Reddick Family Personal Property
As stated elsewhere on this website, the top (fourth) floor of the Reddick Mansion was presumably used by the Reddick Family as the sleeping quarters for servants, and possibly guests and visiting dignitaries. It was, and still is, reached by an interior set of servant stairs at the rear-west side of the main hallway.
This floor was designed to have six primary rooms, three to the west of the main hallway (running north-south) and three to the east of the hallway. None of these rooms have been restored. In its original configuration, only the two rooms (west and east of the main hall) at the rear (north) had no closet space. Consequently, the use of these two rear rooms may have been for purposes other than sleeping.
The room on the northwest corner (#37 on the 
schematic) was found to have once contained a large lead-lined wooden water tank. Its use would have been as a cistern for the storage of run-off rainwater.
The room on the northeast side of the floor (#42 on 
the schematic) was found to have hooks on the wall which may have been used for the anchoring of lines for hanging wet clothes. This room, then, would have been a laundry room.
As reported in a study commissioned by the Ottawa Silica Company Foundation and The National Trust for Historic Preservation,
The center hall was an elaborate spatial affair illuminated by a skylight. The skylightopened into a central hall on the third [and top] floor hall and from there its light radiated from floor to floor through an open well surrounded by elegant walnut railings. (Page 22 of the study)
The view, on the fourth floor, through the skylight can be seen in this photo.
The schematic drawing of the original layout, seen below, is a fair representation of what the top floor layout was like. The drawing is an active image map with numerous hotspots. For viewers who feel it is easier, the list of images linked from each hotspot is found at the bottom of this page.
The personal property of the Reddick family was inventoried five times: (1) initial inventory following death of William Reddick; (2) supplementary inventory of William Reddick ownings; (3) inventory of personal property entitled to Elizabeth Funk Reddick; (4) inventory of personal property transferred to Elizabeth Funk Reddick; and (5) final inventory following the death of Elizabeth Funk Reddick. If you are interested, you can read PDF copies of each of these inventories in their entirety. CLICK HERE
Below the following schematic, you will find a transcribed list of the household items that were inventoried and assessed for value for locations on this fourth floor of the Mansion. Click the room name of choice to navigate directly to a PDF copy of the relevant list. Fifteen imagemap hotspots have been placed on the drawing.
Inventoried Items and Their Value
Note: the following room titles are based on the types of items found in the room or on the name used for the location in the original inventory. Some items are linked to transcriptions of the probates listed as #1, 2 and 5 in the eighth paragraph, above.
35. Southwest Bedroom for Servant
36. Unidentified Room
37. Cistern to Hold Rainwater (see paragraph 3)
38. Servants' Stairway (only access to the floor)
39. Main Hallway
40. Southeast Bedroom for Servant
41. Storage Room
42. Clothes Drying Room (see paragraph 4)
