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JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF I JOURNAL DE LA SOCIETE POUR L'ETUDE DE L'<br />
ARCHITECTURE!~<br />
<strong>CANADA</strong><br />
VOL. 30 > N' 1 > 2005
THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF ARCHITECTURE IN <strong>CANADA</strong> is a learned society<br />
devoted to the examination of the role of the built environment in Canadian society. Its membership includes<br />
structural and landscape architects, architectural historians and planners, sociologists, ethnologists, and<br />
specialists in such fields as heritage conservation and landscape history. Founded in 1974, the Society is currently<br />
the sole national society whose focus of interest is Canada's built environment in all of its manifestations.<br />
The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, published twice a year, is a refereed journal.<br />
Membership fees, including subscription to the Journal, are payable at the following rates: Student, $30;<br />
lndividual,$50; Organization I Corporation, $75; Patron, $20 (plus a donation of not less than $100).<br />
Institutional subscription: $75.<br />
There is a surcharge of $5 for all foreign memberships. Contributions over and above membership fees are welcome,<br />
and are tax-deductible. Please make your cheque or money order payable to the :<br />
SSAC > Box 2302, Station 0, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W5<br />
LA SOCIETE POUR L'ETUDE DE L'ARCHITECTURE AU <strong>CANADA</strong> est une societe savante qui se<br />
consacre a l'etude du role de l'environnement bati dans Ia societe canadienne. Ses membres sont architectes,<br />
architectes paysagistes, historiens de !'architecture et de l'urbanisme, urbanistes, sociologues, ethnologues<br />
ou specialistes du patrimoine et de l'histoire du paysage. Fondee en 1974, Ia Societe est presentement Ia seule<br />
association nationale preoccupee par l'environnement bati du Canada sous toutes ses formes.<br />
Le Journal de Ia Societe pour /'etude de /'architecture au Canada, publie deux fois par annee, est une revue dont les<br />
articles sont evalues par un co mite de lecture.<br />
La cotisation annuelle, qui comprend l'abonnement au Journal, est Ia suivante : etudiant, 30$; individuel, 50$;<br />
organisation I societe, 75$; bienfaiteur, 20$ (plus un don d'au moins 100$).<br />
Abonnement institutionnel: 75$.<br />
Un supplement de 5$ est demande pour les abonnements etrangers. Les contributions depassant l'abonnement<br />
annuel sont bienvenues et deductibles d'impot. Veuillez s.v.p. envoyer un cheque ou un mandat postal a Ia :<br />
StAC > Box 2302, Station 0, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W5<br />
www.canada-architecture.org<br />
The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada is produced<br />
with the assistance of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research<br />
Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage.<br />
Le Journal de Ia Societe pour /'etude de /'architecture au Canada est publie<br />
avec I' aide du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada et de<br />
Ia Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain.<br />
Publication Mail40739147 > PAP Registration No. 10709<br />
We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Government of Canada,<br />
through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs.<br />
ISSN 1486-0872<br />
(supersedes I remplace ISSN 0228·0744)<br />
EDITING, PROOFREADING, TRANSLATION I REVISION LINGUISTIQUE, TR ADUCTION<br />
MICHELINE GIROUX-AUBIN<br />
ASSISTANT ED ITOR IADJOINTE A LA REDACTION<br />
ISABELLE CARON<br />
GRAPHIC DESIGN I CONCEPTION GRAPH IQUE<br />
MARIKE PARADIS<br />
PRINTING I IMPRESSION<br />
K2 IMPRESSIONS, QUEBEC<br />
COVER ICOUVERTURE<br />
Montreal. lnterieur de l'eglise Saint-Edouard.<br />
(PHOTO LUC NOPPEN)<br />
PAGE MAKE-UP I MISE EN PAGES<br />
B GRAPHISTES<br />
JOURNAL EDITOR I REOACTEUR DU JOURNAL<br />
LUC NOPPEN<br />
Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain<br />
Etudes urbaines et touristiques,<br />
Ecole des sciences de Ia gestion<br />
Universite du Quebec a Montreal<br />
CP 8888. succ. centre-ville<br />
Montreal, (QC) H3C 3P8<br />
(514) 987-3000 x-25621 I : (514) 987-7827<br />
e : noppen.luc@uqam.ca<br />
WEB SITE I SITE WEB<br />
LANA STEWART<br />
Lana Stewart<br />
Parks Canada<br />
25, Eddy Street, 5th floor<br />
Gatineau, QC K1A OMS<br />
(819) 997-6098<br />
e : lana.stewart@pc.gc.ca<br />
ED ITOR Of NEWS & VIEWS I<br />
REDACTRICE OE NOUVELLES ET COUPS D'CEIL<br />
HEATHER BRETZ<br />
CPV Group Architects & Engineers Ltd.<br />
Calgary, Alberta<br />
e : HeatherB@cpvgroup.com<br />
PRESIDENT I PRES I DENTE<br />
PIERRE DU PREY<br />
Department of Art<br />
Ontario Hall<br />
Queen 's University<br />
Kingston, ON KZL 3N6<br />
(613) 533-61661 I: (613) 533-6891<br />
e: pduprey@post.queensu.ca<br />
VICE-PRESIDENTS I VICE-PRESIDENTS<br />
ANDREW WALDRON<br />
Architectural Historian, National Historic Sites Directorate<br />
Parks Canada<br />
5"' floor, 25 Eddy Street<br />
Hull, QC K1A OMS<br />
(819) 953·5587 If: (819) 953-4909<br />
e : andrew.waldron@pc.gc.ca<br />
LUCIE K. MORISSET<br />
Etudes urbaines et touristiques<br />
Ecole des sceinces de Ia gestion<br />
Universite du Quebec a Montreal<br />
C.P. 8888, succ. Centre-ville<br />
Montreal, QC H3C 3P8<br />
(514) 987-3000 X 45851 I : (514) 987-7827<br />
e : morisset.lucie@uqam.ca<br />
TR EASURER I TRESORIER<br />
JULIE HARRIS<br />
Julie Harris<br />
342, Maclaren St.<br />
Ottawa, ON K2P OM6<br />
e : jharris@contentworks.ca<br />
SECRETARY I SECRE TAIRE<br />
MARIE-FRANCE BISSON<br />
Ecole de design, UQAM<br />
Case postale 8888, succursale "Centre-ville»<br />
Montreal (Quebec)<br />
H3C 3P8<br />
(514) 987 3000 # 3866<br />
e: docomomo@er.uqam.ca<br />
PROVINCIAL REPRESENTATIVES I<br />
REPRESENTANTS PROVINCIAUX<br />
GEORGE CHALKER<br />
Heritage foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador<br />
P.O. Box 5171<br />
St. John's, Nf AlC SVS<br />
(709) 739-1892 1 I: (709) 739-5413<br />
e: george@heritagefoundation.ca<br />
TERRENCE SMITH LAMOTHE<br />
193S Vernon<br />
Halifax, NS B3H 3N8<br />
(902) 42S-0101<br />
THOMAS HORROCKS<br />
ADI Limited<br />
1133 Regent Street. Suite 300<br />
fredericton, NB E3B 3Z2<br />
(506) 452-9000 I I: (906) 452-7303<br />
e · thd @adi.ca I horto@reg2.health .nb.ca<br />
CLAUDINE DEOM<br />
2078, avenue Claremont<br />
Montreal, QC H3Z 2P8<br />
I I I: (514) 488-4071<br />
e : cdeom@supernet.ca<br />
SHARON VATTAY<br />
11 Elm Avenue, Apt#322<br />
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1N2<br />
(416) 964-723S<br />
svattay@chass.utoronto.ca<br />
TERRENCE J. SINCLAIR<br />
Heritage Branch<br />
Saskatchewan Department of Municipal Affairs,<br />
Culture and Housing<br />
430·1855 Victoria Avenue<br />
Regina, SK S4P 3V7<br />
(306) 787-5777 I I : (306) 787-0069<br />
e: tsinclair@mach.gov.sk.ca<br />
L. FREDERICK VALENTINE<br />
CPV Group Architects & Engineers ltd.<br />
Suite 500 110-12th Avenue SW<br />
Calgary, AB T2R OG7<br />
(403) 262-5511 I I : (403) 262-5519<br />
e : fval@cpv-architecture.com<br />
DANIEL MILLETTE<br />
511-55 Water Street<br />
Vancouver, BC V68 1 A 1<br />
t I I: (604) 687-4907<br />
e : lucubratio@yahoo.com<br />
KAY HAN NADJI<br />
126 Niven Dr.<br />
Yellowknife, NT X1 A 3W8<br />
I I I : (867) 920-6331<br />
e : kayhan_nadji@gov.nt.ca<br />
SHELLEY BRUCE<br />
25 forks Market Road# 401<br />
Winnipeg, MB R3C 4S8<br />
(204) 983-2221
CONTENTS I TABLE DES MATU~RES<br />
JOURN AL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF I JOU RNAL DE LA SOCIETE POUR L'ETUDE DE L'<br />
ARCHITECTURE~~<br />
<strong>CANADA</strong><br />
ANALYSES I ANALYSES<br />
ESSAIS I ESSAYS<br />
RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
COMPTE-RENDU I REVIEW<br />
> LUC NOPPEN<br />
Presentation I Presentation<br />
> SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT<br />
Un patrimoine religieu x en devenir<br />
les eglises de !'arrondissement Rosemont<br />
La Petite-Patrie a M o ntreal<br />
> PETER COFFMAN<br />
St. Anne's Anglican Church and its Patron<br />
> RoBERT McGEACHY<br />
Polson Park and Calvin Pa rk, 1954-1962: Two<br />
Land Assembly Subdivisions in Kingston,<br />
Ontario<br />
> COLIN RIPLEY<br />
Emptiness and Landscape: National Identity in<br />
Canada's Centennial Projects<br />
> MELANIE BOUCHER<br />
Lo rsque les artistes e xposent dans les<br />
eglises. Les ca s de Carl Bouchard et de Laura<br />
Vickerson<br />
> KATE MACFARLANE<br />
Hangar No. 1 National Historic Site, Brandon<br />
Municipal Airport, Brandon, Manitoba<br />
> YONA JEBRAK<br />
De Ia Ruffiniere du Prey (2004).<br />
Ah Wilderness! Resort Architecture in the<br />
Thousand Islands.<br />
2<br />
3<br />
15<br />
25<br />
37<br />
47<br />
53<br />
61<br />
VOL. 30 > N' 1 > 2005
PRESENTATION I PRESENTATION<br />
Ce numero de Ia revue de Ia Societe pour !'etude de<br />
!'architecture au Canada marque le 30e anniversaire de sa<br />
parution. Du feuillet d'information qu'elle etait, Ia revue s'est<br />
au fil des ans metamorphosee en une veritable revue scientifique.<br />
Sa presentation graphique a connu des transformations, son<br />
contenu s'est enrichi de collaborations plus nombreuses- plus<br />
variees, aussi. Mais Ia revue cherche toujours, comme c'etait le<br />
cas lors de sa fondation, a donner une place enviable aux jeunes<br />
chercheurs.<br />
Pour souligner l'anniversaire, nous avons adopte une maquette<br />
graphique nouvelle- a Ia fois pour Ia couverture et pour les<br />
pages interieures- qui epouse les contours actuels de nos sensi <br />
bilites esthetiques changeantes. Marike Paradis, jeune graphiste<br />
de talent, fralchement dipl6mee de !'Ecole superieure d'arts<br />
appliques Estienne a Paris, nous a soumis plusieurs projets; nous<br />
vous proposons celui que nous avons retenu dans ce numero 1<br />
du volume 30 d'Architecture Canada .<br />
Lors de l'assemblee generale de Ia Societe, a Lethbridge, il a aussi<br />
ete decide de formaliser une pratique mise en ceuvre depuis<br />
quelques annees deja : Ia revue, desormais, est publiee deux<br />
fois l'an. Nous aurons done a Ia fin du printemps le numero<br />
1 et, a Ia fin de l'automne, le numero 2, chaque fois avec un<br />
nombre de pages equivalent a deux livraisons de l'ancienne<br />
edition trimestrielle.<br />
Notre revue sera aussi en vente au numero (15 $, plus les frais<br />
d'envoi s'il y a lieu) et offerte par le biais d'un abonnement institutionnel<br />
(75 $ par an, incluant les frais d'envoi). La cotisation<br />
a Ia Societe pour !'etude de !'architecture au Canada, qui pour sa<br />
part continue d'inclure l'abonnement a Ia revue, pourra dorenavant<br />
etre souscrite de fa~on triannuelle. Enfin, abonnements et<br />
cotisations seront renouvelables a leur terme et non plus a une<br />
date fixe a chaque an . En esperant que ces modifications plairont<br />
a notre lectorat, que nous souhaitons toujours plus vaste, nous<br />
proposons dans ce numero des articles issus de quelques-unes<br />
des ass·emblees annuelles passees, mais aussi des propositions<br />
soumises par de jeunes chercheurs qui, sans necessairement avoir<br />
participe aces assemblees, ont souhaite contribuer a Ia revue et<br />
vu leurs essais reconnus par les pairs.<br />
This issue marks the 30th anniversary edition of Architecture<br />
Canada, the journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture<br />
in Canada . With time, from its humble beginnings as<br />
an information leaflet, the magazine turned into a true scientific<br />
publication- its graphic grid was modified, and its content<br />
enriched thanks to more numerous, and varied, contributions.<br />
But, as was the case when it was founded, it still strives to lend<br />
enviable exposure to young researchers.<br />
To honour this milestone, we adopted a new look- both inside<br />
and out- which more accurately embodies the current outlines of<br />
our changing aesthetic sensibilities. To this end, Marike Paradis,<br />
a talented young graphic artist fresh out from Ecole superieure<br />
d'arts appliques Estienne in Paris, submitted a number of<br />
projects. It is a pleasure to introduce the one we retained with<br />
this first issue of volume 30 of Architecture Canada.<br />
During the general assembly of the Society held in Lethbridge,<br />
a decision was also made to officialize a practice which has<br />
already been implemented unofficially for a few years- the<br />
magazine is now published twice a year. Issue no. 1 will therefore<br />
be published at the end of spring and issue no. 2 at the end<br />
of fall, with twice the number of pages the previous quarterly<br />
editions held.<br />
Our magazine will also be sold on a per-issue basis ($15, plus applicable<br />
postage, if required) and available through corporate<br />
subscriptions ($75 per year, including shipping). From now on,<br />
membership fees to the Society for the Study of Architecture in<br />
Canada, which will continue to include a magazine subscription,<br />
can now be paid in three instalments. Finally, subscriptions and<br />
fees will be renewable upon term instead of on a fixed date<br />
each year. Hoping these changes will meet the expectations of<br />
our readers, whose numbers we always enjoy to see growing,<br />
we propose an issue filled with articles related to some of the<br />
past annual meeting topics, but also to proposals submitted by<br />
young researchers who, without necessarily having attended<br />
these meetings, wished to contribute to the magazine and see<br />
their efforts recognized by their peers.<br />
> LUC NOPPEN<br />
> LUC NOPPEN<br />
2
ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
UN PATRIMOINE RELIGIEUX EN DEVENIR:<br />
LES EGLISES DE IJ\RRONDISSEMENT<br />
ROSEMONT-LA PETITE-PATRIE A MONTREAL 1<br />
SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT complete un rnemowe<br />
de maitr-rse en geogr-aph re a I'UQAM sur<br />
>SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT<br />
les fonctrons geo-rdentrtawes des eglrses de<br />
quartrer. En septembre 2005 el le entreprend<br />
des etudes doctorales dans le programme<br />
con1ornt en etudes urbarnes [UOAM/INRS ]<br />
Elle est assocree a Ia Charre de r-echer-che du<br />
Canada en pacr'llllOrne urbarn.<br />
Le Quebec, comme plusieurs autres<br />
regions du monde occidental, est aux<br />
prises avec un probleme d'amenagement<br />
des plus complexes en ce qui concerne<br />
les lieux de cu lte desaffectes ou en voie<br />
de l'etre. En effet, Ia diminution de Ia<br />
pratique religieuse, jumelee a !'augmentation<br />
des couts d'entretien des eglises et<br />
au manque de releve sacerdotale oblige<br />
les dioceses, tant catholiques que protestants,<br />
a fusionner eta eliminer des<br />
paroisses dans le but de consolider leurs<br />
avoirs et leurs activites' . Ces dioceses procedent<br />
ensuite a Ia vente des lieux de culte<br />
excedentaires qui, si le transfert a une<br />
autre communaute religieuse se revele<br />
impossible, sont reconvertis a d'autres<br />
usages ou encore demolis.<br />
Cette tendance se remarque surtout dans<br />
les quartiers centraux des principales vi lies<br />
quebecoises, attendu que leur population,<br />
plus importante, y a genere un plus grand<br />
nombre de lieux de culte. Par contre, les<br />
residants de ces quartiers s'opposent frequemment<br />
a Ia liquidation de leurs eglises,<br />
alleguant que ces biHiments font partie<br />
du patrimoine collectif. Ce conflit d'usage<br />
interpelle !'administration municipale qui<br />
s'efforce de preserver les batiments religieux<br />
les plus significatifs a l'echelle du<br />
quartier. Toutefois, ce qui est significatif<br />
pour les experts en patrimoine et les<br />
autorites municipales ne l'est peut-etre<br />
pas pour les residants.<br />
Un tel contexte souleve plusieurs questions<br />
:Comment les residants d'un quartier<br />
procedent-ils pour determiner Ia valeur<br />
relative de leurs eg lises? Temoignentils<br />
d'une certaine conscientisation dans<br />
leurs choix ou plut6t d 'un attachement<br />
lie a l'usage et a Ia connaissance? Se re <br />
presentent-ils les eglises comme des lieux<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005 > 5-16<br />
3
S OPH IE RIOUX-H EBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
voues principalement au culte ou comme<br />
des lieux patrimoniaux qui possedent des<br />
valeurs historiques et artistiques ?<br />
A partir de l'exemple de !'arrondissement<br />
Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie a Montreal, le<br />
present article examine les representations<br />
que les residants se font de leurs eglises de<br />
quartier afin de decouvrir si ces representations<br />
temoignent de !'emergence d'une<br />
conscience patrimoniale.<br />
LES REPRESENTATIONS<br />
COLLECTIVES DES EGLISES, UNE<br />
PERSPECTIVE PEU ETUDIEE<br />
Un rapide survol de Ia litterature concernant<br />
les lieux de culte pe rmet de constater<br />
Ia pauvrete de Ia recherche scientifique sur<br />
les representations collectives des eglises<br />
de quartier dans un contexte de secularisation.<br />
La geographie de Ia religion, champ<br />
disciplinaire ou l'on pourrait s'attendre a<br />
trouver ce type d'etude, ne genere que<br />
peu de recherches en ce sens 3 . II existe<br />
bien deux etudes geographiques datant<br />
des annees 1980 qui examinent le recyclage<br />
des eglises rurales du Minnesota et<br />
du Manitoba en lien avec les represen <br />
tations identitaires qu'en possedent les<br />
families qui habitent a proximite•. Ces<br />
etudes concluent que les residants considerent<br />
toujours leurs eglises, malgre leur<br />
desaffectation, comme des batiments<br />
signifiants pour des raisons relig ieuse,<br />
historique et culturelle, mais surtout<br />
pa rce qu'ils entretiennent avec celles-ci<br />
des liens affectifs forts developpes sur<br />
plusieurs generations 5 .<br />
De !'autre cote de !'ocean, en France de<br />
!'Ouest, des geographes ont etudie !'impact<br />
des reamenagements paroissiaux sur<br />
les representations et les comportements<br />
religieux de divers groupes sociaux sans<br />
toutefois examiner les rapports possiblement<br />
affectifs et identitaires que ces<br />
groupes entretiennent avec leurs lieux<br />
de culte•.<br />
ILL. 1. MONTREAL ET L'ARRONDISSEME NT ROS EMO NT·LA PETITE·PATR IE<br />
Au Quebec, les etudes qui explorent le role<br />
des eglises dans Ia societe quebecoise ont<br />
emane principalement d'historiens, d'architectes<br />
et d'urbanistes. Toutefois, malgre<br />
le fait que le patrimoine religieux suscite<br />
depuis quelques annees un interet de plus<br />
en plus marque de Ia part des medias et<br />
de Ia population, comme en temoigne<br />
le nombre d'emissions de television et<br />
d'articles de journaux qui lui sont reserves,<br />
les etudes scientifiques qui abordent le<br />
probleme de Ia conservation des lieux de<br />
culte demeurent peu nombreuses. Au sein<br />
de ce mince corpus, nous n'avons trouve<br />
aucune etude scientifique analysant precisement<br />
les representations collectives<br />
des eglises de quartier dans le contexte<br />
actuel de Ia desaffectation ; tout au plus,<br />
certaines etudes soulignent !'importance<br />
des aspects culture! et identitaire dans<br />
Ia creation d 'un patrimoine religieux' .<br />
C'est pourquoi nous nous tournons<br />
vers Ia geographie de Ia representation<br />
pour alimenter le cadre theorique de<br />
notre etude.<br />
Les etu des geographiques sur les<br />
representations mentales se revelent<br />
particulierement fecondes pour notre<br />
!----!----!....<br />
analyse. A l'instar de Debarbieux et de<br />
Bailly 8 , nous considerons que Ia represen <br />
tation mentale de l'espace est un schema<br />
cognitif, une interpretation du reel, transmis<br />
soit par Ia perception d'un lieu, soit<br />
par les modes de communication, et qui<br />
s'inscrit dans un cadre ideologique. Ces<br />
representations individuelles interagissent<br />
entre elles grace aux moyens de communication,<br />
aux symboles et aux experiences<br />
pour se combiner et s'alterer mutuellement.<br />
De cette association, ou socialisation,<br />
resultent des representations collectives 9 •<br />
Celles-ci, continuellement alimentees par<br />
de nouvelles representations individuelles,<br />
fluctuent, se construisent ou se deconstruisent<br />
au fil du temps' 0 • Par ailleurs, ces<br />
representations collectives comportent<br />
une assise spatiale dans Ia mesure ou le<br />
groupe social ou culture! projette sur un<br />
lieu des valeurs affectives et identitaires,<br />
lui assignant par le fait meme une<br />
symbolique qui ancre dans celui-ci l'identite<br />
du groupe. Cette projection de valeurs<br />
resulte en un marquage territorial qui<br />
s'effectue par Ia production et l'entretien de<br />
referents identitaires, auxquels on accole<br />
frequemment le terme « patrimoine ».<br />
4<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
•,: r<br />
S OPHIE R IOUX-HE:BERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
., --=- ;:.'- \<br />
\ ,.,___,.....<br />
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\ • • .-......:.: ~-4<br />
, . ··~~-_:;;. ,<br />
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...... - -.. ·~,: .~t ~Roy~l<br />
ILL. 4. L'EGLISE NOTRE-DAM E-D E-LA-DEFENSE I JONATHAN CHA<br />
ILL. 2. L'ARRONDISSEMENT ROSEMONT-LA PETI TE- PATRIE, SES TROIS QUART IE RS AIN SI<br />
QUE LE S DEU X EGLI SES DES PARO ISSES-MERES I PRODUIT PAR SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT<br />
Selon Gravaris-Barbas, « !'identification<br />
d'un groupe a un territoire [s 'exprime]<br />
compose de trois quartiers plus ou moins<br />
distincts : Ia Petite-Patrie, Rosemont et<br />
essentiellement a travers les elements Nouveau-Rosemont (ill. 1 et 2) .<br />
patrimoniaux materiels, portes par le territoire<br />
» 11 • Ainsi, les representations collectives<br />
peuvent mener a Ia patrimonialisation<br />
d'un lieu dans Ia mesure ou il y aurait un<br />
