childhood and life as a famed writer, doctor and soldier. Artifacts and events are captured in interactive graphics, videos and timelines. This iconic property on the banks of the Speed River was purchased by a group of Guelph locals with the intent to preserve the house as a museum in 1966. In the same year, the Canadian federal government worked with the Historic Sites and Monuments Board to designate John McCrae as a person of national significance, along with his birth home to be recognized as a location of national significance. The surviving landscape and the beautiful gardens, replete with poppies in season, adds to the experience of visiting The McCrae House where a national hero had once lived. First opened to visitors in 1968, the attraction consistently welcomes about 7,000 visitors a year from across Canada, as well as Europe. For more information visit guelphmuseums.ca

Volunteer Val Harrison with some of the poppies that were planted in front of the Guelph birthplace of John McCrae, author of In Flanders Fields. Torstar File Photos

This poppy, known as Papaver rhoeas is planted along the white picket fence at McCrae House.

Three kinds of annual poppies are planted at McCrae House in Guelph every spring.