consensus au sein du groupe sur Ia valeur<br />
historique, architecturale, artistique et<br />
culturelle du lieu et sur !'importance de<br />
celui-ci dans !'affirmation identitaire et<br />
territoriale du groupe.<br />
LE CONTEXTE SOCIOHISTORIQUE<br />
DE L'ARRONDISSEMENT<br />
ROSEMONT-LA PETITE-PATRIE<br />
Pour illustrer nos propos, no us avons choisi<br />
d'explorer les representations que les re <br />
sidants de !'arrondissement Rosemont<br />
La Petite-Patrie possedent de leurs eglises.<br />
Le choix de cet arrondissement n'est pas<br />
fortuit. Celui-ci possede une riche histoire<br />
religieuse, s'etant developpe autour<br />
de deux poles paroissiaux catholiques,<br />
les paroisses Saint-Edouard et Sainte<br />
Philomene (qui devint, en 1964, Ia paroisse<br />
Saint-Esprit-de-Rosemont). II importe<br />
de mentionner que !'a rrondissement se<br />
La Petite-Patrie s'est developpe au tournant<br />
du vingtieme siecle grace a !'inauguration<br />
d'un trace de tramway qui Ionge Ia<br />
rue Saint-Denis (ancien chemin du Sault),<br />
entrainant le peuplement de ce quartier<br />
du nord de Ia ville". Les limites actuelles du<br />
quartier englobent une partie de deux an <br />
ciennes municipalites, Saint-Louis du Mile<br />
End et Coteau Saint-Louis, et de deux quartiers,<br />
Saint-Jean et Saint-Denis 13 • Compose<br />
majoritairement de Canadiens fran c;ais, a<br />
l'origine le secteur accueillit aussi des Italiens<br />
et des Canadiens anglais. Les premiers<br />
s'etablirent autour de Ia rue Saint-Denis<br />
et fonderent Ia paroisse Saint-Edouard en<br />
1895. La construction de l'eglise, situee au<br />
coin des rues Saint-Den is et Beaubien, fut<br />
terminee en 1909, ce qui en fait le lieu de<br />
culte le plus ancien de !'arrondissement<br />
(ill. 3) . Aujourd 'hui encore, l'eglise Saint<br />
Edouard constitue le cceur nevralgique<br />
du quartier. De me me que les francophones,<br />
les Canadiens anglais s'etablirent a<br />
proximite de Ia ligne de tramway, mais ils<br />
nommerent le secteur Amherst Park, du<br />
I JONATHAN CHA<br />
ILL. 6. L'EG LI SE SAINT-ARSENE I JONATHAN CHA<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
5
S OPHIE R IOUX-H EBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
nom d'une des compagnies immobilieres tive d'economie, ne s'est construit aucun dans le quartier. Par ailleurs, des angloqui<br />
le developpa. Les nombreux lieux de lieu de culte, utilisant plut6t l'eglise protestants et, plus tard, des immigrants<br />
culte protestants qui parsement toujours catholique Saint-Arsene (1954), situee ukrainiens de confessions orthodoxe et<br />
le quartier temoignent de cette presence sur Ia rue Belanger (ill. 6) . catholique s' installerent dans le quartier<br />
culturelle importante. Pour sa part, Ia<br />
communaute italienne s'etablit auteur du<br />
boulevard Saint-Laurent, entre les rues Saint<br />
Zotique et Jean-Talon, et c'est pourquoi ce<br />
secteur est nomme Piccola ltalia (Petiteltalie).<br />
L'eglise Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense<br />
(1911), classee monument historique national<br />
par le gouvernement federal en 2002,<br />
et l'eglise Notre-Dame-de-la-Consolata<br />
(1961) demeurent les deux lieux de culte<br />
les plus visibles de cette communaute (ill. 4<br />
et 5). En 1985, pour tenter de renforcer<br />
l'appartenance des residants au quartier 14 ,<br />
!'administration municipale lui accola<br />
!'appellation de Petite-Patrie, inspiree du<br />
titre d'un roman autobiographique de<br />
Claude Jasmin dans lequel il raconte son<br />
enfance dans le quartier 15 • Aujourd'hui,<br />
Ia communaute anglophone a pratiquement<br />
disparu du quartier et Ia population<br />
italienne a beaucoup diminue 16 • Par contre,<br />
une population latino-americaine s'y<br />
est installee. Celle-ci, dans une perspec-<br />
De meme que La Petite-Patrie, Rosemont<br />
a connu une urbanisation rapide vers le<br />
tournant du vingtieme siecle. L'element<br />
declencheur en fut l'arrivee du Canadien<br />
pacifique dans le sud-ouest du quartier".<br />
En effet, en 1902, le Canadien pacifique<br />
decida d'y installer ses usines de fabri <br />
cation et d'entretien de locomotives,<br />
communement appelees les Shops Angus.<br />
A partir de ce moment, les possibilites<br />
d'emplois aux Shops Angus ont amene un<br />
flot constant de nouveaux residants dans<br />
le quartier. La paroisse Sainte-Philomene,<br />
qui devint Saint-Esprit en 1964, vit le jour<br />
en 1904 et, l'annee suivante, le village de<br />
Rosemont fut fonde et annexe a Ia ville de<br />
Montreal. En 1933, Ia chapelle Sainte-Philomene,<br />
devenue trop exigue, fut remplacee<br />
pa r !'actuelle eglise Saint-Esprit , plus vaste<br />
et majestueuse (ill. 7) ' 8 . Celle-ci, situee sur<br />
Ia rue Masson, principale artere commerciale,<br />
jouit toujours d'une position centrale<br />
pour travailler au x usines Angus. Tout<br />
com me les catholiques, ces communautes<br />
y ont laisse leur marque sous Ia forme de<br />
nombreux lieux de culte. En 1961, Ia fermeture<br />
partielle des usines Angus amor ~ a le<br />
lent declin de Rosemont. Les anglophones<br />
et les Ukrainiens quitterent graduellement<br />
le quartier pour s'etablir dans differents<br />
secteurs de !'ouest de Ia ville. Toutefois,<br />
depuis les dix dernieres annees, Rosemont<br />
a subi un embourgeoisement semblable<br />
a celui de La Petite-Patrie grace a Ia<br />
tendance au reinvestissement des<br />
quartiers centraux, mais surtout grace a<br />
Ia reconversion des usines Angus, fermees<br />
en 1992, en technop61e eta Ia construction<br />
d'un vaste projet domiciliaire sur une<br />
partie des terrains laisses vacants .<br />
Au contraire de Rosemont et de La Petite<br />
Patrie qui se sont urbanisees des le debut<br />
du vingtieme siecle, Ia partie est de !'arrondissement<br />
ne se developpa veritablement<br />
6<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANA LYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
Ill. 11 . EGLISE SAINT-EUGENE I JONATHAN CHA<br />
que dans les annees 1950 pour repondre au !'arrondissement au centre de Ia polemique vifs debats societaux tant au sein qu'a !'exmanque<br />
de logement cause par le boom de- liee a Ia desaffectation des lieux de culte terieur de !'arrondissement, sur l'avenir des<br />
mographique de l'apres Deuxieme Guerre urbains. En effet, depuis les trois dernieres eglises de quartier. II y eut tout d'abord,<br />
mondiale. Deux projets ont favorise ce de- annees, quatre evenements ont suscite de en 2002, Ia demolition de l'eglise anglicane<br />
veloppement : le jardin botanique inaugure<br />
dans les annees 1930 et l'h6pital Maisonneuve<br />
construit dans les annees 1950. Considere<br />
comme une extension de Rosemont,<br />
le quartier s'est vu attribuee !'appellation<br />
de Nouveau-Rosemont. De plus, Ia population<br />
moins dense de ce quartier s'avere<br />
beaucoup plus homogene que dans le reste<br />
de !'arrondissement. Ainsi, seulement deux<br />
eglises catholiques francophones y ont pignon<br />
sur rue. Ne possedant aucun centre<br />
nevralgique, Nouveau-Rosemont peine toujours<br />
a se construire une identite distincte.<br />
ISD!¥1111<br />
Les cinq eglises les plus importantes selon les repondants et les types de raisons<br />
evoquees pour justifier ces choix<br />
1. Eglise 2. Eglise<br />
Saint-Edouard Saint-Esprit<br />
3. Cathedrale 4. Eglise Saintorthodoxe<br />
Jean-de-la-Croix<br />
Sainte-Sophie (avant sa reconversion)<br />
5. Eglise<br />
Saint-Marc<br />
Proportion de<br />
repondants ayant<br />
choisi ces eg lises<br />
67 % 50% 44% 38 % 34%<br />
Types de raisons<br />
Proportion de reponses se classant dans chaque categorie de raison pour chacune des egli ses<br />
En 1992, !'administration municipale<br />
regroupa ces trois quartiers en arrondissement,<br />
mais ce dernier n'obtint de veritables<br />
pouvoirs decisionnels qu'en 2001<br />
grace a Ia reforme municipale. Aujourd'hui,<br />
!'arrondissement compte 37 eglises de<br />
confession majoritairement catholique,<br />
mais aussi protestante et orthodoxe' 9 •<br />
Ce corpus imposant d'eglises positionne<br />
Valeurs architecturale 55% 57% 75% 62 % 50%<br />
et artistique<br />
Valeur identitaire<br />
(attachement et<br />
38% 33% 18% 28% 41%<br />
habitude)<br />
Valeurs sociale et 5 % 8%<br />
communautaire<br />
7% 5% 8 %<br />
Va leur historique 1 % 2 % 0% 3% 1 %<br />
Valeur spirituelle 1 % 2 % 0 % 2% 1 %<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
7
S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSI S I ANALYSE<br />
1. ~GLISE SAINT - ~DOUARD 2. ~GLISE SAINT-ESPRIT<br />
3. CATH~DRALE ORTHODOXE<br />
SAINTE-SOPHIE<br />
4. ~GLISE SAINT-JEAN -DE-LA-CROIX 5. ~GLISE SAINT-MARC<br />
St. Lukes (1928) qui fut remplacee par des<br />
condominiums, suivie en 2003 de Ia demolition<br />
de l'eglise catholique Saint-Etienne<br />
(1914) qui fit place a des logements<br />
sociaux et de Ia reconversion de l'eglise<br />
catholiq ue Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix (1926)<br />
en condominiums haut de gamme. Finalement,<br />
Ia reconversion, amorcee en 2004,<br />
de l'eglise catholique Saint-Eugene (1954)<br />
en hall communautaire d'un complexe de<br />
logements sociaux se poursuit toujours<br />
(ill. 6-9). Ces recents bouleversements,<br />
qui ont marque l'imaginaire collectif des<br />
residants, ainsi que Ia presence toujours<br />
forte des eglises dans le tissu urbain de<br />
!'arrondissement, en font un terrain privilegie<br />
pour l'etude des representations<br />
collectives de ces memes batiments.<br />
DES REPRESENTATIONS INEGALES<br />
Dans le but de decouvrir si les representations<br />
collectives des eglises temoignent<br />
d'un processus de patrimonialisation,<br />
nous avons interroge 304 residants de<br />
Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie au printemps<br />
2004' 0 • Nous avons classe les resultats en<br />
trois themes devant nous permettre de<br />
saisir, en partie du moins, Ia nature de<br />
leurs representations: !'importance relative<br />
des eglises et les raisons justifiant<br />
ces choix, les fonctions que les residants<br />
associent aux eglises et les valeurs qu'ils leur<br />
conferent.<br />
L'importance relative des eglises<br />
Nous avons cherche a connaTtre les eglises<br />
de !'arrondissement qui sont considerees<br />
par les residants comme etant les plus importantes.<br />
Pour ce faire, nous leur avons<br />
presente une planche-photo repertoriant<br />
toutes les eglises de !'arrondissement en<br />
leur demandant de choisir les trois plus importantes<br />
selon leurs propres criteres. S'ils<br />
avaient de Ia difficulte a repondre, nous<br />
leur demandions ensuite quelles etaient<br />
leurs trois eglises preferees. L'analyse<br />
des resultats montre que cinq eglises se<br />
demarquent particulierement des autres :<br />
l'eglise Saint-Edouard, l'eglise Saint-Esprit,<br />
Ia cathedrale orthodoxe Sainte-Sophie,<br />
l'eglise Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix et l'eglise<br />
Saint-Marc (tableau 1 ).<br />
Ce qui surprend de prime abord dans cette<br />
liste, c'est le rang qu'occupe l'ancienne<br />
eglise Saint-Jean-de- la -Croix. En effet,<br />
celle-ci se classe au quatrieme rang des<br />
eglises les plus importantes de !'arrondissement,<br />
selon les repondants, ce qui<br />
s'avere tout de meme etonnant pour une<br />
eglise qui fut reconvertie en coproprietes<br />
en 2003. Un autre resultat quelque peu<br />
surprenant concerne Ia cathedrale orthodoxe<br />
Sainte-Sophie qui se classe au<br />
troisieme rang. Pourtant, seulement un<br />
repondant de notre echantillon etait de<br />
confession orthodoxe, tandis que 71 %<br />
des repondants etaient de confession catholique".<br />
Cette majorite de repondants<br />
catholiques peut expliquer pourquoi les<br />
quatre autres eglises en tete de liste sont<br />
de vocation catholique. Fait a noter, les<br />
deux eglises des paroisses fondatrices de<br />
!'arrondissement, l'eglise Saint-Edouard et<br />
l'eglise Saint-Esprit, arrivent au premier et<br />
au deuxieme rangs respectivement. On<br />
note egalement que, a part Ia cathedrale<br />
orthodoxe Sainte-Sophie qui fut erigee<br />
en 1962, toutes les eglises de cette liste<br />
furent erigees pendant Ia periode allant<br />
de 1900 a 1935. On peut d'ailleurs observer<br />
des similitudes architecturales entre<br />
celles-ci. En effet, ces eglises possedent un<br />
style architectural traditionnel caracterise<br />
par une monumentalite, une elevation du<br />
plancher, un plan longitudinal et de hauts<br />
clochers 22 • Ces similitudes dans !'architecture<br />
de quatre des cinq eglises en tete de<br />
liste nous portent a croire que les repondants<br />
auraient une preference pour les<br />
eglises qui arborent ce style architectural<br />
traditionnel.<br />
Par ailleurs, il importe de noter qu'aucune<br />
de ces cinq eglises n'est classee patrimoniale<br />
par le gouvernement du Quebec ou du Ca <br />
nada. Seule l'eglise Saint-Esprit beneficie<br />
d'une protection a l'echelle municipale,<br />
car elle fait partie d'un site du patrimoine<br />
constitue en 1990 23 • La seule eglise qui<br />
possede une protection nationale, l'eglise<br />
Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense, classee monument<br />
historique du Canada, n'apparaTt<br />
qu'en treizieme position de notre liste.<br />
Ce constat suggere que l'eglise Notre-Damede-la-Defense<br />
jouit d'un statut mal defini<br />
a l'interieur de !'arrondissement, mais que<br />
8<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005
S OPHIE R IOUX-H EBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
son statut d'eglise-mere de Ia communaute<br />
italienne de Montreal lui confere<br />
un rayonnement important aux echelles<br />
regionale et nationale.<br />
Nous avons classe en cinq categories les<br />
raisons qui justifient les choix des repondants<br />
: 1) valeurs architecturale et artistique,<br />
2) valeur identitaire liee a !'habitude<br />
et a l'attachement, 3) valeurs sociale et<br />
communautaire, 4) valeur historique et<br />
5) valeur spirituelle (tableau 1). De plus,<br />
puisque les repondants justifiaient fre <br />
quemment leurs choix en evoquant plusieurs<br />
raisons se classant dans differentes<br />
categories, nous avons divise le nombre<br />
de reponses dans chaque categorie par le<br />
total de raisons evoquees pour chacune<br />
des eglises et non par le total de repondants.<br />
Les resultats de cette analyse montrent<br />
que Ia raison principale qui motive<br />
les choix des repondants est d'ordre<br />
esthetique. De fait, les repondants se sont<br />
grandement bases sur les dimensions et le<br />
style architectural d'une eglise pour faire<br />
leurs choix. C'est pourquoi les eglises les<br />
plus majestueuses se trouvent en tete de<br />
liste alors que les eglises de style moderne<br />
n'y figurent pas. La deuxieme raison evoquee<br />
le plus souvent releve d'un sentiment<br />
identitaire lie a !'habitude et a l'attachement.<br />
Plusieurs repondants ont choisi des<br />
eglises au xquelles ils s'identifient, soit parce<br />
qu' ils les connaissent depuis longtemps<br />
(s'y etant maries, ayant passe leur enfance<br />
dans Ia paroisse, etc.), soit parce qu'ils les<br />
c6toient f requemment (y assistant a Ia<br />
messe regulierement, passant devant tous<br />
les jours, habitant a proximite, etc.). No us<br />
remarquons que Ia cathedrale orthodoxe<br />
Sainte-Sophie a ete choisie beaucoup plus<br />
pour ses qua lites esthetiques que pour des<br />
raisons liees a !'habitude et a l'attachement.<br />
Beaucoup de repondants semblaient<br />
Ia reconnaitre et apprecier son architecture<br />
de style byzantin qui ajoute, selon eux, un<br />
exotisme au quartier; cependant, com me<br />
c'est un lieu de culte orthodoxe, peu s'y<br />
sont identifies.<br />
Pour ce qui est des activites sociales et<br />
communautaires, peu de repondants<br />
ont choisi ces raisons pour justifier leurs<br />
choix. Encore plus marquant est le fait<br />
que personne ou presque n'ait evoque<br />
Ia valeur historique de ces eglises comme<br />
raison de leurs choix. Pourtant, l'eglise<br />
Saint-Edouard, Ia plus ancienne de<br />
!'arrondissement, a joue un role non<br />
negligeable dans le developpement du<br />
nord de Ia ville. Aussi, nous remarquons<br />
que 3 % des repondants accordent une<br />
valeur historique et 2 % une valeur spirituelle<br />
a l'eglise Saint-Jean-de-la-Croi x, une<br />
eglise qui pourtant n'existe plus comme<br />
lieu de culte. Finalement, pour ce qui est<br />
de Ia qualite spirituelle, c'est-a-dire Ia<br />
qualite et Ia frequence de Ia messe, Ia<br />
disponibilite du pretre, etc., Ia faible proportion<br />
de gens qui ont choisi cette raison<br />
reflete sans doute Ia faible frequentation<br />
de ces lieux pour le culte.<br />
Par contraste, l'examen des cinq eglises<br />
qui ont obtenu le moins de mentions de<br />
Ia part des repondants nous apporte un<br />
eclairage complementaire sur Ia nature des<br />
representations des residants (tableau 2). II<br />
importe d 'abord de noter qu'a part l'eglise<br />
nationale polonaise Sainte-Croix, toutes<br />
ces eglises sont de vocation protestante.<br />
La majorite des repondants etant catholiques,<br />
ces lieux de culte les interpellent done<br />
d'une maniere moindre. II faut dire que le<br />
lieu de culte pour les protestants ne revet<br />
pas Ia meme signification, Ia meme symbolique,<br />
que pour les catholiques. En effet,<br />
pour une grande partie des protestants, a<br />
!'exception des anglicans, le culte se celebre<br />
dans une sobriete et une simplicite qui<br />
lf11C!¥11tl<br />
En ordre decroissant, les cinq eglises les moins importantes de !'arrondissement selon les repondants<br />
1. Eglise adventiste<br />
Beer Sheba<br />
2. Ministere de Ia foi<br />
en Jesus-Christ<br />
3. Centre evangelique<br />
eglise du Nazareen<br />
4. Eglise nationale<br />
polonaise Sainte-Croix<br />
5. Rosemount<br />
United Church<br />
1. PHOTO : FONOATION DU PATRIMOINE REUGIEUX 2, 3, 4, 5. PHOTOS : JONATHAN CHA<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
9
S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
100%<br />
80 %<br />
• 20 - 34 ans<br />
c<br />
• 35-54 ans<br />
0<br />
'f 60 %<br />
• 55 ans et +<br />
0<br />
c.<br />
0<br />
.t 40 %<br />
20 %<br />
0%<br />
Types de fonction<br />
economique<br />
touristique<br />
Les fonctions des eglises<br />
de /'arrondissement<br />
Un element qui revele une facette differente<br />
de Ia representation que possedent<br />
les res idants de leurs eglises reside dans<br />
leur perception de l'utilite de celles-ci .<br />
Nous avons done pose aux residants Ia<br />
question suivante : « A quoi servent les<br />
eglises de votre arrondissement selon<br />
vous ? >>. Nous avons classe leurs reponses<br />
en six categories qui ne sont pas exclusives,<br />
puisque plusieurs personnes ont nomme<br />
plus d'une fonction :<br />
ILL. 12. LES FONCTIONS DES EGLISES DE l'ARR ON DISSEME NT SELON LES REPONDANTS<br />
se refletent dans !'architecture depouiiiE~e<br />
du lieu de culte 24 • Au contraire, dans Ia<br />
tradition catholique romaine, les eglises,<br />
erigees pour Ia gloire de Dieu, temoignent<br />
de Ia grandeur de Ia foi de ceux qui financent<br />
leur construction et du pouvoir<br />
de I'Eglise catholique dans Ia societe. C'est<br />
pourquoi les eglises catholiques possedent<br />
bien souvent une somptuosite et un faste<br />
qui n'ont aucun egal dans !'architecture<br />
des batiments environnants". En outre, il<br />
faut com prendre que les communautes re-<br />
ligieuses protestantes qui se sont etablies<br />
dans !'arrondissement etaient de taille<br />
reduite et n'avaient done pas les moyens<br />
financiers ni le besoin de batir de plus<br />
grands et plus riches lieux de culte. Par<br />
consequent, le style architectural austere<br />
de ces quatre temples, qui se positionne a<br />
l'encontre de !'archetype de l'eglise pour<br />
les catholiques, a certainement joue en<br />
leur defaveur. Par ailleurs, leurs dimensions<br />
reduites et leur emplacement sur des<br />
rues residentielles ne leur donnent pas une<br />
visibilite et un rayonnement tres grands.<br />
Pourtant, elles font partie des dix eglises<br />
les plus anciennes de !'arrondissement.<br />
Trois de celles-ci, le centre evangelique<br />
eglise du Nazareen, le Ministere de Ia foi<br />
en Jesus-Christ et le Rosemount United<br />
Church, furent construites dans les annees<br />
1910, ce qui en fait les lieux de culte les<br />
plus anciens de !'arrondissement apres<br />
l'eglise Saint-Edouard. Ainsi, en depit de<br />
Ia modestie de leur architecture, ces lieux<br />
de culte possedent une valeur historique<br />
non negligeable puisqu'elles temoignent<br />
de Ia presence de Ia communaute angloprotestante<br />
des les debuts du developpement<br />
de !'arrondissement. Finalement,<br />
le pietre classement de l'eglise nationale<br />
polonaise Sainte-Croix peut s'expliquer par<br />
Ia banalite de son architecture, sa situation<br />
sur une rue tranquille ainsi que Ia faible<br />
representativite des residants d'origine<br />
polonaise dans notre echantillon 26 •<br />
45 %<br />
40 %<br />
35 %<br />
c 30 %<br />
0<br />
'f 25 %<br />
0<br />
c. 20%<br />
e<br />
a..<br />
15%<br />
10%<br />
5%<br />
0%<br />
religieuse<br />
sociale<br />
Valeurs<br />
1. fonction spirituelle ;<br />
2. fonction communautaire<br />
(evenements de charite, bazars, etc. ) ;<br />
3. fonction sociale<br />
(lieux de rassemblement, endroits ou<br />
rencontrer des gens, etc.) ;<br />
4. fonction ludique<br />
(danses, fetes, etc.);<br />
5. fonction economique<br />
(pole d'attraction et de developpement<br />
dans le quartier);<br />
6. fonction touristique.<br />
ILL. 13. LES VALEURS DES EGLISES DE l'ARRONDISSEMENT SELON LES REPONDANTS<br />
• 20 · 34 ans<br />
• 35 · 54 ans<br />
• 55 ans et +<br />
10<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
L'analyse nous demontre que Ia grande<br />
majorite des gens considerent que Ia fonction<br />
principale des eglises est spirituelle<br />
(ill. 12). En deuxieme et troisieme positions<br />
arrivent les fonctions communautaire et<br />
sociale. La fonction touristique, envisagee<br />
par certains auteurs comme une possible<br />
solution de reconversion 27 , arrive loin derriere<br />
dans le classement avec seulement<br />
2 % des repondants de 20-34 ans qui<br />
l'ont suggeree. Ce 2 % annonce toutefois<br />
!'emergence d'une transition dans Ia<br />
perception de l'eglise d'un lieu cultuel a<br />
un lieu culture I. Cette transition s'observe<br />
d'ailleurs entre Ia perception des gens plus<br />
ages qui, a 80 %, considerent que l'utilite<br />
principale des eglises est le culte et celle<br />
des autres groupes d'age qui accordent un<br />
peu moins d'importance a cette fonction<br />
et un peu plus a Ia fonction communautaire.<br />
Malgre ce faible decalage entre les<br />
groupes d'age, les representations des repondants<br />
concernant l'utilite des eglises<br />
demeurent conservatrices. De fait, meme<br />
si Ia majorite de ceux-ci ne frequentent<br />
plus que tres rarement, sinon jamais, les<br />
eglises, ils les per 2005<br />
11
S OPHIE A IOUX-HE:BERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
de !'arrondissement de 1992, puis dans<br />
le rapport de !'evaluation du patrimoine<br />
urbain de !'arrondissement de 2004 30 • De<br />
plus, une etude de Ia Chaire de recherche<br />
du Canada en patrimoine urbain de I'Universite<br />
du Quebec a Montreal confirme<br />
Ia valeur patrimoniale elevee des eglises<br />
Saint-Edouard, Saint-Esprit et Saint-Marc 3 '.<br />
Bien que Ia valeur historique de l'eglise<br />
Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix y soit mentionnee,<br />
celle-ci n'a pas fait l'objet d'une evaluation<br />
patrimoniale de meme nature que les<br />
trois precedentes, puisqu'elle a deja subi<br />
passablement de modifications architecturales32.<br />
Enfin, notre etude souligne Ia<br />
valeur emblematique de Ia cathedrale<br />
orthodoxe Sainte-Sophie qui lui procure<br />
un rayonnement au-dela des frontieres<br />
de !'arrondissement. Cette comparaison<br />
avec les etudes patrimoniales de Ia ville<br />
et des experts nous incite a conclure que<br />
les repondants, malgre leur faible evocation<br />
de Ia valeur historique des eglises<br />
choisies, ont fait preuve d'une conscience<br />
patrimoniale dans leurs choix.<br />
Si les repondants demontrent une sensibilite<br />
a Ia beaute architecturale et artistique<br />
des eglises, ils semblent difficilement<br />
pouvoir se les representer autrement<br />
qu'en lieux de culte. De fait, les resultats<br />
lies a Ia perception de Ia fonction et des<br />
valeurs des eglises montrent des representations<br />
beaucoup plus traditionnelles<br />
que ce a quoi nous nous attend ions. Ainsi,<br />
en depit du fait que leur frequentation<br />
a beaucoup diminue, les repondants se<br />
representent toujours les eglises comme<br />
des lieux servant principalement au culte<br />
et comme des lieux investis d'une valeur<br />
religieuse avant tout.<br />
De tels resultats suggerent que les eglises<br />
possedent toujours une dimension sacree a<br />
leurs yeux et qu'elles repondent toujours a<br />
un besoin de spiritualite qui, meme s'il ne<br />
se materialise que pour les rites de passage<br />
ou les fetes religieuses, requiert, a tout<br />
le moins, Ia conservation de Ia fonction<br />
cultuelle pour quelques-unes des eglises<br />
de !'arrondissement. II importe de souligner<br />
que ces rites et ces celebrations font<br />
partie des traditions qui appartiennent a<br />
l'identite et a Ia culture quebecoises et<br />
c'est pourquoi certains residants y sont<br />
attaches. A ce sujet, il faut s'interroger<br />
sur un possible glissement semantique du<br />
terme N• 1 > 2005
SOPH IE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
3. Kong, Lily, 2001, « Mapping 'New' Geographies<br />
of Religion: Politics and Poetics in Modernity »,<br />
Progress in Human Geography, vol. 25, n• 2,<br />
p. 211-233; et Kong, Lily, 1990, >,<br />
Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast<br />
Geographers, n• 45, p. 55-70.<br />
5. Ibid.<br />
6. Humeau, Jean-Bertrand, 1997, ,<br />
dans Jacques Levy et Michel Lussault (dir.),<br />
Dictionnaire de Ia geographie et de l'espace des<br />
societl!s, Paris, Belin, p. 791 ; et Bailly, Antoine,<br />
1995, ><br />
dans Antoine Bailly, Roger Ferras et Daniel<br />
Pumain (dir.), Encyclopedie de geographie,<br />
Paris, Economica, p. 371-383.<br />
9. Relph, Edward, 1976, Place and Placelessness,<br />
Londres, Pion; et Durkheim, Emile, 1967,<br />
Sociologie et philosophie, Paris, Presses<br />
universitaires de France<br />
10. Debarbieux, Bernard, 2001, , n• 9,<br />
Montreal, Ville de Montreal / Ministere des<br />
Affaires culturelles.<br />
18. Cha, Jonathan, 2005, Evaluation du potentie/<br />
monumental du patrimoine religieux de<br />
/'arrondissement Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie<br />
a Montreal, memoire de maitrise, Montreal,<br />
Universite du Quebec a Montreal.<br />
19. Nous incluons sous le vocable N' 1 > 2005<br />
13
S OPHIE R IOUX-H EBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
23. Ville de Montreal, Service de Ia mise en valeur<br />
du territoire et du patrimoine, Division du<br />
patrimoine et de Ia toponymie, 2004, Evaluatio!?<br />
du patrimoine urbain. Ville de Montreal,<br />
Arrondissement de Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie<br />
-26, 5 mai 2004, Montreal.<br />
24. Munkittrick, Judy A., 1984, Les eglises<br />
protestantes de Ia region de Coaticook,<br />
Coaticook, Quebec, Musee Beaulne; et<br />
Bergevin, Helene, 1981 , L'architecture des<br />
eglises protestantes des Cantons de /'Est et<br />
des Bois Francs au XIX' siecle, Art ancien du<br />
Quebec I Etudes, n' 3, Sainte-Fay, Quebec,<br />
Universite Laval.<br />
25. Martin, Paul-Louis, 2001, « Le paysage des<br />
noyaux religieux >>, dans Serge Courville et<br />
Normand Seguin (dir.), La Paroisse, Atlas<br />
historique du Quebec, Sainte-Fay, Quebec, Les<br />
Presses de I'Universite Laval, p. 53-81 .<br />
26. Sur les 304 repondants, un seul a affirme etre<br />
d'origine polonaise.<br />
27. Blais, Sylvie, et Pierre Bellerose, 1997, « Analyse<br />
du potentiel touristique du patrimoine religieux<br />
mont realais >>, Teoros, val. 16, n' 2, p. 38-40 ;<br />
Noppen, Luc, et Lucie K. Morisset, 1997, « A<br />
propos de paysage culture! : le patrimoine<br />
architectural religieu x, une offre distinctive au<br />
Quebec 7 >> Teoros, val. 16, n' 2, p. 14-20; et<br />
Noppen, Luc, et Lucie K. Morisset, 2003, « Le<br />
tourisme rellgieux et le patrimoine 7 >> Teoros,<br />
val. 22, n' 2, p. 69-70.<br />
28. Demers, Christiane, 1997, « Rapport de<br />
I' atelier 1: L'economie >> dans Nap pen, Luc,<br />
Lucie K. Morisset, et Robert Caron (dir.) 1997, La<br />
conservation des eg/ises dans /es vil/es-centres,<br />
Sillery, Les editions du Septentrion, p. 141 -144.<br />
29. Cha, /oc. 6 •.<br />
30. Ville de Montreal. 2004; et Ville de Montreal,<br />
Service de !'habitation et du deve·loppement<br />
urbaiA, 1992, Plan d'urbanisme : plan directeur<br />
de /'arrondissement Rosemont I Petite-Patrie,<br />
Montreal.<br />
31 . Cha, /oc. cit<br />
32. Cha, /oc. cit.<br />
33. Noppen et Morisset, 2003 : 69-70.<br />
14<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH<br />
AND ITS PATRON<br />
PETER COFFMAN 1s a doctoral student at<br />
Queen's Univei'Sity, w1th prev1ous degrees from<br />
>PETER COFFMAN 1<br />
York. Ryerson. and the Un1vers1ty of Toronto.<br />
He has published on varrous aspects of English<br />
Rornanesque end Gothic Rev1val arch1tectu1'e.<br />
and h1s architectural photogl'aphy has been<br />
exhibited at d1fferent venues 111 Canada and<br />
the Un1ted States.<br />
Ther e is one city church which is not afraid of<br />
in novation [ ... ] When the present St. Anne's<br />
was built in Byzantine style instead of the<br />
conventional Gothic, there was surprise and<br />
to t his day its unusual lines [ ... ] stand out<br />
for their suggestion of the Moslem world<br />
[The Globe, December 15, 1923].<br />
By the time St . Anne's Anglican<br />
Church was completed in 1925, it was<br />
certainly the oddest Anglican church in<br />
Toronto, and arguably in the country<br />
(fig. 1). Designed in 1907 by Ford Howland,<br />
St. Anne's is Byzantine in style, with interior<br />
murals and sculptures by such artists as<br />
J.E.H . MacDonald, Frederick Varley, Frank<br />
Carmichael, Frances Loring, and Florence<br />
Wyle. It rema ins a singular monument<br />
to a wilful, visionary, and singularly<br />
determined patron, the Rev. Lawrence<br />
Skey.<br />
At the time St. Anne's was built, Gothic<br />
had for several decades been the accepted<br />
and expected style for Anglican churches.<br />
That had come about largely through the<br />
zeal of the Cambridge Camden Society,<br />
which held an iron grip on matters of Anglican<br />
architectural propriety in the middle<br />
and later nineteenth century.' Since<br />
the 1850s, their model church had been<br />
William Butterfield's All Saints, in London<br />
(fig. 2). 3 Later christened "The Ecclesiological<br />
Society," the Camdenians aired their<br />
views, praised "good" church architects,<br />
admonished "bad" ones, and generally<br />
bullied the architectural community into<br />
submission in the pages of their journal,<br />
The Ecclesiologist. The influence of<br />
the Society was enormous, and their<br />
judgements had a profound effect on the<br />
careers of many Victorian architects.'<br />
Ecclesiological Gothic arrived in British<br />
North America via the east coast. Christchurch<br />
Cathedral in Fredericton (begun<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005 > 17-26<br />
15
PETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
1845), designed mostly by Frank Wills (the Gothic was complete. No other style,<br />
east end was completed by Butterfield), it seemed, was as beautiful, as pracwas<br />
one of the most ecclesiologically up<br />
to date buildings of its day. 5 That was closely<br />
tical, as adaptable, as rational-in short,<br />
as English.<br />
followed by the Anglican Cathedral of<br />
Seven years after the completion of All<br />
St. John's, Newfoundland, begun in 1847<br />
Saints, London, in 1867, Lawrence Edward<br />
to the designs of the most prolific and famous<br />
of all Victorian architects, Sir George<br />
Skey was born to a good Anglican family<br />
in Toronto. In 1902, Lawrence Skey-by<br />
Gilbert Scott.• Through the second half of<br />
then the Rev. Lawrence Skey-became Rector<br />
of St. Anne's Anglican Church, whose<br />
the nineteenth century, Ecclesiological Gothic<br />
established itself in Toronto 7 through<br />
congregation worshipped in a respectable<br />
such monuments as St. James' Cathedral by<br />
Gothic Revival church in Toronto's west<br />
Frederick Cumberland and Thomas Ridout<br />
end that had been designed by Kivas<br />
in 1849 (fig. 3), 8 St. James's Cemetery Chapel<br />
Tully (fig. 5). That church, built in 1862,<br />
(Cumberland and Storm, 1857-1861), 9<br />
had been enlarged by the addition of a<br />
St . Paul's Church (G .K. and E. Radford,<br />
south aisle in 1879, a north aisle in 1881 ,<br />
1861),' 0 All Saints Church (Richard Windeyer,<br />
1874), and the Church of St. Alban<br />
and by the addition of transepts and a<br />
new chancel in 1888. 17 Skey soon realized<br />
the Martyr (Richard Windeyer and John<br />
that his flock had yet again outgrown its<br />
Falloon, 1885-1891). The identification of<br />
space, and a special meeting of the congregation<br />
was called on April 17, 1906, to<br />
Gothic with the Established Church even<br />
extended to academia, where Bishop John<br />
discuss the building of a new church.' 8 By<br />
Strachan's Trinity College, founded in 1851,<br />
1907, Skey was ready to act.<br />
was housed in an appropriately "Pointed"<br />
building on Queen Street West designed<br />
by Kivas Tulley."<br />
It is not known whether, by 1907, the<br />
Anglican authorities in Toronto already<br />
knew that Lawrence Skey was born to be<br />
Thus, by the time St . Anne's was built,<br />
a square peg in a round hole. If not, then<br />
Gothic utterly dominated Anglican church<br />
they would know by 1908, when Skey held<br />
building in British North America. It did<br />
the first service in his newly built (but not<br />
not matter that Gothic had originated in<br />
yet decorated) church (fig. 6). The unsuspecting<br />
Toronto Anglicans of 1908, familiar<br />
medieval France," nor did it matter that<br />
the Gothic Revival's first great champion<br />
with the traditions of Anglican architecture,<br />
must have thought that a dreadful<br />
as a serious church style had been a zealous<br />
Catholic convert, A.W.N. Pugin. 13 To<br />
mistake had occurred. The architect, Ford<br />
the eyes of a century ago, Gothic was as<br />
Howland, produced a Byzantine design<br />
English, and as Anglican, as architecture<br />
that would have looked quite at home in<br />
could be. 14 That is reflected in St. Anne's<br />
very near contemporary, St. Paul's Anglican<br />
Church (the successor to the Radford<br />
brothers' building), designed by E.J . Lennox<br />
in 1913 (fig. 4) . 15 With its size, rectilinear<br />
apse, delicate arch mouldings, and<br />
cliff-like transept fa N' 1 > 2005
P ETER C OFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
concerned with church union. Exceedingly<br />
resistant to the idea of papal supremacy,<br />
he had written off the Roman Catholics,<br />
and had, by his own admission, no<br />
sympathy at all for the Anglo-Catholics.<br />
Skey's hope was for union with the Protestant<br />
denominations and, according to<br />
Mastin, his choice of Byzantine was a deliberate<br />
attempt to evoke an early era of<br />
church history not blighted by interdenominational<br />
schisms and bickering.<br />
If that was his motivation, however, it is<br />
not clear why Byzantine would have seemed<br />
the right choice. An early Christian<br />
Basilica, being the style spread by Constantine<br />
himself when there was only one<br />
Christian Church, would have done just as<br />
well. Romanesque, a style which flourished<br />
centuries before the Reformation, was<br />
already well established in Toronto, both<br />
in sacred and secular contexts." Indeed<br />
Gothic, which also pre-dates the Reformation,<br />
would offer a distinctly English idiom<br />
within which to work, and enjoyed the<br />
wholehearted approval of the Anglican<br />
establishment as well as a solid grounding<br />
in Anglican theology. Moreover, anyone<br />
familiar enough with church history and<br />
architecture to have been concerned with<br />
that question in the first place would<br />
surely have known that, in choosing<br />
Byzantine, he was erecting a potent reminder<br />
not of church unity, but of the<br />
great and ancient schism in church history<br />
between Rome and Constantinople.»<br />
More recently, Marilyn MacKay has suggested<br />
that Skey's architect, Ford Howland,<br />
was the driving choice behind the selection<br />
of Byzantine. 23 Howland, she argues,<br />
is far more likely than his patron to have<br />
been up to date with current architectural<br />
trends, and by the time he began designing<br />
St. Anne's, the Byzantine Revival was<br />
a significant, though not widespread,<br />
trend. James Cubitt had recommended<br />
Byzantine for Protestant worship in his<br />
FIG. 5. 'OLD' ST. ANNE 'S, TORONTO, BY KIVAS TULLEY (1862)<br />
Church Designs for Congregations in<br />
1870. 24 Whether either Howland or Skey<br />
owned a copy of that book is unfortunately<br />
not known. John Oldrid Scott and<br />
Beresford Pite had each designed one<br />
Byzantine Anglican church in London."<br />
The best-known example of the Byzantine<br />
Revival, however, was the Roman Catholic<br />
Cathedral in Westminster-hardly a model<br />
likely to have been emulated by an anti<br />
Catholic low-churchman like Skey. A letter<br />
in the Anglican archive in Toronto, written<br />
in 1960 by one P. Douglas Knowles,<br />
muddles things further.'• According to<br />
Knowles, who identified himself as a<br />
friend and neighbour of Ford Howland's<br />
from 1907-1910, the architect had intended<br />
St. Anne's to be a miniature version of the<br />
Roman Catholic Cathedral at Manila, Philippines.<br />
If that is true, then one can only<br />
suppose that Howland had kept it a secret<br />
from his patron-like Westminster Cathedral,<br />
this is hardly a model that would<br />
have impressed Skey. And therein lies the<br />
FIG. 6. ST. ANNE'S ANG LICAN CHU RCH, TORONTO;<br />
INTERIOR BEF ORE DECORATI ON<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005<br />
17
PETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
FIG. 7. WALMER ROAD BAPTIST CHURC H, TORONTO, BY LANGLEY AND BURKE (BEGUN 1889) I PETE R COFFMAN<br />
main problem with attributing too much<br />
credit to Howland: whatever his wishes<br />
and inspirations, nothing was going to<br />
happen unless Lawrence Skey agreed that<br />
it was a good idea. And, as we shall see,<br />
Skey was no pushover.<br />
A simpler explanation may suffice. Skey<br />
was a Low Church Anglican, deeply com <br />
mitted to both halves of that label. Gothic<br />
had been revived in large part to facilitate<br />
the Anglo-Catholic liturgy; thus, it was<br />
the style of the High Church, and would<br />
have been undesirable to Skey. Byzantine,<br />
on the other hand, was emphatically not<br />
High Church in appearance, as well as<br />
being spatially well suited to Low Church,<br />
sermon-centred services. Nor could it<br />
be confused with non-Anglican spaces<br />
built by Protestant denominations like<br />
the Baptists and Methodists, whose amphitheatrical<br />
plans (for example, Walmer<br />
Road Baptist Church, 1888-1992, fig . 7)<br />
were by that time a frequent feature of<br />
the Canadian architectural landscape. In<br />
Byzantine, Skey had a style that was practical,<br />
unique, beautiful, and free of ideological<br />
baggage that would play into the<br />
hands of the feuding Protestants of early<br />
twentieth-century Toronto.<br />
Those considerations may have justified<br />
the choice of Byzantine in Skey's mind,<br />
but the choice remained an extremely<br />
unconventional one for Canadian Anglicans.<br />
In order to execute a highly original<br />
and expensive project within a highly<br />
conservative institution, it helps to have a<br />
dynamic, charismatic, slightly bull-headed<br />
instigator pushing it along. By all accounts,<br />
that describes Lawrence Skey quite accurately<br />
(fig. 8) . A newspaper profile of 1917<br />
characterized him as follows:<br />
Slight of build, but well-knit, fresh of face,<br />
hair slightly gray, mind alert and exceptionally<br />
well-informed, quick and enthusiastic in<br />
speech, strong in his opinions, shrewd,<br />
warm-hearted , and wholly devoted to his<br />
work-there you have an impressionistic<br />
picture of Reverend Lawrence Skey, M.A 27<br />
His popularity among his parishioners<br />
seems to have been unbounded. Skey served<br />
as an army chaplain in the First World<br />
War, and his flock welcomed him back from<br />
the front with an elaborate celebration on<br />
December 5, 1918. The musical program<br />
leaves no doubt about the feelings of the<br />
18<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 200 5
P ETER C OFFMAN > ANALYSI S I ANA LYSE<br />
FIG. R. REV. LAWRENCE SKEY<br />
FIG. 9. ST. GEORGE'S ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL, KINGSTON, BY VARIO US ARCHITECTS (1825-1899) 1 PETE R COff MAN<br />
congregation for the Reverend Captain<br />
Lawrence Skey. To the tune of "Marching<br />
Through Georgia," they sang of how Skey<br />
had single-handedly won the war:<br />
Don't you all remember w hen he went<br />
to do his bit<br />
We all prophesied the huns would<br />
surely have a fit<br />
Hindy and the Kaiser, Little Willy<br />
all have quit<br />
Let's give a cheer for the Re ctor. 28<br />
Later, this verse rang out (to the tune of<br />
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home"):<br />
They say that when he got to France,<br />
Th ey do. Hurrah I<br />
The Kaiser said: "We haven't a chance,"<br />
He did. Hurrahl<br />
If he is only a chaplain, Gee I<br />
What must the regular soldiers be-<br />
Ach himmell Donnervetterl It's all<br />
off mit me. 29<br />
Had Skey suggested that they worship in<br />
an outhouse, he would probably have won<br />
the instant, wholehearted agreement of<br />
his flock. One doesn't generally win that<br />
kind of following by being an indecisive<br />
ditherer, so it comes as no surprise that<br />
Skey was not. Another newspaper clipping<br />
in the Anglican archive, unfortunately<br />
undated, tells of an occasion when Skey<br />
learned that a man in his church neighbourhood<br />
was in the habit of beating his wife.<br />
Skey paid the man a visit, and, finding<br />
him obstinate in the face of reasonable<br />
persuasion, determined to settle the<br />
matter once and for all:<br />
"Take off your coat," cried Mr. Skey, removing<br />
his own. Dumbly, the husband obeyed, and<br />
the fighting parson started at him. It was a<br />
fair fight, with no one to interfere. It lasted<br />
several minutes, but in the end the minister<br />
had "licked" his man. Mr. Skey came out of<br />
the fight with a black eye, but that worried<br />
him nothing at all. 30<br />
Whether that anecdote is true is less<br />
important than the fact that it was<br />
circulated. Moreover, Skey's feisty streak<br />
did not extend only to the weak and the<br />
drunk. In 1923, he held a special service to<br />
celebrate the completion of the decoration<br />
of St. Anne's. To mark the occasion, he invited<br />
one Rev. Pidgeon (a Methodist) and<br />
one Rev. MacNeill (a Baptist) to share his<br />
pulpit. Skey's bishop (Sweeney). in turn,<br />
marked the occasion by informing Skey<br />
that under no circumstances was he to<br />
share his pulpit with such company. Skey<br />
being Skey, he followed his convictions<br />
and ignored his boss. "I was glad," he reflected<br />
later, "that I stood by my principles<br />
in the matter." He then added a thought<br />
that could serve as his epitaph: "One must<br />
learn to defy opposition.""<br />
Such lack of regard for the approval of<br />
others-even of one's own superiors-was<br />
doubtless a useful trait for anyone planning<br />
to build a Byzantine Anglican church<br />
in Toronto in 1907. After the opening service<br />
of 1908, the Canadian Churchman<br />
summarized the resistance to Skey's new<br />
church :<br />
When this church w as in the course of<br />
erection many and various were the remarks<br />
made upon it, and many of them were far<br />
from flattering . Mosque, cyclorama and<br />
synagogue were among the most common<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 200 5<br />
19
P ETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
FIG. 10. ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, J.E.H. MACDONALD'S ORIGINAL<br />
DECORATIVE SCHEME.<br />
and frequent epithets used, and, judged<br />
from the exterior view, having a dome as the<br />
main feature, it has of necessity a certain<br />
outward resemblance to the synagogue<br />
of the Jew, and no one is blamed fo r not<br />
altogether liking the external appearance. 32<br />
The writer does, however, make an<br />
attempt to defend Skey's church :<br />
The objections that have been made that<br />
it is contrary to church architecture are,<br />
of course, only made by the ignorant, for<br />
there is no rule or law that Gothic is the only<br />
type for Anglican churches. St. George's<br />
Cathedral, Kingston, is of the same [Greek or<br />
Byzantine] type, and though, like St. Anne's,<br />
many do not admire it from without, there<br />
are few who would not admit that when you<br />
enter in you find one of the most beautiful<br />
churches in our country. 33<br />
Several architectural and historical facts<br />
are muddled in that account: St. Anne's is<br />
Byzantine, not Greek; and Byzantine had,<br />
for 1300 years, been a Christian style only<br />
recently used in synagogues. The St. George's<br />
Cathedral referred to is not Byzantine<br />
(fig. 9), and has, in Wren's St. Paul's Ca <br />
thedral, London (begun 1675), as mainstream<br />
a lineage as one can wish for in the<br />
Anglican Church . 34 The claim that there<br />
was "no rule or law" that Anglican churches<br />
had to be Gothic, while technically<br />
true, displays remarkable ignorance the<br />
Ecclesiological Society and the very long<br />
shadow they had<br />
cast on Anglican<br />
church building.<br />
But perhaps more<br />
revea I i ng than<br />
the art historical FIG . 11 . ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH , INTERIOR I PETER COFFMAN<br />
mistakes is the assumption<br />
that identifying an architectu- J.E .H. MacDonald is famed as a founding<br />
ral precedent somehow made St. Anne's member of the Group of Seven . On the faacceptable.<br />
The need to find authority in ce of it, a more unlikely candidate for the<br />
historical precedent is a distinctly ecclesiological<br />
way of thinking, and one probably liturgical art in Canadian history would<br />
most ambitious programme of Anglican<br />
not shared by Skey. Despite the efforts be difficult to find. MacDonald had never<br />
of the Canadian Churchman, St . Anne's undertaken a large decoration job, and,<br />
remains, as the Toronto Star proclaimed as he himself admitted, his selection was<br />
in 1924, "Skey's Byzantine Defiance." 35 "an act of faith on Mr. Skey's part." 36 Yet,<br />
the more deeply one probes, the more<br />
That predilection for independent thought<br />
appropriate the choice seems. Although<br />
makes it easier to understand Skey's other,<br />
resistance to the work of the Group of<br />
more famous, unconventional decision<br />
Seven was not as universal as they would<br />
regarding St. Anne's. For the first fifteen<br />
later have had the world believe, the<br />
years of its life, the interior of St. Anne's<br />
battle was not yet won in 1923.'7 However,<br />
remained undecorated. When, in 1923, the<br />
some of the qualities that their critics most<br />
necessary funds to carry out the decoration<br />
became available, Skey hired neither<br />
disliked might actually have helped them<br />
when it came to decorating a Byzantine<br />
an established liturgical artist, nor an<br />
interior. The boldly graphic sense of design<br />
authority on Byzantine icons, nor even a<br />
and lack of academic painterly qualities<br />
good Anglican-but a landscape painter<br />
gives the Group's work a broad kinship<br />
whom he had met at the Arts and Letters<br />
to Byzantine work. Moreover, the visual<br />
Club, named J.E .H. MacDonald.<br />
and symbolic languages of the Group of<br />
Seven and of Christian art are arguably<br />
20<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 200 5
P ETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
FIG . 13. ST. AN NE 'S ANGLI CAN CHURCH, CHANC EL CE ILI NG I PETER COF FMAN<br />
not as far apart as might be assumed. The<br />
tree, for example, plays a central role in<br />
both : in Christian iconography, the tree<br />
participates in the Fall in the Garden of<br />
Eden, then reappears in association with<br />
redemption through the Tree of Jesse (see,<br />
for example, the stained glass of St-Denis<br />
and Chartres); the tree also resonates in<br />
Canadian painting, presenting an image<br />
of the human soul in a variety of states.<br />
Tom Thomson's The West Wind is arguably<br />
the most famous tree in Canada and, to<br />
many, the quintessential Group of Seven<br />
image (notwithstanding the fa ct that it<br />
was, technically, not painted by a Group<br />
member). Thomson's tree is vibrant, wild,<br />
and teeming with life; by comparison, Carl<br />
Schaeffer, painting in the middle of the<br />
Great depression, featured a dead tree in<br />
Summer Harvest (1935) . In the immediate<br />
aftermath of World War II, Charles Com <br />
fort painted a poignantly uprooted tree in<br />
Early Jun e, Albion Country (1949) . 38 When<br />
Skey and MacDonald began discussion of<br />
the programme at St. Anne's, they would<br />
have found at least some common ground<br />
in their respective lexicons. Finally, the<br />
project of St. Anne's must be seen in the<br />
context of the MacDonald's experience as<br />
a commercial designer. 39 Neither he nor<br />
other members of the Group of Seven<br />
were strangers to commissioned work.<br />
MacDonald's original plan for St . Anne's<br />
had been to design the whole program<br />
himself and execute it with the help of some<br />
of his students at the Ontario College<br />
of Art. 40 Unfortunately for him (if not for<br />
posterity), by the time he was ready to begin,<br />
his students had left for the summer<br />
break. He did what anyone would do in<br />
such circumstances: he called on his friends<br />
for help-including friends named Frederick<br />
Varley, Frank Carmichael, Frances Loring,<br />
and Florence Wyle. The participation<br />
of these artists-a who's who of Canadian<br />
art in the 1920s-accounts for whatever<br />
fame the building now enjoys.<br />
FIG. 14. ST. ANNE'S ANG LICAN CHURCH, EVANGELIST SYMBOL<br />
(JOHN) BY LORING AND WY LE I PETER COFFMAN<br />
As seen in MacDonald's cross-sectional<br />
sketch (fig. 10), the major areas for decoration<br />
were the dome (now re-done in a<br />
manner that does not show great sensi <br />
tivity to MacDonald's vision- see fig. 11),<br />
the base of the dome, the pendentives<br />
(fig. 11), and the chancel ceiling (figs. 12<br />
and 13) . Loring and Wyle provided lowrelief<br />
sculptures of the four evangelists'<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005<br />
21
P ETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
FIG. 16. ST. ANNE 'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, CRUCIFIXION<br />
BY J.E.H. MACDONALD I PETER COFFM AN<br />
symbols (fig. 14), while between them are<br />
portraits of prophets, painted by Varley.<br />
Dominating the central space are the huge<br />
pendentive paintings: the Nativity, by Varley<br />
(fig. 15); the Crucifixion, by MacDonald<br />
(fig. 16); with the Resurrection by H.S. Palmer<br />
and the Ascension by H.S. Stansfield<br />
on the other two pendentives.<br />
The artists' acceptance of the highly diagrammatic<br />
and flat Byzantine style is<br />
striking, as is the architectural solidity of<br />
the paintings. If architecture is the art of<br />
composition in mass, void, and light, these<br />
paintings unequivocally and unashamedly<br />
affirm that they are part of the mass. The<br />
same sensibility continues into the most<br />
elaborately decorated part of the church,<br />
the chancel (fig. 12). As well as a wealth of<br />
non-figural decoration, the chancel includes<br />
paintings by Frank Carmichael, Arthur<br />
Martin, Neil Mackechnie, J.E.H. MacDonald,<br />
and MacDonald's son Thoreau.<br />
The decoration of St. Anne's represents<br />
a remarkable collective effort, rendered<br />
perhaps even more remarkable by the<br />
fact that individual egos were, apparently,<br />
subordinated to the group project. Or,<br />
to use a distinctly Canadian metaphor,<br />
MacDonald and Skey assembled a group<br />
of first-team all-stars of Canadian art, got<br />
them to play as a team, and scored a stunning<br />
and unequivocal team victory. It is a<br />
unique, and uniquely Canadian, success.<br />
Works of striking originality often stand<br />
out more dramatically in relief, and the<br />
comparison between St . Anne's and<br />
St. Paul's, mentioned above (fig. 4), is instructive.<br />
Architecturally, St. Paul's defines<br />
itself entirely by reference to the English,<br />
Anglican, Gothic past. At St. Anne's, Skey<br />
proceeds as if the traditions of the Anglican<br />
Church didn't even exist. The two<br />
churches are of the same denomination,<br />
in the same city, and were built within<br />
five years of each other. Yet they could<br />
hardly be more different. They stand not<br />
side-by-side, but back-to-back, their gazes<br />
fixed in opposite directions.<br />
NOTES<br />
1. For their time, patience, assistance and<br />
expertise, the author would like to thank<br />
Robin Sewell and Rev. Peter Orme at St. Anne's<br />
Church, Mary Anne Nicholls and Marian<br />
Rhodes at the Diocese of Toronto Archives,<br />
Prof. Anna Hudson and Prof. Malcolm Thurlby<br />
of York University, and Prof. Pierre du Prey of<br />
Queen's University.<br />
2. For overviews of the importance of the<br />
Cambridge Camden I Ecclesiological Society,<br />
see Clark, Kenneth, 1928, The Gothic Revival:<br />
An Essay in the History of Taste, london,<br />
Constable; lewis, Michael, 2002, The Gothic<br />
Revival, london, Thames and Hudson; Brooks,<br />
Chris, 1999, The Gothic Revival, london,<br />
Phaidon Press. For recent sc holarship on<br />
specific issues, see Webster, Christopher, and<br />
John Elliott (eds.) 2000, 'A Church as it Should<br />
Be:' The Cambridge Camden Society and its<br />
Influence, Stamford, Shaun Tyas.<br />
3. On Butterfield, see Summerson, John,<br />
1963, « William Butterfield, or the Glory of<br />
Ugliness >>, Heavenly Mansions and other<br />
Essays on Architecture, london, W.W. Norton<br />
& Company, p. 159-176; see also Thomson,<br />
Paul, 1971 , William Butterfield, london,<br />
Routledge and K. Paul.<br />
4. For example, even the enormously successful<br />
Sir George Gilbert Scott showed a co ncern<br />
bordering on paranoia about how the Society<br />
reviewed his work. The paranoia was not<br />
altogether justified: see Stamp, Gavin, 2000,<br />
«George Gilbert Scott and the Cambridge<br />
Camden Society >, in Webster and Elliott,<br />
op.cit.: 173-189.<br />
5. See Richardson, Douglas, 1966, Christ Church<br />
Cathedral, Fredericton, New Brunswick, M.A .<br />
Th esis, Yale University; also Kalman, Harold,<br />
1994, A History of Canadian Architecture,<br />
vol. 1, Toronto, New York, Oxford, Oxford<br />
University Press, p. 282-287. For a contemporary<br />
discussion by the patron, Bi shop John Medley,<br />
see « Colonial Church Architecture: Chapter<br />
IX », The Ecclesiologist, no. LXVI - June, 1848<br />
(new series, no. XXX). p. 361-363.<br />
22<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
PETER C OFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
6. The church was discussed in The Ecclesiologist<br />
prior to its completion, and is reproduced<br />
in Simmins, Geoffrey, 1992, Documents<br />
in Canadian Architecture, Peterborough,<br />
Broadview Press, p. 33-42.<br />
7. On Toronto architecture, see Arthur, Eric,<br />
1986, Toronto: No Mean City, 3'' ed ., revised<br />
by Stephen A. Otto, Toronto, University of<br />
Toronto Press. On Ontario church architecture,<br />
see McRae, Marion, and Anthony Adamson,<br />
1975, Hallowed Walls: Church Architecture<br />
of Upper Canada, Toronto, Clarke, Irwin &<br />
Company.<br />
8. On St. James', see Kalman: 289-290; also<br />
Simmins, Geoffrey, 1997, Fred Cumberland:<br />
Building the Victorian Dream, Toronto,<br />
Buffalo, London, University of Toronto Press,<br />
p. 124-138.<br />
9. See Simmins, 1997: 141-150.<br />
10. Research has been done on "old" St. Paul's<br />
Church by Stephen Otto, and reproduced in<br />
the unpublished St. Paul's Anglican Church:<br />
Inspection Report on the Condition of the<br />
Old Church, Cody Hall and New St. Paul's<br />
Anglican Church, Spencer R. Higgins, Architect<br />
Incorporated, June 29, 1992.<br />
11 . Trinity College joined the University of<br />
Toronto in 1903, and subsequently moved to<br />
a new Gothic building on Hoskin Avenue. The<br />
original college was demolished in 1955. See<br />
Dendy, William, 1993, Lost Toronto, Toronto,<br />
McClelland and Stewart, p. 158-163.<br />
12. There is abundant literature on the French<br />
origins of Gothic. For a relatively recent<br />
discussion, see Wilson, Christopher, 1990,<br />
The Gothic Cathedral, London, Thames and<br />
Hudson.<br />
13 . On Pugin, see Stanton, Phoebe, 1971 , Pugin,<br />
New York, Viking Press; see also Atterbury,<br />
Paul, and Clive Wainwright, 1994, Pugin: A<br />
Gothic Passion, New Haven and London, Yale<br />
University Press; O'Donnell, Roderick, Blink by<br />
[him] in Silence?>>, The Cambridge Camden<br />
Society and A.W.N. Pug in, Webster and Elliott,<br />
p. 98-120.<br />
14. On the "Englishness" of Gothic, see Frew, J.M .,<br />
1982, « Gothic is English: John Carter and the<br />
Revival of Gothic as England's National Style >>,<br />
Art Bulletin, vol. 64, p. 315-319.<br />
15 . On Lennox's St. Paul's, see Otto, 1992. On the<br />
vast and varied output of Lennox, see Litvak,<br />
Marilyn, 1995, Edward James Lennox, "Builder<br />
of Toronto, " Toronto, Dundurn Press; see also<br />
Coffman, Peter, 2003, >, Journal of the Society<br />
for the Study of Architecture in Canada,<br />
val. 28, nos. 3, 4, p. 3-12 .<br />
16. The evidence of the fabric suggests that<br />
St. Paul 's was intended to be even more like<br />
its monumental models than it currently is.<br />
The timber ce iling of the nave cuts awkwardly<br />
across the windows of the (liturgical) west<br />
wall; a stone vault would not have done so, and<br />
presumably that was the original intention.<br />
17. On "Old" St. Anne's, see Robertson, J. Ross,<br />
1904, Landmarks of Toronto, val. 4, Toronto,<br />
Robertson, J.R. , 1912, St. Anne's Church,<br />
Toronto: Fiftieth Anniversary and Jubilee<br />
1862-1912, Toronto, Carlton Press.<br />
18. Vestry Meeting Minutes, April 17, 1906,<br />
Diocese of Toronto Archive 88-1, Box 11.<br />
19 . Except that even Athens has a Gothic Anglican<br />
Church-St. Paul 's Church, on Philellinon<br />
Street.<br />
20. Mastin, Catherine, 1988, James Edward Hervey<br />
MacDonald and the St. Anne's Anglican Church<br />
Mural Decoration Program, unpublished M.A.<br />
Thesis, York University.<br />
21. Significant Toronto buildings in the<br />
Romanesque (or Richardsonian Romanesque)<br />
style include University College (Cumberland<br />
and Storm, 1856-1859), the Church of<br />
St. Andrew (William Storm, 1874-1875), and<br />
the "Old" City Hall (E .J. Lennox, 1889-1899).<br />
22. The final sch ism occurred in 1054.<br />
23 . MacKay, Marylin, 1997, « St. Anne's<br />
Anglican Church, Toronto, Byzantium versus<br />
Modernity », Revue d 'art canadienne I<br />
Canadian Art Review, XVIII/I, p. 6-25.<br />
24. Cubitt, James, 1870, Church Design for<br />
Congregations: its Developments and<br />
Possibilities, London, Smith, Elder.<br />
25. See MacKay : 12-13 .<br />
26 . " The present church was designed by W. Ford<br />
Howland, who was a friend of mine, and a<br />
neighbour, when I was manager of the Bank<br />
of British North America at Bloor Street and<br />
Lansdowne Avenue, 1907-1910. My recollection<br />
is that the present church is, to a large extent,<br />
a small copy of the Roman Catholic Cathedral<br />
at Manila, Philippines." (P. Douglas Knowles to<br />
the Rev. Warren N. Turner, Rector, St. Jude's,<br />
October 1960, Diocese of Toronto Archive 88-<br />
1, Box 11 .)<br />
27. Skelton, James, n.d., « Rev. L. Skey Would<br />
Reach Mothers >>, clipping from unidentified<br />
newspaper, Diocese of Toronto Archive 88-1,<br />
Box 11. As the article concerns recruitment of<br />
so ldiers for WWI, it can presumably be dated<br />
between the start of the war in 1914 and<br />
Skey's departure for the front in 1917.<br />
28. « Souvenir of St. Anne's Congregational<br />
'Welcome' to the Rector Rev. Capt. Lawrence E.<br />
Skey on the occasion of his return from the<br />
Front Thursday, December 5'". 1918 at 8 :00<br />
p.m., Musical Program >>, Diocese of Toronto<br />
Archive 88-1, Box 11 . Song #2 (n .p.), A Lot of<br />
Solos with One Chorus.<br />
29. Ibid., Song #4, A Short Solo and a Very Long<br />
Chorus.<br />
30. « Rev. L. Skey Beat Wife Beater Well >>, n.p.,<br />
clipping from unidentified newspaper,<br />
attributed to "J.D., " Diocese of Toronto<br />
Archive 88-1, Box 11 . The story is clearly<br />
written in retrospect, and may have appeared<br />
in connection with Skey's retirement in 1933.<br />
31 . « Play Golf After Sermon Canon Skey Advises<br />
Men >>, n.p., newspaper clipping possibly<br />
dating from Skey's retirement (1933), Diocese<br />
of Toronto Archive 88-1, Box 11.<br />
32. « St . Anne's Opening Services >>, Canadian<br />
Churchman, October 15, 1908, p. 669.<br />
33. Ibid.<br />
34. On St. George's, see Mckendry, Jennifer, 1995,<br />
With Our Past Before Us, Toronto, University<br />
of Toronto Press, p. 59-68.<br />
35. Greenway, C.R., 1924, « Lawrence Skey's<br />
Byzantine Defiance a Triumph of Toronto<br />
Artists >, Toronto Star Weekly, January 19,<br />
p. 22 .<br />
36. Greenway : 23.<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
23
PETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
37. For the most recent overview of the Group<br />
of Seven, see Hill, Charles, 1995, The Group<br />
of Seven : Art for a Nation, Ottawa, National<br />
Gallery of Canada; Toronto, McClelland &<br />
Stewart. See also Jessup, Lynda, 2002, « The<br />
Group of Seven and the Tourist Landscape<br />
in Western Canada, or The More Things<br />
Change .. . >>, Journal of Canadian Studies,<br />
vol. 37, p. 144-179.<br />
38. All three paintings are in the collection of the<br />
Art Gallery of Ontario.<br />
39. See Robert Stacey, J. E. H. MacDonald, Designer:<br />
an Anthology of Graphic Design, Illustration<br />
and Lettering, Archives of Canadian Art,<br />
1996.<br />
40. Greenway.<br />
24<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
POLSON PARK AND CALVIN PARK, 1954-1962:<br />
TWO LAND ASSEMBLY SUBDIVISIONS<br />
IN KINGSTON, ONTARIO<br />
Robert McGeachy has a B.A. from Trent University,<br />
an M .A. from the University of Ottawa. and a<br />
>RoBERT McGEACHY<br />
certificate in Masonry-Heritage and Traditonal<br />
from Algonquin Heritage Institute in Perth .<br />
He has taught in China and in Southern<br />
California. This coming fall he will begin teaching<br />
in New York City.<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
Between 1954 and 1962, the land assembly<br />
program, which involved all three governmental<br />
levels of the Canadian federal<br />
system, produced nearly 600 lots in two<br />
Kingston subdivisions: Polson Park and<br />
Calvin Park . This article is a case study of<br />
the political and social dynamics behind<br />
the creation of these two land assembly<br />
subdivisions. Particular attention is paid<br />
to how a policy formulated at the upper<br />
echelons of the federal and provincial<br />
governments was implemented at the<br />
municipal level and became enmeshed in<br />
local politics. In short, this presentation<br />
examines the relationship between the<br />
state and architecture in the form of<br />
housing.<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
Between 1954 and 1962, three levels of the<br />
Canadian federal system, the federal, provincial,<br />
and municipal governments, jointly<br />
created two subdivisions, consisting of<br />
approximately 600 lots, in Kingston, Ontario:<br />
Polson Park and Calvin Park. This article<br />
is a case study focusing on how a policy<br />
formulated at the upper echelons of the<br />
federal government, in consultation with<br />
provincial premiers, was executed within<br />
a municipal environment. These interactions<br />
also reflect the various governments'<br />
attitudes towards such crucial issues as<br />
private builders, home ownership, and<br />
public rental housing.'<br />
THE LAND ASSEMBLY PROGRAM<br />
Polson Park and Calvin Park were products<br />
of the federally directed land assembly<br />
program, which was introduced in 1949<br />
to help ease a severe housing shortage<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 > 2 7-39<br />
25
R OBERT M c G EACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
program, which helped produce such subdivisions<br />
as Polson Park and Calvin Park.<br />
FIG. 2. KINGSTON DURING THE 1960S. POLSON PARK IS THE SUBDI VISION TO THE LEFT<br />
AND CALVIN PARK THE SU BDI VISION TO THE RIGHT.<br />
in Canada. Among the various factors<br />
causing the shortage were the steady<br />
urbanization of Canada's population, the<br />
sharp increase in the number of households<br />
being formed with the arrival of the<br />
"baby boomers," and the wartime residen <br />
tial construction slump.' A more intangible<br />
factor was that a higher proportion of<br />
the Canadian population than before the<br />
Second World War believed that owning<br />
a home was an attainable goal.'<br />
providing such necessities as sewer lines<br />
While in 1946 the Federal Minister of Re-<br />
and sidewalks. In short, the nation's housing<br />
predicament probably would have<br />
construction, C.D. Howe, estimated that<br />
480,000 units would be needed by 1952 to<br />
worsened without substantial public interalleviate<br />
the housing shortage, the private<br />
· vention in the housing field. Reluctantly,<br />
construction industry was having difficulty<br />
the federal government, with sometimes<br />
meeting this challenge.• With the notable<br />
equally reluctant provincial and municipal<br />
exceptions of such prominent financiers<br />
support, intervened in the housing field<br />
as E. Taylor, who built Don Mills, most<br />
with such programs as the land assembly<br />
building companies were small and unable<br />
to undertake ambitious multi-home projects<br />
.5 Furthermore, because of financial<br />
difficulties, many municipalities in Ontario<br />
and elsewhere discontinued their pre<br />
Second World War practice of providing<br />
builders with serviced land to build on."<br />
As a result, already overstretched builders<br />
were often required to take on the additional<br />
financial responsibility of servicing<br />
the land for their projects; that is,<br />
In Canada, the federal government was<br />
the primary body charged with formulating<br />
a housing policy; various amendments<br />
to the National Housing Act (NHA) were<br />
the fundamental building blocks of this<br />
evolving housing policy. Faced with a<br />
severe housing crisis, the Liberal government<br />
of Louis St. Laurent made some noteworthy<br />
amendments to the NHA in 1949,<br />
including the land assembly program .<br />
During his November 15, 1949 House of<br />
Commons presentation, the then Minister<br />
of Reconstruction, Robert Winters,<br />
outlined the land assembly program's objectives:<br />
providing the means to increase<br />
the nation's housing supply and somewhat<br />
ease the pressure of urban sprawl. 7 More<br />
precisely, the land assembly program was<br />
to generate the infrastructure for subdivisions,<br />
such as Polson Park and Calvin Park,<br />
which were basically planned communities<br />
replete with relatively affordable housing<br />
organized in a comfortably ordered manner.<br />
These subdivisions would, in effect,<br />
act as bulwarks and decelerate the expansion<br />
of potentially chaotic urban sprawl<br />
around such municipalities as Toronto.• As<br />
urban theorist Allan Irving noted, "Urban<br />
planning represented one twentieth century<br />
thrust to establish something stable,<br />
structured and rationalized within a modernist<br />
world of chaos, flux and incessant<br />
change." In that respect, urban planning<br />
represents a modern "ideal of largescale,<br />
technical and efficient city plans."'<br />
Kingston 's land assembly subdivision<br />
represented efforts to achieve the modern<br />
ideal of urban planning.<br />
From an ideological perspective, the<br />
1949 NHA amendment marked a change<br />
in direction for the federal government<br />
in regards to city planning and housing;<br />
specifically, the federal government<br />
was beginning to play a progressively<br />
26<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N" 1 > 200 5
ROBERT M cGEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
more interventionist role in these two<br />
interrelated fields. Although Part V of<br />
the1944 version of the NHA called for the<br />
federal government to start encouraging<br />
city planning in Canada, for constitutional<br />
reasons little had been done until the<br />
land assembly program was introduced<br />
to fulfill such mandate. 10 Traditionally,<br />
the federal government was reluctant to<br />
interact directly with municipalities since<br />
municipalities were well within provincial<br />
governments' constitutional sphere of influence,<br />
as C.D. Howe (the almost legendary<br />
"Minister of Everything") noted in<br />
a 1947 article." City planning was very<br />
much a municipal concern and, therefore,<br />
a provincial concern. Likewise, the Liberal<br />
governments of Mackenzie King and<br />
St. Laurent were averse to intervening directly<br />
in the housing market by providing<br />
such initiatives as extensive social housing<br />
programs. During the Second World War,<br />
and in the immediate postwar years, the<br />
federal government built thousands of<br />
houses for war industry workers and veterans;<br />
however, as Howe observed, these<br />
were extraordinary efforts to meet an immediate<br />
crisis . In normal times, the federal<br />
government preferred using more indirect<br />
means to stimulate the housing industry,<br />
such as providing credit to homebuyers and<br />
homebuilders. 12 In a 1953 speech Robert<br />
Winters, the Liberal Minister of Resources<br />
and Development, said : "In the field of<br />
real estate it has never been possible to<br />
entertain the myth that the interests of<br />
government and private enterprise are<br />
opposed." 13 The federal government, in<br />
his view, aided, not hindered, privatesector<br />
housing by providing such services<br />
as helping to create serviced land for<br />
developers to build houses on and by<br />
insuring mortgage funds. 14<br />
Because of the seriousness of the housing<br />
situation in 1949, St . Laurent decided to<br />
break with traditional federal practices,<br />
to introduce the land assembly program<br />
and to begin to deal directly with municipalities.<br />
After negotiations with provincial<br />
premiers were conducted and the necessary<br />
enabling acts to permit the federal<br />
government to work directly with municipalities<br />
were passed, the basic procedures<br />
for implementing the land assembly program<br />
were formulated. According to the<br />
official land assembly program protocol,<br />
at the request of a municipal government,<br />
the federal government, through<br />
the federal crown corporation called the<br />
Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation<br />
(CMHC), would purchase a tract of<br />
land for a subdivision. The CMHC would<br />
then plan the subdivision and construct<br />
its roads, sewers, and lot boundaries. Finally,<br />
the CMHC would sell the lots first to<br />
individual buyers and then to developers.<br />
Some provisions were made to try to ensure<br />
that the developers would sell the lots<br />
and houses at a reasonable price. In exceptionally<br />
rare cases, the CMHC itself built<br />
the houses in a land assembly subdivision.<br />
Most of the steps of a land assembly project<br />
were subject to approval by provincial<br />
and municipal authorities. 15<br />
From a financial perspective, the federal<br />
government was responsible for 75% of<br />
a land assembly project's costs and the<br />
respective provincial government was<br />
responsible for the remaining 25% . The<br />
revenue from the sales of a project's lots<br />
was divided by the same ratio.'• It is significant<br />
that the federal government expected<br />
to recover the costs of its investment:<br />
it was not interested in running the program<br />
at a deficit. A public housing project,<br />
though, with its reduced rents and<br />
ongoing capital and administrative costs,<br />
would almost certainly be run at a continual<br />
loss. In other words, the land assembly<br />
program did not break with the basic<br />
laws of the marketplace.<br />
The nature of the subsidy passed on to<br />
the buyer was a serviced lot sold at a<br />
price slightly below the prevailing market<br />
price for a comparative lot. In short,<br />
the land assembly program represented<br />
a compromise: the federal government<br />
intervened in the housing market without<br />
unduly disrupting the dynamics of<br />
the private market. According to a 1951<br />
CMHC document, lot prices in land assembly<br />
subdivisions were to be set at a level<br />
that was acceptable to 70% of an area's<br />
builders." The federal government was reluctant<br />
to undertake the more interventionist<br />
strategy of a public social housing<br />
program where it would build units and<br />
rent them to low-income tenants at a rate<br />
well below the prevailing market rate. Although<br />
the 1949 amendment to the NHA<br />
also called for a public housing program<br />
for low-income tenants, preference was<br />
given to the land assembly program. By<br />
1952 a reported 2,078 public housing units<br />
had been, or shortly would be, erected in<br />
Ontario. In contrast, 11,3451and assembly<br />
lots were sold or ready to be sold.'"<br />
The disparity between the land assembly<br />
and public housing programs was<br />
evident in Kingston as, from 1954 to<br />
1962, only 71 publicly funded rental units<br />
were constructed; these were located in<br />
northeastern neighbourhood Rideau<br />
Heights, one of the city's least affluent<br />
neighbourhoods.' 9<br />
Practical and attitudinal considerations<br />
can account for the output disparities<br />
between the public housing and land<br />
assembly programs. From a procedural<br />
perspective, constructing and running a<br />
public housing project was a more complex<br />
endeavour than preparing and selling<br />
the lots of a land assembly subdivision. 20<br />
As such, Polson Park and Calvin Park were<br />
reflective of their times and the federal<br />
government's preference for encouraging<br />
homeownership.<br />
From an architectural and city planning<br />
perspective, land assembly such as<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
2 7
R OBERT M c G EACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
Polson Park and Calvin Park reflected the<br />
prevailing trends of the 1950s and early<br />
1960s. For instance, as will be discussed in<br />
more detail later, the subdivisions' layouts<br />
incorporated several-what were then con <br />
temporary-city planning concepts drawn<br />
from British and American doctrines.<br />
From an architectural perspective, Polson<br />
Park and Calvin Park, as was common for<br />
North American subdivisions during that<br />
era, consisted mostly of small houses such<br />
as bungalows, which was also reflective of<br />
the federal government's homeownershipcentred<br />
housing policy. That predominance<br />
of small houses in the two subdivisions<br />
mirrored such key socio-economic trends<br />
during the late 1950s and early 1960s as<br />
the growing rate of homeownership and<br />
the rising middle class . 2 '<br />
From a more<br />
conceptual perspective, Polson Park and<br />
Calvin Park illustrate how such factors<br />
as status, aspirations, and gender can<br />
interact within the milieu of a newly<br />
created neighbourhood to fashion a sense<br />
of identity for its inhabitants. 22<br />
THE ONTARIO AND KINGSTON<br />
GOVERNMENTS AND LAND<br />
ASSEMBLY<br />
The CMHC needed the cooperation of<br />
provincial and municipal authorities to<br />
complete a land assembly project. During<br />
the 1950s and early 1960s, when a land<br />
assembly project was undertaken in On <br />
tario, the primary provincial authority,<br />
the CMHC, would interact with was the<br />
Department of Planning and Development<br />
(DPD), which was responsible for assisting<br />
municipalities produce and implement city<br />
plans. In Kingston, the provincial representative<br />
was W.M . Nickle, who became<br />
the Minister for the DPD in 1955. 23 The<br />
DPD was established to help the province<br />
cope with a growing and increasingly<br />
urbanized population : in 1951 , 55 .1% of<br />
Ontario's population lived in ci ties of at<br />
least 10,000 residents; in<br />
1971, the percentage had<br />
reached 73 .8 . 24 For vari <br />
ous reasons, the DPD had<br />
difficulty fulfilling its ap <br />
pointed role and, in the<br />
early 1960s, the larger<br />
and more established Department<br />
of Municipal Affairs<br />
absorbed most of the<br />
DPD's duties. 25<br />
Arguably, the most important<br />
political actor in<br />
a land assembly project<br />
was the municipal government.<br />
According to the<br />
FIG. 3. KINGSTON CITY HALL, AUGU ST 2, 1959<br />
land assembly program 's<br />
basic procedures, the municipal government<br />
was responsible for requesting a homeownership. For instance, from 1950<br />
government's preference for encouraging<br />
land assembly project, providing services to 1962, local entrepreneurs, mainly presidents<br />
or owners of small businesses, made<br />
up to the project 's edge, and approving<br />
the proposed subdivision's final plan. Any up nearly a third of the aldermen. 28 As the<br />
land assembly subdivision plan needed to Italian political theorist Gaetonio Mosca<br />
conform to municipal bylaws. 26<br />
noted, taxes frequently squeeze the middle<br />
class the hardest; consequently, they<br />
Kingston's municipal government, like<br />
are likely to seek public office. 29 To possibly<br />
others in Ontario, could be divided into<br />
over-generalize, office holders will often<br />
two basic branches: administrative and<br />
seek- and often with sound justificationto<br />
benefit those with backgrounds similar<br />
legislative. During the Polson Park and<br />
Calvin Park projects, the city planner,<br />
to their own. 30 In that case, evidence will<br />
George Muirhead, who began his career in<br />
demonstrate that Polson Park and Calvin<br />
Kingston in 1955, played a prominent role.<br />
Park can be considered middle-class subd<br />
ivisions, which were constructed with<br />
At that time, Kingston's population was<br />
approximately 48,000 and it was unusual<br />
government assistance.<br />
for a medium-sized city to have a planner<br />
on staff.n While Muirhead could provide a Real property played a vital role in city<br />
great deal of professional expertise, he did politics. Until 1960, only those Kingstonians<br />
who were at least 21 years old and<br />
not have the final authority to approve or<br />
reject a land assembly project plan. Kingston<br />
municipal government's legislative participate in municipal elections, either<br />
who owned $400 of real property could<br />
branch, more particularly Kingston City as candidates or voters." Kingston, like<br />
Council, had the power to decide the fate most other Canadian municipalities, derived<br />
most of its revenue from property<br />
of a land assembly project.<br />
taxes .n One result of that dependency<br />
Many of the 22 members of the biannually<br />
elected Kingston City Council were<br />
on real property was the erosion of<br />
municipalities' autonomy because the cost<br />
drawn f rom the elite of the local business<br />
of running a city was outstripping the<br />
community and shared the federal<br />
revenues that property taxes provided;<br />
28<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005
ROBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
hence, municipal governments had to increasingly<br />
rely on provincial subsidies.H<br />
Understandably, substantial land assembly<br />
projects were of great interest to Kingston's<br />
aldermen as they could, to a limited<br />
extent, alleviate some the challenges the<br />
city was facing during the 1950's and 1960s.<br />
In fact, before Polson Park and Calvin Park,<br />
there had been two unsuccessful efforts<br />
to undertake land assembly projects in<br />
Kingston. 34 Some of these challenges<br />
were typical of those facing any Canadian<br />
medium-sized town; others were unique<br />
to Kingston.<br />
KINGSTON'S SPECIFIC NEEDS<br />
Kingston's downtown, located at the waterfront,<br />
was run-down . Kingston City<br />
Hall, without its imposing portico (fig. 3),<br />
in effect symbolized the poor condition<br />
of the city's commercial centre. In 1955,<br />
the portico was removed for safety reasons<br />
and was not restored until 1966; a<br />
move sharply criticized by S.D. Lash who,<br />
in a letter to the Kingston Whig Standard,<br />
characterized the removal of the portico<br />
as an act of vandalism. 35 In an extensive<br />
report written in 1960, A Planning Study<br />
of Kingston, Ontario, George Muirhead<br />
and George Stephenson (who was a professor<br />
in the University of Toronto Town<br />
and Regional Planning Program) went<br />
further and described the block adjacent<br />
to Market Square, which was behind the<br />
City Hall, as presenting a "scene of almost<br />
unbelievable desolation." 36 The two planning<br />
experts also noted that the waterfront<br />
by Kingston City Hall was the site<br />
of declining traditional heavy industries<br />
which were potentially impeding the possibility<br />
of constructing a marina to attract<br />
the steadily growing number of pleasure<br />
boaters plying Lake Ontario and other<br />
nearby waters. 37<br />
While many medium-sized cities during<br />
that era had a less-than-idyllic downtowns,<br />
Kingston's situation was exceptional because<br />
of its highly developed sense of self<br />
derived from its rich heritage; explicitly,<br />
Kingston was Canada's first capital, Sir<br />
John A . Macdonald's hometown, and the<br />
site of one of the nation's most prominent<br />
institutions of higher education, Queen's<br />
University. The downtown area was where<br />
much of the city's heritage architecture<br />
was located and where the city presented<br />
its image to a broader audience. 38 As historical<br />
geographer Brian Osborne and historian<br />
Donald Swainson observed, Kingston<br />
is often referred to as the "Limestone City"<br />
because of the abundance of limestone in<br />
its heritage buildings. That epithet refers<br />
to the "fabric of the architecture," which<br />
is "a dominant and striking element of<br />
the total urban image." 39 Yet the city's architectural<br />
fabric in the 1950s and 1960s<br />
was in danger of becoming permanently<br />
frayed. Lash decried the civic leaders' apparent<br />
lack of care for the city's unique<br />
ambience and lamented,<br />
possibly overdramatically,<br />
"Kingston is surely the city<br />
of barbarians, a city where<br />
the almighty dollar is all<br />
important-where history<br />
is bunk." 40<br />
The condition of Kingston's<br />
downtown was also<br />
important for more pragmatic<br />
financial reasons. As<br />
Muirhead and Stephenson<br />
reasoned, Kingston's<br />
downtown heritage buildings<br />
could be a lucrative<br />
tourist destination; nonetheless,<br />
it would be necessary<br />
to clean up the area<br />
before the tourists would<br />
come to visit and spend<br />
their money. With a great<br />
deal of work, downtown<br />
Kingston was capable of<br />
becoming a " stimulating<br />
and enticing shopping district and one of<br />
the finest and most unique in Canada." 41<br />
In order to succeed, Kingston needed to<br />
preserve its heritage, to placate concerned<br />
citizens such as Lash, while also turning a<br />
profit exploiting its heritage.<br />
Like many communities, Kingston suffered<br />
from a severe housing shortage<br />
whose causes included pockets of decrepit<br />
housing stock, a rising population and a<br />
shortage of land. 42 The situation was exacerbated<br />
by the high proportion of land<br />
within city limits devoted to institutional<br />
use. 43 The Federal Department of Justice<br />
owned one of the largest portions of institutional<br />
land in the city, the Penitentiary<br />
Farm . That farm, located in Kingston's<br />
west end, would become the site both of<br />
Polson Park and Calvin Park .<br />
Along its western borders, Kingston<br />
was also facing a challenge in the form<br />
of the rapidly growing upstart Kingston<br />
FIG . 4. LT. COL. S.M. POLSON TURNS THE SOD WHILE JESSIE POL SON<br />
AND W.M. NICKLE LOOK ON<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
29
ROBERT M cGEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
Township. Like many municipalities,<br />
Kingston was competing with its suburban<br />
rival for much needed residents and<br />
industries. Though it may have lacked<br />
Kingston's strong sense of almost hagiographic<br />
heritage, the flourishing suburb<br />
had more land and cheaper taxes to offer<br />
new homeowners, developers, and industries.<br />
For Kingston City Council, the possibility<br />
of losing out to Kingston Township<br />
was probably galling as relations between<br />
these two entities were, at times, less·than<br />
cordial. 44<br />
In all probability, Kingston City Council<br />
never intended Polson Park and Calvin<br />
Park to be a cure-all for Kingston's problems.<br />
The Planning Study was an indication<br />
that they were trying to find a means<br />
to cope with a whole series of challenges<br />
within the city, which had just expanded<br />
with the annexation of substantial areas<br />
in 1952. Among the report's recommendations<br />
was the need to revitalize the<br />
Sydenham Ward and the Central Downtown<br />
Area. In addition, Rideau Heights,<br />
an impoverished area located in the city's<br />
northeastern section, was in need of improvement.45<br />
The new subdivisions and the<br />
Planning Study were essentially part of the<br />
ongoing process of improving Kingston's<br />
vitality. The land assembly subdivisions<br />
would provide some much-needed houses<br />
to supplement Kingston's overstretched<br />
housing stock. People who thought about<br />
moving from Kingston to the rapidly growing<br />
Kingston Township might decide to<br />
move to the new subdivisions within city<br />
limits. Furthermore, the new subdivision<br />
homeowners would contribute essential<br />
tax revenues that could help pay for such<br />
projects as repairing Kingston City Hall's<br />
portico.<br />
In 1954, Kingston City Council made a<br />
request for a land assembly project to be<br />
constructed on a piece of the Penitentiary<br />
Farm that had become available. 46 ln 1955,<br />
the CMHC purchased<br />
a substantial<br />
portion of the<br />
farm along with<br />
a plot belonging<br />
to the Provincial<br />
Department of<br />
Health; the cost of<br />
the purchase was<br />
$63,040, or $1,000<br />
per acre. 47 The official<br />
sod-turning ceremony<br />
for the new<br />
subdivision, named<br />
Polson Park, took<br />
place on June 22,<br />
1957 (fig. 4) . 48<br />
Figure 4 symbolically shows how three<br />
levels of government cooperated on the<br />
project. Lt. Col. S.M . Polson, who is kneeling<br />
with the shovel, and Jessie Polson, who<br />
is looking on, are descendents of Neil<br />
Polson, a notable Kingston mayor during<br />
the 1890's. 49 The name "Polson" ties<br />
into Kingston's strong sense of heritage.<br />
The participant standing to the centre of<br />
the ceremony is W.M . Nickle, the Kingston<br />
member of the provincial parliament.<br />
While Nickle represents the provincial<br />
government, the Poisons metaphorically<br />
represent the municipal government. The<br />
federal presence is inferred by the fact<br />
that Nickle definitely was and S.M. Polson<br />
probably was a First World War veteran. 5°<br />
That is, their wartime service on behalf<br />
of Canada allegorically represented the<br />
federal government.<br />
Polson Park was completed shortly after<br />
the sod-turning ceremony photograph<br />
was taken and its 228 lots were offered<br />
for sale to the general public on April 27,<br />
1957. 5 ' There was some scepticism in the<br />
period leading up to the sale, as a number<br />
of buyers were concerned about the<br />
quality of lots that were produced by a<br />
governmental program; nonetheless, by<br />
the time the lots went on sale, the scepticism<br />
had vanished Y Buyers lined up<br />
outside the CMHC office for their chance<br />
to purchase a fully serviced Polson Park<br />
lot that was priced between $1,375 and<br />
$1,450. In contrast, private developers<br />
were charging approximately $2,500 for<br />
unserviced lots in their various projects. 5 3<br />
The CMHC charged professional homebuilders<br />
an $800 surcharge for each lot<br />
to discourage excessive land speculation;<br />
the surcharge was refunded if the homebuilder<br />
charged CMHC approved prices. 54<br />
Those who could afford the Polson Park<br />
lot prices had the opportunity to live in a<br />
professionally planned subdivision.<br />
The majority of Polson Park's houses were<br />
completed in 1958. 55 The aerial view in<br />
figure 5 demonstrates how Polson Park 's<br />
layout created a sense of place that incorporated<br />
then-contemporary city planning<br />
concepts. As George Muirhead observed,<br />
selected aspects of the post-World War II<br />
British New Town movement were incorporated<br />
into Polson Park's design. He also<br />
noted that the CMHC planners who designed<br />
Polson Park were British or Britishtrained,<br />
as were most of the planners in<br />
Canada . 56 The British New Town movement<br />
30<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
R OBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
emphasized the creation of medium-sized<br />
units, which would not overwhelm the residents.<br />
The units would have green spaces<br />
so the residents would not be completely<br />
disengaged from nature and to reduce the<br />
sense of alienation, which also could be<br />
termed "depersonalization."" British-born<br />
Humphrey Carver, a prominent advocate<br />
for social housing and a senior CMHC official,<br />
was in favour of planning on a relatively<br />
small scale to avoid overcrowding<br />
or a sense of detachment from society. 58<br />
As seen from figure 5, Polson Park shows<br />
some New Town movement's doctrinal<br />
influence, as it is relatively compact and<br />
interspersed with a reasonable amount<br />
of green spaces. The photograph was<br />
taken before Calvin Park was completed;<br />
hence the large tracts of undeveloped<br />
land surrounding Polson Park.<br />
American city planning doctrines strongly<br />
influenced Polson Park's design. The United<br />
States, like Canada, was facing the challenges<br />
of a rapidly urbanized population<br />
and the impact of the automobile. One<br />
result was the rise of low-density suburbs<br />
around major urban centres, which generally<br />
consisted of bungalows populated by<br />
white middle-class families. 5 9 The suburbs<br />
shared an architectural similarity as regional<br />
distinctiveness began to erode: by<br />
the 1960s, suburbs across the United States<br />
started to closely resemble each other.<br />
One benefit of that design homogenization<br />
was the reduction of housing prices to<br />
a point where middle-class families could<br />
afford their own home. 60 Although Polson<br />
Park was not a suburb, it did share many of<br />
the characteristics of American suburbs,<br />
such as a low density and relatively<br />
standardized architectural designs.<br />
The influence of American city planner<br />
C.A . Perry's principles on Polson Park's<br />
design can be discerned from figure 5. 61<br />
According to his concept, city planning<br />
should revolve around the smallest urban<br />
collective component: the neighbourhood<br />
unit. Elementary schools, retail stores, and<br />
public recreation facilities should be situated<br />
within walking distance of a neighbourhood<br />
unit's homesY An unpublished<br />
CMHC pamphlet strongly implied that Polson<br />
Park was a neighbourhood unit with<br />
amenities, such as an elementary school,<br />
situated within walking distance. 63 Nonetheless,<br />
Polson Park was an imperfect<br />
neighbourhood unit since it lacked local<br />
convenience stores, as could be found in<br />
several older Kingston quarters; as a result,<br />
local residents needed to drive to do<br />
their shopping. In 1957, the shopping situation<br />
improved for Polson Park residents<br />
when the nearby Kingston Shopping Centre<br />
opened. In 1963, the Kingston Branch<br />
of the YM-YWCA opened and provided<br />
recreational facilities a short distance from<br />
Polson Park. 64<br />
Polson Park's design was in keeping with<br />
the CMHC planning doctrine. In a 1946 article,<br />
senior CMHC official S.A. Gitterman<br />
demonstrated how the CMHC had incorporated<br />
some of Perry's ideas into its<br />
planning practices. Like Perry, Gitterman<br />
advocated using the neighbourhood unit<br />
as the smallest workable planning unit<br />
with an elementary school at the core.<br />
Houses in this unit, Gitterman stressed,<br />
should be a maximum of half a mile from<br />
a school. 65 Later CMHC publications also<br />
contained concepts that were strongly<br />
reminiscent of Perry's work in the field. For<br />
instance, Perry recommended protecting<br />
neighbourhood units from heavy traffic<br />
by having major streets flow around their<br />
circumference and serving their interiors<br />
with less-busy arterial roads. 66 The CMHC<br />
had a similar philosophy regarding traffic<br />
flow. According to the Crown corporation's<br />
1956 publication, Principles of Small<br />
House Grouping, a grid-pattern street system<br />
was unsatisfactory because it would<br />
invite "traffic to move in all directions,"<br />
thus multiplying traffic hazards and<br />
reducing the privacy of residential streets. 67<br />
It was preferable to design a subdivision<br />
that incorporated varied types of streets,<br />
including major thoroughfares, collector<br />
streets, and minor residential streets.<br />
Cui-de-sacs and loops could help slow<br />
traffic and create visually interesting<br />
areas. 68 As shown in figure 5, Polson Park's<br />
interior mostly consisted of winding roads<br />
and cui-de-sacs, while its exterior<br />
borders consisted of wide and straight<br />
thoroughfares.<br />
In his detailed study, urban planner<br />
Dimos A . Zarkadas compared Polson Park<br />
with Sydenham Ward, a neighbourhood<br />
dating from the eighteenth century and<br />
located in a southeastern sector of Kingston.<br />
Of the two neighbourhoods, Polson<br />
Park had larger lots, greater spacing<br />
between buildings, more homogeneous<br />
building types (i .e. small detached houses),<br />
more open spaces, proportionally fewer<br />
sidewalks, and a greater number of curvilinear<br />
roads. 69 Overall, the land use in<br />
Sydenham Ward was far more intensive. 70<br />
The older neighbourhood was a more integrated<br />
part of Kingston and embodied<br />
much of the city's traditional image. The<br />
newer neighbourhood, on the other had,<br />
was a more autonomous part of the city.<br />
In her critical assessment of city planning,<br />
The Death and Life of Great American<br />
Cities, originally published in 1961, Jane<br />
Jacobs argued that the modern tendency<br />
to isolate various functioning parts of a<br />
city damaged its life and spirit. 71 Diversity<br />
and organic interdependence, for<br />
her, enhanced the quality of life in the<br />
city. 72 As Irving pointed out, such notion<br />
was almost pre-modern and harkened<br />
back to a Romantic ideal that parts<br />
functioned to create an organic whole. 73<br />
Modern city planning tended to separate<br />
the various parts of a municipality.<br />
It is highly debatable if Polson Park<br />
damaged Kingston's life and spirit; still,<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
31
ROBERT M cGEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
the subdivision was a concrete example of<br />
the modern city- planning trend of<br />
dividing an urban area into autonomous<br />
components.<br />
While the next land assembly subdivision<br />
to be constructed in Kingston, Calvin Park,<br />
shared many of Polson Pa rk's design attributes,<br />
its creation was a considerably more<br />
complicated process.<br />
CALVIN PARK<br />
In 1959, another section of Penitentiary<br />
Farm became available. Kingston City<br />
Council formally asked the federal and<br />
provincial governments to begin a land<br />
assembly project, which would be named<br />
Calvin Park (after the Calvins, a prominent<br />
local nineteenth-century family) . CMHC<br />
planners prepared a plan for t he subdivision<br />
(fig. 6), which Muirhead and Nickle<br />
approved. Kingston Traffic Engineer Ken<br />
Linesman, however, did not share their enthusiasm.<br />
74 He worried that if constructed<br />
as presented, Calvin Park would obstruct<br />
some of the city's principal traffic arteries.<br />
In the original plan, Avenue Road, a<br />
projected thoroughfare, is drawn as being<br />
Calvin Park's eastern border; that configuration<br />
was in keeping w ith the basic CMHC<br />
planning ethic of not having major roads<br />
cut through a projected subdivision.<br />
After some long-drawn-out political<br />
proceedings in Kingston City Council, a<br />
modified Calvin Park plan (fig. 6) , which<br />
addressed Linesmen ' s concerns, was<br />
adopted. Avenue Road (later renamed<br />
Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard) was extended<br />
through Calvin Park. Incidentally,<br />
that is another example of heritage being<br />
evoked as the new "boulevard," a more<br />
elegant sounding name than "road," was<br />
named after one of Kingston's most famous<br />
sons, Canada's first Prime Minister.<br />
Although this disagreement was of relatively<br />
minor importance, it was indicative<br />
of the impact the escalating number of automobiles<br />
was having on city planning. As<br />
early as 1942, a traffic survey reported how<br />
the growing number of automobiles was<br />
steadily challenging the Kingston's road<br />
system. 75 The Calvin Park design disagreement<br />
highlighted how traffic engineers<br />
and city planners were, at times, in conflict<br />
over the planning process' priorities.<br />
City planners were primarily concerned<br />
with designing comfortably laid out,<br />
relatively traffic-free subdivisions, while<br />
traffic engineers concentrated on the<br />
impact of new subdivisions on a city's<br />
traffic flow. 76<br />
There was another political dispute during<br />
Calvin Park's creation, this time involving<br />
the YM-YWCA building located in the<br />
northwest corner of Calvin Park. In 1959,<br />
the organization received assurances that<br />
it would soon be able to purchase land<br />
for its building." Nickle listed his role in<br />
the YM-YWCA land deal as one of his accomplishments<br />
in his June 6, 1959 election<br />
advertisement, which appeared in<br />
the Kingston Whig Standard.'• In 1961,<br />
YM-YWCA executives were frustrated<br />
because they had not yet received an opportunity<br />
to purchase<br />
the land for the new<br />
building. YM-YWCA Director,<br />
Bruce Matthews,<br />
issued a strong statement<br />
criticizing the various<br />
politicians involved<br />
in the land dealings. 79<br />
The YM-YWCA was<br />
eventually able to purchase<br />
the land, albeit at<br />
a higher price than that<br />
promised by Nickle in<br />
1959, and constructed<br />
the new building. 80 In<br />
1963, the YM-YWCA<br />
located in Calvin Park<br />
opened its doors for its<br />
members. 81<br />
The planning vs. traffic and the YM-YWCA<br />
disputes underscore the sometimes-asymmetrical<br />
nature of power. On one hand,<br />
the CMHC had all the appearances of<br />
power: a large budget, offices in many<br />
cities throughout Canada, and access to<br />
the upper echelons of the federal government.82<br />
On the other hand, it was almost<br />
powerless during the Calvin Park project<br />
as its officials were reluctant to resist the<br />
traffic engineer's efforts to modify the<br />
subdivision's original plan and respond<br />
to the YM-YWCA executive's sharp public<br />
criticisms. 83 In short, even though the<br />
CMHC apparently had a great deal of potential<br />
political power, the organization's<br />
leaders could not or would not exercise<br />
that power for fear of inflaming the local<br />
political situation. The CMHC did, nevertheless,<br />
have the power to set the price<br />
for the lots in Calvin Park.<br />
Calvin Park's lots were reasonable when<br />
compared to the prices of lots then being<br />
sold in the Kingston area by private<br />
developers. In 1962, the average price for<br />
an unserviced lot was $1,859. The price<br />
was the product of a balancing act, as<br />
the CMHC sought to set lot prices that<br />
32<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
R OBERT M c G EACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
FIG . 7. CALVIN PARK MAP<br />
were reasonably affordable without<br />
being so low that they alienated local developers.••<br />
Phase 1 of Calvin Park had a very<br />
short-term effect on Kingston lot prices;<br />
in 1963, the average price was $2,594. The<br />
sharp price increase suggests that private<br />
investors were recouping revenues they<br />
had lost when they lowered their prices<br />
to compete with the Calvin Park Phase 1<br />
lots. 85<br />
According to a 1962 Kingston Whig Standard<br />
article, potential buyers needed<br />
an annual income of at least $5,350 to<br />
purchase a lot and house in the subdivision.••<br />
Evidence suggests that this<br />
figure is reasonably accurate. According<br />
to the 1961 census, the average income<br />
for the non-farm labour force in<br />
Ontario was $4,471. 8 ' A general guideline<br />
frequently used by real estate agents is<br />
that a family should be able to afford a<br />
house costing approximately two and half<br />
times its annual income.•• The 1961 census<br />
also showed that housing in Kingston was<br />
expensive. The median price for a house<br />
in Kingston was $14,190, almost $2,500<br />
more than in comparatively sized Ontario<br />
For CIS<br />
little as<br />
5<br />
1750 or '1850<br />
yo" con buy<br />
a fully serYicod<br />
resid•ntial building lot<br />
in<br />
CALVIN PARK<br />
KINGSTON 'S<br />
PROFESSIONALLY PLANNED<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
Sec your 1o,ol CMHC office<br />
for deto il•<br />
FIG. 8. CA LVIN PARK ADVERTISEMENT<br />
cities.•• Houses in Calvin Park probably<br />
cost around $15,000. Dacon Construction<br />
Limited, a Kingston firm that built houses<br />
in Calvin Park, advertised models costing<br />
from $15,790 to $16,248.' 0 In short, evidence<br />
strongly suggests that a substantial<br />
portion of Kingstonians probably did not<br />
earn enough to purchase a home in Calvin<br />
Park.<br />
The income range quoted in the Kingston<br />
Whig Standard cannot be considered a<br />
conclusive indicator as to who could afford<br />
to live in Calvin Park. The article's author<br />
evidently did not take into account such<br />
factors as interest rates, potential buyers'<br />
debt loads, and credit ratings when calculating<br />
the quoted figure. Nonetheless, the<br />
number demonstrates the complexity of<br />
formulating public policy vis-a-vis determining<br />
who would actually benefit from<br />
the land assembly program.<br />
CMHC statistics in 1956 indicate that the<br />
average income of a house-buyer using<br />
mortgage funds provided with the backing<br />
of the National Housing Act (NHA) was<br />
$5,312; that sum was over the midpoint<br />
of the nation's income range. 91 During the<br />
1950s and early 1960s, the land assembly<br />
program generally produced considerably<br />
more units than did the public housing<br />
program . 92 In 1957, the CMHC Director<br />
of Development Division, J.S. Hodgson,<br />
questioned the value of the land assembly<br />
program, as he believed it essentially<br />
subsidized middle-income homebuyers<br />
without benefiting those in the lower<br />
income brackets. 93 CMHC President Stewart<br />
Bates shared Hodgson's reservations.<br />
Bates, whose tenure lasted from 1954<br />
to 1964, favoured more social welfareoriented<br />
programs than those favoured<br />
by the governments of Prime Ministers<br />
Louis St. Laurent and John Diefenbaker. 94<br />
Evidence supports the assertion that Calvin<br />
Park was very much a product of the<br />
land assembly program, which primarily<br />
benefited middle-class homeowners.<br />
The CMHC advertisement's slogan for<br />
Calvin Park was "Kingston's Professionally<br />
Planned Community"(fig. 8). That slogan<br />
was probably intended to attract whitecollar<br />
professionals who were generally<br />
regarded by such social commentators as<br />
C. Wright Mill in the 1950's and 1960's as<br />
being the mainstay of the middle class. 95<br />
City planning was becoming recognized<br />
as a distinct professional discipline taught<br />
at such institutions as the University of<br />
Toronto••; hence, the term "professionally<br />
planned" created a sense of administrative<br />
order to which white-collar professionals<br />
probably aspired. A sampling of names<br />
taken from the 1964 Might's Kingston and<br />
District City Directory (the first year Calvin<br />
Park was included in the directory) shows<br />
that most of the recorded residents were<br />
white-collar middle-class professionals.<br />
The largest block (62.4%) consisted of the<br />
related professional classifications: owners<br />
and managers, self-employed, middle<br />
class : professional and related, middle<br />
class : supervisory positions (table 1) .<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
33
R OBERT M c G EACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
Available data also indicates that most Calvin<br />
Park residents came from other parts<br />
of Kingston; the dispersion of middleclass<br />
professionals in the new land assembly<br />
subdivision is, in a sense, reflective of<br />
Kingston's overall economic composition<br />
as the city had a very large service sector<br />
partly because of the large number<br />
of local institutions.'" While urban historians<br />
John Weaver and Michael Doucet<br />
observed that homeownership is not an<br />
automatic badge of membership to the<br />
middle class, evidence strongly suggests<br />
that Calvin Park could be classified as a<br />
middle-class subdivision as the majority<br />
of the sampled residents were members<br />
of that class.'' As such, it can be concluded<br />
that a fairly restricted portion of<br />
Kingston's population could actually take<br />
advantage of the land assembly program<br />
and the subsidy it offered: a serviced lot at<br />
a below market price. As Polson Park's lot<br />
prices were similar to those of Calvin Park,<br />
the occupational composition of both land<br />
assembly subdivisions was almost certainly<br />
parallel.<br />
In addition to having the power to set<br />
the prices of lots, the CMHC also had the<br />
power to use indirect and direct means<br />
•mnrw•<br />
Classification of occupations of 85 sampled<br />
Calvin Park residents, 1964 97<br />
Classification Number (%)<br />
Owners and managers 13 15.3<br />
Self-employed 2 2.4<br />
Middle class: professional and related 29 34.1<br />
Middle class: supervisory positions 9 10.6<br />
Working class: blue collar primary sector 6 7.1<br />
Working class : blue collar secondary sector 2 2.4<br />
Working class: white collar 1 1.2<br />
Occupation not given 13 15.3<br />
Military: no rank given 10 11 .8<br />
Total 85 100.2 *<br />
* 0.2 is the result of rounding off.<br />
FIG . 10. PEMBER PLACE MODEL<br />
to influence Calvin Park's architectural<br />
composition. Homeowners who wanted<br />
to attain NHA mortgage funds had to<br />
have houses that adhered to CMHC Building<br />
Standards; such safeguard constituted<br />
indirect CMHC control over houses'<br />
design.' 00 In 1963, the CMHC selected a<br />
few developers to construct 29 houses<br />
in a section of Calvin Park called Pember<br />
Place, thus directly controlling the design<br />
of the houses in that segment of Calvin<br />
Park. In keeping with its practices, as outlined<br />
in Principles of Small Group Housing,<br />
the Crown corporation sought to create<br />
a "balanced architectural appearance"<br />
in Pember Place (fig. 10) by having three<br />
selected developers construct houses that<br />
met strict criteria for such considerations<br />
as setbacks, landscaping, colour schemes,<br />
and structural design. 101 Elements such<br />
as spacing between and the size of the<br />
houses were coordinated so Pember Place<br />
exhibited a sense of cohesion without being<br />
either too monotonous or too eclectic.' 0 '<br />
As with Polson Park, there was a degree of<br />
consistency in design of the houses found<br />
in Pember Place and Calvin Park; nevertheless,<br />
the designs were not uniform,<br />
a trend that would become common in<br />
later "cookie cutter " subdivisions.' 03<br />
Pember Place represented CMHC's quest<br />
for modern orderliness and cohesive<br />
efficiency.<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
Polson Park and Calvin Park were very<br />
much products of their time. The land<br />
assembly program that created them<br />
reflected the attitudes of the respective<br />
governments towards property, ownership,<br />
and who should benefit from the<br />
offered assistance. The subdivisions' designs<br />
epitomized the trend of modern<br />
city planning during the 1950s and 1960s.<br />
The curved streets, for example, were an<br />
effort to deal with the automobile. The<br />
subdivisions' near segregation from the<br />
main body of the city was in keeping with<br />
modern city planning's tendency to isolate<br />
various components of a municipality.<br />
Finally, the predominance of middle-class<br />
professional homeowners in these neighbourhoods<br />
corresponds to the rise of the<br />
middle class during that era .<br />
NOTES<br />
1. For a comprehensive study of Canadian<br />
housing policies, see : Bacher, John C. , 1993,<br />
Keeping the Marketplace, Kingston and<br />
Montreal, McGill I Queen's University Press.<br />
2. Miron, John R., 1988, Housing in Post-War<br />
Canada: Demographic Change, Household<br />
Formation and Housing Demand, Toronto<br />
and Kingston, McGill I Queen's University<br />
Press, p. 7-9.<br />
3. G. Barker, J. Penney, and W. Secombe, 1973,<br />
High rise and Superprofits, Kitchener, Dumont<br />
Press, p . 8; and Porter, John, 1965, Vertical<br />
Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Cla ss and Power,<br />
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, p . 4-5.<br />
4. Howe, C. D., 1947, 2005
R OBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
6. Rea, Kenneth, 1985, The Prosperous Years:<br />
The Economic History of Ontario, 1939-1975,<br />
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, p. 49.<br />
7. Winters, Robert, 1950, N' 1 > 2005<br />
35
ROBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE<br />
49. Gray, Jeff, 1994, «A Neighborhood from<br />
the Boom Years >>,<br />
Normandin : 659-660.<br />
50. Normandin : 659-660.<br />
KWS, July 9, p. 2; and<br />
51 . Sale of Lots-Polson Park Land Assembly<br />
Project, unpublished CMHC report, RG56,<br />
vol. 171, file 119-2-K, NA.<br />
52 . George Muirhead, Interview, June 19, 1989.<br />
53. «Sale of Lots-Polson Park Land Assembly<br />
Project >>; and Spurr, Peter, 1976, « Five Land<br />
Banks >>, City Magazine, vol. 2, no. 1, March<br />
April, p. 12.<br />
54. Spurr : 11 .<br />
55. « Polson Park Project Taking Shape >>, KWS,<br />
July 19, 1958.<br />
56. Gray : 2; and Zarkadas, Dimos A. 1996,<br />
Urban Design Analysis of Two Residential<br />
Neighborhoods in the City of Kingston:<br />
Recommendations for Improving and<br />
Supplementing the City of Kingston Zoning<br />
By-Law, unpublished Master's Report,<br />
Queen's University, p. 2-3.<br />
57. Osborn, Frederic J., 1979, «New Towns>>,<br />
Encyclopedia of Urban Planning, New York,<br />
McGraw-Hill Book Company, p. 30-734.<br />
58. Carver, Humphrey, 1962, Cities in the Suburbs,<br />
p. 98-99; and Carver, 1975 : 117-118.<br />
59. Jackson, Kenneth T., 1985, Crabgrass Frontier:<br />
The Suburbanization of the United States,<br />
New York, Oxford University Press p. 241.<br />
60. Jackson : 240-241.<br />
61. Whitfield, Kate, 2004, «The Inner Suburbs<br />
of Kingston, Ontario: 1950's and 1960's<br />
Neighborhood Units >>, Urban Plans: Past and<br />
Present: An Exhibition in the WD. Jordan<br />
Special Collections & Music Library, January<br />
19" to February 1S" , 2004, W.O. Jordan<br />
Special Collections & Music Library Occasional<br />
Paper no. 2, Queen's University Library, p. 14-<br />
15.<br />
62. Perry, Clarence A., 1939, Housing for the<br />
Machine Age, New York, Russell Sage<br />
Foundation, p. 50-51.<br />
63. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
64.<br />
65.<br />
66.<br />
67.<br />
n.d., Kingston's Polson Park, unpublished<br />
pamphlet.<br />
Zarkadas: 2-12.<br />
Gitterman, S.A., 1947,<br />
Community Planning >>,<br />
October, p, 255.<br />
Perry: 57.<br />
« Objective of<br />
Public<br />
Affairs,<br />
Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
Principles : 32.<br />
68. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
Principles : 47.<br />
69. Zarkadas : 3-13, 3-16, 3-18, 4-14.<br />
70. Zarkadas : 4-18.<br />
71. Jacobs, Jane, 1984, Death and Life of Great<br />
American Cities, Harmondsworth, Middlesex,<br />
Penguin Books, p. 15-17, 24.<br />
72. Jacobs: 156.<br />
73. Irving : 479.<br />
74. « Nickle OKs Pen-Land Plans: Project is<br />
Approved; Remainder Up to City >>, KWS,<br />
September 29, 1960.<br />
75. Low, R.A ., 1942, Traffic Survey of the City<br />
of Kingston, Kingston, Town Planning<br />
Commission of the City of Kingston, p. 2-3.<br />
76. >,<br />
Ontario Planning, vol. 8, no. 4 .,<br />
1961, p. 1.<br />
April-May<br />
77. >,<br />
KWS, November 2, 1960, p. 1.<br />
78. >, KWS, June 6,<br />
1959, p. 21 .<br />
79. >, KWS, May 17, 1961,<br />
p. 1.<br />
80. , KWS,<br />
May 30, 1959, p. 15; and Coli, A. E., 1961, Letter<br />
to the Secretary of the Executive, May 15, RG<br />
56, vol. 172, file 119-2-K, NA.<br />
81 . Official Opening and Dedication of the<br />
New YM-YWCA Building, April24, 1963,<br />
unpublished Program<br />
of the Dedication<br />
Ceremony, Vertical File, Kingston Frontenac<br />
Public Library, Central Branch.<br />
82. For example, see Central Mortgage and<br />
Housing Corporation, 1962, Annual Report:<br />
1962, Ottawa, Central Mortgage and Housing<br />
Corporation, p. 30-40.<br />
83. Report of the Proceedings of Special Joint<br />
Meeting in the Planning Office at 8:00<br />
p.m., Thursday, March the 24", 1960, RG56,<br />
vol. 172, file 119-2-K, NA; and Hunt, George,<br />
1961 Letter to C. MacDiarmid, May 31 , RG 56,<br />
vol. 172, file 119-2-K, NA.<br />
84. See >, The Central Mortgage<br />
and Housing Corporation Builder's Bulletin,<br />
vol. 79, September 14, 1956.<br />
85.<br />
86.<br />
Spurr: 12.<br />
>, KWS, October 24,<br />
1962, p. 8.<br />
87. Poduluk, Jenny R., 1968, Income of Canadians,<br />
Ottawa, Dominion Bureau of Statistics,<br />
p. 167.<br />
88. Harris : 35.<br />
89. Cited in Harris: 35.<br />
90. Dacon Construction Ltd., ca . 1962, Welcome<br />
to Easy Street, unpublished advertisement,<br />
Vertical File, Kingston Frontenac Library,<br />
Central Branch.<br />
91 . Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
1961, Canadian Housing Statistics: 1957,<br />
Ottawa, Queen's Printer, p. 19.<br />
92 . By 1952, 2,078 public housing units and 11,345<br />
land assembly units were built or almost built<br />
in Ontario (Department of Planning and<br />
Development).<br />
93 . Hodgson, J.S., 1957, Letter to Hignett, May 3,<br />
RG56, vol. 171, file 119-2-K, NA.<br />
94. Carver, 1975 : 108.<br />
95. Mills, C. Wright, 1951, White Collar: The<br />
American Middle Classes, New York, Oxford<br />
University Press, p. ix-x.<br />
96. Hodge, Gerald, 1986, Planning Canadian<br />
Communities: An Introduction to the<br />
Principles, Practice and Participants, Toronto,<br />
Methuen, p. 362-364.<br />
97. The classification of occupations is taken<br />
from Harris, Democracy in Kingston: 160.<br />
The sampling is taken from Kingston and<br />
District City Directory, 1964, Toronto, Might's<br />
Directories Ltd.<br />
98. In 1951, 40.1% of Kingston's workforce was<br />
employed in the service sector. Stephenson<br />
and Muirhead : 24; and Kirkland, John, 1969,<br />
Housing Filtration in Kingston: 1953-1969,<br />
unpublished M.A. Thesis, Queen's University,<br />
p. 101 .<br />
99. Weaver, John, and Michael Doucet, Housing<br />
the North American City, Montreal and<br />
Kingston, McGill I Queen's University Press,<br />
1991, p. 468.<br />
100. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
1954, Building Standards, Ottawa, Central<br />
Mortgage and Housing Corporation, p. 7.<br />
101 . >,<br />
1963, KWS, August 21, p. 15.<br />
102. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
Principles : 43-45.<br />
103. Zarkadas : 4-19.<br />
36<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
EMPTINESS AND LANDSCAPE:<br />
NATIONAL IDENTITY IN <strong>CANADA</strong>'S<br />
CENTENNIAL PROJECTS<br />
COLIN RIPLEY IS a assistant professor of<br />
architectural des1gn. histoJ'y, and them'y 1n the<br />
Department of Architectural Sc1ence at Ryerson<br />
Un1vers1ty, as well as principal of Colin Ripley<br />
Architects. a crJtJcal architectural pract1ce based<br />
1n Toronto. In both of these arenas, Colin's work<br />
focuses on the use of sound in architecture: on<br />
issues of sexual 1dent1ty Within aJ'Chitecture: and<br />
on the study of Canad1an Modern Architecture.<br />
>COLIN RIPLEY 1<br />
Architecture, of course, has longperhaps<br />
always-had an intimate<br />
connection with the notion of identity.<br />
Indeed, one could claim that an expression<br />
of identity, whether cultural, national,<br />
sexual, or other, is one of the primary<br />
qualities distinguishing architecture from<br />
mere building.<br />
It should be equally obvious that this<br />
relationship between architecture and<br />
identity can be exploited or made use of<br />
for political purposes. Examples of that<br />
politicization, in which the relationship<br />
is inverted and architecture used not to<br />
simply express an autochthonous identity,<br />
but rather to impose and maintain a preconstructed<br />
identity, are easy enough to<br />
find, from the ancient world (one might<br />
think, for example, of the form of Roman<br />
colonial towns) to the postmodern world<br />
(for example, the embodiment of a politics<br />
of t ransparency in the Grands Projets in<br />
Paris in the 1990's).<br />
FIG. 1. FATHERS OF CON FEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDING, COM PETI TI ON MODEL PHOTOGRAPH, 1960.<br />
ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SISE.<br />
In Canada, the Centennial Projects, a group<br />
of Federal Government programs which<br />
amounted to a gigantic building campaign<br />
leading up to the Centennial of Confederation<br />
in 1967, can be understood to fall within<br />
that tradition. The Centennial Projects<br />
differ from the examples cited above, however,<br />
in one crucial way: while the examples<br />
mentioned attempted to express, impose,<br />
and maintain a specific, well-considered<br />
identification, imposing such an identity<br />
on an otherwise alien cultural substrate,<br />
the Centennial Projects aimed to express a<br />
national identity which was at best cloudy,<br />
imprecisely understood. Architecture was<br />
to be used as a research and production<br />
tool, whose role was to uncover and give<br />
form to a national identity, which would<br />
only become legible during, and as a result<br />
of, that process.<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N· 1 > 2005 > 39-43 37
COLIN RIPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
THE CENTENNIAL COMMISSION provided matching funds to municipalities<br />
(through the provinces) to support projects<br />
The Centennial programs we will be discussing<br />
in this paper were officially in<br />
of a lasting nature, preferably related to<br />
culture or recreation. That program was<br />
augurated by the passing of the National<br />
to provide one dollar for every resident<br />
Centennial Act, which received Royal<br />
of every community in Canada, provided<br />
Assent on September 29, 1961 . Action on<br />
that dollar was matched by a second dollar<br />
from the province and a third from<br />
the part of the Federal Government, under<br />
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, had<br />
the community itself for a total amount<br />
been prodded by the lobbying in the late<br />
of three dollars per capita (approximately<br />
1950's of a number of non-governmental<br />
$15 per capita in today's dollars). Such a<br />
groups, such as the YMCA, the YWCA, the<br />
relatively small amount of money funded<br />
Canadian Conference of Christians and<br />
some 2301 projects across the country, of<br />
Jews, the Canadian Citizenship Council<br />
which some 860 were buildings (including<br />
and the Canadian Amateur Sports Federation,<br />
which coalesced in 1959-1960 into<br />
renovations and restorations), and an additional<br />
520 were recreational structures.<br />
an umbrella organisation, the Canadian<br />
Projects completed under the program<br />
Centenary Council.' That citizen group<br />
for the city of Toronto, to give just one<br />
remained in place through 1967, but was<br />
example, included restoration of the<br />
largely subsumed in practice by the Na <br />
St. Lawrence Hall and the establishment of<br />
tional Centennial Administration (later<br />
the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Other<br />
renamed the Centennial Commission).'<br />
projects in smaller communities were of<br />
Once the Centennial Commission actually course much more modest in scope.<br />
got going (the Commissioner was not<br />
The second building-based program set up<br />
appointed until January 1963), a number<br />
by the Commission was the Confederation<br />
of programs and events were organized<br />
Memorial Program, which provided matching<br />
funds of up to $2 .5 million to each<br />
and planned. In addition to such mobile<br />
events as the Confederation Train and<br />
province to support a project, again preferably<br />
of a cultural nature, in the provinc<br />
the Confederation Caravan, the minting<br />
of Centennial Medals, the promotion of<br />
ial capital (lesser amounts were granted<br />
Youth Travel, the production of films,<br />
to the territories). Unlike the Centennial<br />
and so on, two major building programs<br />
Grants Program, which found its impetus<br />
were developed, in addition to one major<br />
within the Centennial Commission (and in<br />
built project which fell outside of those<br />
particular with its Director of Special Projects,<br />
Peter Aykroyd), the Confederation<br />
programs, the National Arts Centre. The<br />
most visible event in relation to the 1967<br />
Memorial Program arose in response to<br />
Centennial, Expo '67, was not connected<br />
initiatives which were already happening<br />
in an official capacity to the Centennial<br />
at a local and, to some extent, unofficial<br />
Commission, nor did Expo receive funding<br />
level. By the time the Commissioner was<br />
from the Commission. In total, the Centennial<br />
Commission was responsible for<br />
appointed in 1963, plans were already well<br />
under way to build a Fathers of Confederation<br />
Memorial Building, a large performing<br />
expenditures of approximately $85 million<br />
($440 million in today's dollars).<br />
arts centre to be located in Charlottetown,<br />
The first of the building programs set P.E.I., to memorialise the first Confederaup<br />
by the Centennial Commission was tion Conference held in that city in 1864.<br />
the Centennial Grants Program, which A national competition had been held in<br />
1962, and a winning scheme by Montreal<br />
architects Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakoupoulos,<br />
Lebensold, and Sise (later ARCOP)<br />
selected. A grant of $2.8 million was made<br />
to the project by the Centennial Commission.<br />
As Peter Aykroyd tells the story, the<br />
awarding of that grant prompted Quebec<br />
to request funding for LeGrand Theatre<br />
de Quebec, in recognition of the second<br />
Confederation Conference, held in Quebec<br />
City, also in 1864; a grant of $2 .8 million<br />
was made by the Centennial Commission<br />
in November 1963. In February 1964, the<br />
two grants were incorporated into the<br />
Confederation Memorial Program, open<br />
to all provinces. 4 1n total, $20.7 million of<br />
federal funds were disbursed as a part of<br />
the program. With the exceptions of Nova<br />
Scotia, (a medical centre), and New<br />
Brunswick, (an administration building),<br />
all provinces built major buildings of a<br />
cultural nature: six cultural centres or<br />
performing arts spaces were constructed,<br />
two museums and archives, and the<br />
Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.<br />
In addition to the municipal and provincial<br />
programs, the Centennial Commission also<br />
oversaw and funded a number of projects<br />
of national significance. In fact, in terms of<br />
expenditures, this category outweighs the<br />
other two programs. The majority of the<br />
national programs are either travelling exhibitions,<br />
such as the Centennial Train and<br />
Caravans (the largest single expenditure of<br />
the Commission, rece iving $11.4 million),<br />
or funding for performances, publications,<br />
films, etc. The single sizable building project<br />
in that category was the National Arts<br />
Centre (NAC) in Ottawa, also designed<br />
by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakoupoulos,<br />
Lebensold, and Sise, which actually opened<br />
two years after the Centennial, in 1969.<br />
The NAC received $2 .1 million in grants<br />
from the Centennial Commission.<br />
38 JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
C OLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
Institute of Canada (RAIC) annual assembly.<br />
The first of these addresses, given by<br />
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to the<br />
53 'd Annual Assembly in June 1960, 5 actually<br />
predated by over a year the National<br />
Centennial Act. As the transcript of the<br />
address in the July 1960 issue of the RAIC<br />
Journal reinforces, Diefenbaker announced<br />
at that early date that "[a]rchitects can<br />
play an important part in the planning of<br />
Canada's Centennial." It is striking that already,<br />
before any concrete plans had been<br />
made, long before the Commission would<br />
be formed, Diefenbaker was already<br />
certain of the role that architects-and<br />
therefore architecture-would play,<br />
although we should note that he likely did<br />
not come to that conclusion unprompted.<br />
It is li kely not coincidence that one of the<br />
two founders of the Canadian Centenary<br />
Council (and later Director of Planning for<br />
the Centennial Commission) was Robbins<br />
Elliot, who in 1960 was still the Executive<br />
Director of the RAIC. Equally striking, to<br />
us, is Diefenbaker's choice of words: architects<br />
are to play a part in the centennial<br />
planning, that is, take on a role, mount a<br />
performance.<br />
FIG. 2. FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDING, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH, 1960.<br />
ARC HITECTS: AFFLEC K, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SISE.<br />
ARCHITECTURE AND NATIONAL<br />
IDENTITY<br />
There can be little doubt that a major .goal<br />
of the Centennial Commission was the<br />
development, nurturing and strengthening<br />
of a Canadian national identity.<br />
Canada in the 1950's and early 1960's<br />
was still seen as a young country. Then,<br />
as now, a Canadian identity was difficult<br />
to pinpoint, given the internal cultural<br />
divisions as well as competing external<br />
influences from, on the one hand, England<br />
and France and, on the other, the United<br />
States. It is no surprise then that Peter<br />
Aykroyd ranked identity first on his list of<br />
goals not just for that occasion, but for<br />
any anniversary celebration.<br />
The notion that architecture would have a<br />
major role to play in such exercise of identity<br />
construction was made clear in two<br />
remarkable addresses given by Canadian<br />
Prime Ministers to the Royal A rchitectural<br />
Diefenbaker, as one might expect of a<br />
politician speaking to a room of architects,<br />
begins by making a link on the<br />
level of metaphor between architecture<br />
and politics, as each profession "deals<br />
with building."• The politician deals with<br />
the building of a nation in the world, the<br />
architect builds the world of everyday<br />
experience. Further, both the politician<br />
and the architect must be "able to see<br />
and understand what can be done in the<br />
future and then to lay those plans which<br />
make possible the realities of tomorrow." 7<br />
After praising the efforts of the RAIC in the<br />
field of historic preservation, Diefenbaker<br />
then reinforces the notion that architects<br />
must look to the future as well as the past,<br />
and he does so in the framework of the<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
39
COLI N R IP LEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
upcoming centennial, for which he asks<br />
architects to present<br />
[ .. ) something to touch the hearts of<br />
Canadians , something to represent t he<br />
unity of our country, something to embody<br />
that paradox of two great national stocks<br />
which joined together to make Con federation<br />
possible, something that w ill well represent<br />
the tremendous contributions of persons<br />
from all races and creeds w ho have come<br />
to Canada from all parts of the worldB<br />
In other words, Diefenbaker explicitly<br />
asks for an architecture of identity, and<br />
an identity bound up, in the first instance,<br />
with unity.<br />
The second of the two mentioned<br />
addresses was given by Diefenbaker's<br />
successor, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson,<br />
to the 57 'h Annual Assembly in June<br />
1964. 9 While similar in many respects to<br />
Diefenbaker's address. Pearson makes<br />
much less reliance on metaphor. Where<br />
Diefenbaker had connected architects and<br />
politicians, seeing both as agents engaged<br />
in nation-or world-building, Pearson<br />
makes the connection between architecture<br />
and government, dealing with the<br />
issues and mechanisms these two institutions<br />
have in common.<br />
The re lationship of parts to the who leand<br />
the need to bring unity to the whole<br />
without inte r fering with t he functio n al<br />
needs and values of the parts-is a problem<br />
of government as well as of architecture.<br />
[ ... ) Architecture-like government-can get<br />
inspiration from the past without prejudicing<br />
its contribution , and indeed its obligation, to<br />
the futurem<br />
I<br />
~<br />
v<br />
FIG . 3. FATHE RS OF CONF EDERATI ON MEMORIAL BU ILDI NG, COMPETITI ON MODEL PH OTOGRA PH, 1960.<br />
ARC HITECTS: AF FLECK, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOU LOS, LEBE NSOLD, AND SISE.<br />
link between our two Canadian cultures"<br />
(although he does not pinpoint how architecture<br />
forms this link), Pearson discusses<br />
a recent report on the state of architecture<br />
in Canada w hich focused on regional disparities<br />
and the difficulty of finding common<br />
ground for policy. While recognizing<br />
that the problem was partly caused by the<br />
federal system of government, he goes on<br />
to stress the importance of finding that<br />
common ground.<br />
[ ... ) There can be no other foundation for<br />
national unity 11<br />
Aga i n, rather than stress the metaphor<br />
between nation building and the<br />
construction of buildings, Pearson exhorted<br />
architects to embrace the reality of<br />
the political within their own institution.<br />
National unity has to be created in a real<br />
sense within the nation's institutionsincluding<br />
architecture- before it could be<br />
represented in its buildings.<br />
Architecture and government are two<br />
separate realms of expertise, which can<br />
and should, however, act together in the<br />
pursuit of a single goal-for Pearson, the<br />
goal of national unity.<br />
After praising t he RAIC for being an<br />
"exampl e of useful collaboration [ .. .]<br />
between our English - spea k ing and<br />
French-spea ki ng citizens" and pointing out<br />
that "architecture itself is an important<br />
If you are to make your art's maximumand<br />
rightful-contribution to our national<br />
development, to our national insight, and to<br />
our national pride; if you are to remind us<br />
of our limitations and enshrine the richness<br />
and diversity of our future existence in cities<br />
which will have balance and even beauty, you<br />
have a r ight to enjoy the highest national<br />
standards and to be concerned over any<br />
barrier to your achievement of them.<br />
The responsibility for achieving this is yours<br />
[ ... ] This means, among other things, equal<br />
opportunities for all our people and provinces<br />
AN EMPTY LANDSCAPE: TWO<br />
CENTENNIAL PROJECTS<br />
Such an overt program of national identity I<br />
construction should, arguably, make itself<br />
evident in the form of the buildings constructed<br />
under the aegis of the Centennial<br />
Commission. In order to test that hypothesis,<br />
we propose to take a somew hat closer<br />
look at t w o project s already mentioned :<br />
40<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
C OLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
The two squares, the two portions of the<br />
design, the historical monument, and the<br />
shrine to cement the future unity, have<br />
an odd relationship to each other. Not<br />
only are the two portions kept on their<br />
separate squares, but the new project only<br />
addresses the existing building laterally. It<br />
is striking that, in contemporary photos of<br />
the project, the existing Provincial Building<br />
rarely shows up (fig. 2). Furthermore,<br />
to quote Walter P. de Silva's review of the<br />
building in The Canadian Architect, "the<br />
important view of the Provincial Building<br />
from the inner part of Memorial Hall is<br />
only partial.""<br />
FIG . 4. FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDIN G, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH, 1960.<br />
ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIM AKO UPOULOS, LEBEN SOLD, AND SISE.<br />
the Fathers of Confederation Memorial<br />
Building, in Charlottetown and the Na <br />
tional Arts Centre, in Ottawa. These two<br />
projects have been chosen for a number<br />
of reasons. First of all, they are among the<br />
most significant projects in terms of scale<br />
to come out of the Centennial programs.<br />
Second, they are probably the most<br />
widely published of the Centennial<br />
Projects. Third, they "bookend" the program,<br />
with the Fathers of Confederation<br />
Memorial Building being the first major<br />
Centennial Project completed, and the<br />
National Arts Centre among the last.<br />
Fourth, as mentioned above, they share<br />
an architect. Finally, they are both built on<br />
or around sites that are national in significance-the<br />
Provincial Building in Charlottetown<br />
and the National Capital, Ottawa.<br />
Formally, the Fathers of Confederation<br />
Memorial Building is made up of a set of<br />
cubic volumes disposed on the rectangular<br />
site in some relationship to the Provincial<br />
Building. The model of the project shows<br />
a complex of four buildings: a library, a<br />
theatre, an art gallery, and a museum.<br />
These are grouped around a fifth space,<br />
which functions as an entry: the Memorial<br />
Hall (fig. 1 ). In the competition entry,<br />
that Memorial Hall was literally an exterior<br />
plaza, although provided with a glass<br />
roof. In the final scheme, the roof remains,<br />
but the hall has become an interior space,<br />
although sunken to a level lower than the<br />
plaza. On the other side of the site from<br />
this assembly of volumes sits the original<br />
artefact, the Provincial Building, surrounded<br />
by a plaza. The plan thus shows two<br />
distinct sides of the site, as though mirrored<br />
in a line drawn down the middle:<br />
where one is an empty space with a solid<br />
building at its centre, the other is a filled<br />
space with an empty hall at its centre.<br />
If the relationship between the past and<br />
the present is ambiguous and uncertain,<br />
even more tenuous is the relationship<br />
between the local and the national in<br />
the project. Even rarer than images of<br />
the Provincial Building are images of<br />
the surrounding context, of the City of<br />
Charlottetown. When such images do<br />
appear, the shops on the street behind are<br />
just glimpsed through slits between the<br />
cubic forms of the project. Thus, although<br />
Architectural Record in its review praised<br />
the project for maintaining the "modest<br />
scale" of the town" or, let us say mirroring<br />
that scale, Norbert Schoenauer, the urban<br />
design consultant, pointed out that the<br />
uniform height of the building-arguably<br />
one of the elements which gives it its<br />
modest scale-was designed to contrast<br />
the project with foreseen future unregulated<br />
development. 14 The ambiguity of<br />
that relationship was already evident in<br />
the competition brief, which made clear<br />
that the building was to be conceived as a<br />
"national shrine to which Canadians will<br />
forever pay homage as the birthplace of<br />
their nation." A third relationship which<br />
is not really developed in the project,<br />
between the rather static form of the<br />
building and the required flexibility of<br />
programming, was noted already in his<br />
1964 appraisal by Douglas Shadbolt.' 5 41<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005
COLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
Caught within this web of conflicting<br />
agendas-past I present, local I national,<br />
formal I programmatic-within what we<br />
might call, taking some liberties, a web<br />
of reflected identities, and protected by its<br />
surrounded layer of representations and<br />
performances (that is, galleries, museums,<br />
theatres), is the Memorial Hall itself. surely<br />
the symbolic as well as physical centre of<br />
the project, and the one place in which<br />
identity, if it is anywhere, must be seen<br />
to reside. And that symbolic centre, that<br />
locus of identity, is, of course, empty.<br />
Looking back at the model photographs<br />
from the competition entry, one can easily<br />
be struck by the fact that this entry-again,<br />
the symbolic heart of the project-is in<br />
a sense explicitly a void, sunk as it is to<br />
the a level lower than the surrounding<br />
plaza (fig. 3). Indeed, on looking again at<br />
contemporary published photographs of<br />
the project, one might come to the conclusion<br />
that emptiness is in fact a core<br />
concept for the project as a whole.<br />
Although it is not uncommon for architectural<br />
photographs to show empty buildings,<br />
it is uncommon for the photographs<br />
to be shot on a grey, rainy day, as the<br />
first published photos of the Fathers of<br />
Confederation Memorial Building were,<br />
with the emptiness made more tangible<br />
by the inclusion in the photos a solitary<br />
figure-a young child in a raincoat and<br />
galoshes (fig. 4)-or a group of figures<br />
huddled on the floor in the centre of the<br />
otherwise empty Memorial Hall (fig. 5) .<br />
Perhaps the story told by the project is just<br />
that Canadian national identity is in itself<br />
empty, a constitutive void, made up solely<br />
of the representations we make around<br />
it-the stories we tell, the images we make,<br />
perhaps even the buildings we build, a<br />
void that is delicate and in need of nurturing<br />
and protection, not so much caught<br />
in its conflicts as made up of them.<br />
FIG . 5. FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDING, INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING MEMORIAL<br />
HALL, 1960. ARCHITECTS : AFFLECK , DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SI SE.<br />
In the summer of 1964, as the Fathers<br />
of Confederation Building was finishing<br />
construction, as Prime Minister Pearson<br />
was delivering his address to the RAIC,<br />
design work was underway for the new<br />
National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The search<br />
for a symbolic centre, a locus of identity,<br />
at the National Art Centre in Ottawa is not<br />
so straightforward. This project on first<br />
analysis presents a similar type of site<br />
planning to the new portion of the Fathers<br />
of Confederation Memorial project, with<br />
the cubic volumes in Charlottetown replaced<br />
by hexagonal ones (perhaps in<br />
deference to the diagonal positioning<br />
of the Parliament Buildings, which could<br />
be understood to take the position in<br />
the overall scheme that the Provincial<br />
Building played in Charlottetown). A case<br />
could be made for the Salon, a relatively<br />
small room intended for receptions and<br />
chamber recitals, as the symbolic centre<br />
42<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N" 1 > 2005
COLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
shows the project as an "outcropping."<br />
The inclusion in the photo of the Parliament<br />
Buildings does not serve here to<br />
connect the two buildings-the formal<br />
variance is just too great-, but rather to<br />
connect the Arts Centre to the rise of trees<br />
in the middle distance and, perhaps, to<br />
the formation of Parliament Hill . The view<br />
of the project from the city side, on the<br />
other hand, clearly articulates the Centre<br />
as an extension of a foregrounded green<br />
landscape. Unlike the Charlottetown<br />
photographs, this photo is far from empty,<br />
showing a large number of people using<br />
both the foregrounded landscape and the<br />
terrace of the Arts Centre for recreational<br />
purposes (fig. 7) .<br />
FIG . 6. NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH OF BUILDING AND CANAL, CA. 1970.<br />
ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIM AKOUPD ULD S, LEBEN SOLD, AND SISE.<br />
of the project, but while that room does<br />
project upward through the terrace above<br />
in the form of a skylight, echoing the<br />
Memorial Hall, it remains too small in scale<br />
in relation to the rest of the project to<br />
really command the centre. Nor does that<br />
room act as an entry to the complex, nor<br />
does it face an important precedent.<br />
In fact, unlike Charlottetown where the<br />
entrance faces the Provincial Building, the<br />
entrance to the NAC is from the side of<br />
the Rideau Canal-away from the Parliament<br />
Buildings, and arguably away from<br />
the city, on the side of a (albeit artificial)<br />
river. We would like to suggest that this<br />
positioning of the entrance in fact repeats<br />
the situation in Charlottetown, in which<br />
the entrance faces the symbolically most<br />
important existing component, except<br />
that now, that most important feature is<br />
not an existing building, but an existing<br />
landscape. In a September 1964 preconstruction<br />
review of the project, The<br />
Canadian Architect magazine commented<br />
that the "buildings for this project have<br />
been conceived as a series of terraces"<br />
with the main performance rooms " protruding<br />
almost as great stones."" A review<br />
in Architecture Canada 1970-1971 states<br />
that the "architectural concept envisages<br />
the total site as a focal outdoor area." "<br />
Macy Dubois, in his July 1969 review in<br />
Canadian Architect, referred to the project<br />
as "a very skilfully massed series of<br />
forms in which it is a pleasure to move<br />
through and around,"'" praising the connection<br />
to the river, but noting the cost<br />
to the city-side elevations. Putting all the<br />
various comments together amounts to a<br />
description which could almost be that of<br />
a natural landscape: a building which is a<br />
grouping of large rocks along the banks<br />
of a river, perhaps somewhere in the<br />
Canadian Shield (fig. 6) .<br />
We believe that such reading of the building<br />
is strengthened by the first published<br />
photos of the project. The view of the Arts<br />
Centre from the river, for example, clearly<br />
That idea of Architecture as landscape was<br />
certainly in the air in the summer of 1964.<br />
Looking back at Pearson's address to the<br />
RAIC, we see that before moving on to his<br />
own announcement of what must already<br />
have been well known to his audience, the<br />
Centennial Programs, Pearson reiterates<br />
Montesquieu's dictum that national character<br />
derives first of all from climate and<br />
geography. However, Pearson remindes<br />
his listeners that "today, as our population<br />
moves more and more to urban centres,<br />
it is buildings which make up our<br />
geography."' 9 ln other words, in the modern<br />
world, architecture plays the role of<br />
geography and climate, becoming responsible<br />
not simply for representing, but for<br />
creating, forming, a national identity.<br />
It is almost as though that project, which<br />
would have been in the throes of design<br />
at the time of Pearson's speech to the<br />
RAIC, takes Pearson's link literally, but<br />
in a sense turns the schema around: if<br />
buildings are to be our total environment,<br />
our urban landscape, this project builds<br />
that urban landscape as an image, a<br />
reflection, or perhaps a memory of the<br />
natural landscape. The symbolic centre<br />
of the project, then, is located not within<br />
the NAC (unless perhaps it is the central<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
43
C OLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
FIG. 7. NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH OF BUILDING IN LANDSCAPE, CA. 1970. ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SISE.<br />
terrace), but rather is external to it, in the<br />
natural landscape of Canada. The implication,<br />
of course, is that Montesquieu's<br />
comment still holds: the kernel, the centre, of<br />
Canadian identity is simply located in<br />
the Canadian landscape.<br />
Which, of course, is just another kind of<br />
empty centre.<br />
EPILOGUE: DRESSING UP<br />
The July 1964 issue of the RAIC Journal<br />
contains a transcript of the speech that<br />
Prime Minister Pearson made to the RAIC<br />
Assembly-the speech which, as we have<br />
seen, linked national identity to architecture,<br />
reinforced the importance of the<br />
unity visible in that identity, tied national<br />
identity to architecture, and probably, in<br />
a direct manner, influenced the design of<br />
the National Arts Centre.<br />
Two pages previous to that transcript are<br />
images from another event held at that<br />
same assembly: the receiving line. The<br />
first photo of the receiving line shows<br />
the wives of some of the architects at the<br />
convention, posing like movie stars for the<br />
camera. The second photo shows, in the<br />
same glamorous poses, their husbands-in<br />
drag. 20 Of course, the drag show is just for<br />
fun, a spoof, a stunt. Still, seeing these two<br />
images side by side-the drag show, and<br />
Pearson at his speech-makes us wonder if<br />
there is not something deeper connecting<br />
the two images, if the very idea of selfconsciously<br />
constructing an identity<br />
through architecture is not, in a way, like<br />
dressing up, like wearing a costume to<br />
the big party that was 1967. And it makes<br />
us wonder, too, what happens when the<br />
fancy dress comes off.<br />
On October 15, 1970, having been informed<br />
that the City of Montreal had requested<br />
the army sent in to restore order, Pearson's<br />
successor, Prime Minister Trudeau, went<br />
off to spend the evening at the National<br />
Arts Centre, at the debut gala of the NAC<br />
Orchestra, before returning home to invoke<br />
the war measures act...<br />
NOTES<br />
1. The author w ishes to acknowledge the assistance<br />
of the following individuals: ian Chodikoff<br />
of the Canadian Architect magazine,<br />
Anna MacDonald of the Confederation Centre<br />
for the Arts, Gerry Grace of the National Arts<br />
Centre, and his research assistant, Kevin James.<br />
This research was co nducted with support from<br />
Ryerson Universit y and the Ontario Ministry of<br />
Education and Training.<br />
44 JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005
COLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
2. Aykroyd, Peter H., 1992, The Anniversary Com <br />
pulsion: Canada's Centennial Celebra t ions, a<br />
Model Mega-Anniversary, Toronto, Dundurn<br />
Pre ss, p. 43.<br />
3. Aykroyd : 62.<br />
4. Ayk royd : 82- 83 .<br />
18. Dubois, M acy, 1969, « Critique>>, Th e Canadian<br />
Architect, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 44.<br />
19. Ibid.<br />
20. Bow ker, Walter B. (ed.), 1964, « The 57" Assem <br />
bl y>>, RAIC/L'IRAC, serial number 466, vol. 41,<br />
no. 7, p. 34, author of article not credited.<br />
5. Di et enbaker, John, 1960, « A Tas k tor the Profession<br />
», Journal RAIC, serial numbe r 418,<br />
vol . 37, no. 7, p. 286 -2 88.<br />
6. Diet enbaker : 286.<br />
7. Ibid.<br />
8. Dietenbaker: 287.<br />
9. Pearson, Lester B., 1964, « The Prime Minister's<br />
Speech at the A ss embly », RAICIL'IRAC, serial<br />
number 466, vol. 41 no. 7, p. 37-38.<br />
10. Pearson : 37.<br />
11 . Ibid.<br />
12. d e Sil va , Walter P., 1964, >, The<br />
Canadian Architect, vol. 9, no. 11, p . 50 -51 .<br />
13. Go ble, Emerson (ed .), 1965, « Monumental<br />
Ci vic Architecture, Modest in Scale », Architectural<br />
Record, April 1965, p. 161, author of<br />
article not credited .<br />
14. Schoenauer, Norbert, 1964, « Design Considerations<br />
>>, The Canadian Architect, vol. 9, no. 11 ,<br />
p. 42.<br />
15. Shadbolt, Douglas, 1964, « Confederation<br />
Centre- An Apprai sal >>, RAIC/L'IRAC, seria l<br />
number 471, vol. 41, no. 12, p. 25 .<br />
16. Murray, James A . (ed .), 1964, « Project: Canadian<br />
Centre tor the Performing Arts, Ottawa >>,<br />
The Canadian Architect, vol. 9, no. 9, p. 64-65,<br />
author of article not credited.<br />
17. Slaight, Annabel, Patrick Hailstone, Ron Butler,<br />
Janeva Van Buren, and Michael de Pen sier<br />
(editorial board), 1970, « Massey Medals tor<br />
Architecture>>, Architecture Canada New s<br />
magazine, October 12, serial number 545, vol.<br />
47, p. 13 (author of article not credited).<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
45
ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
LORSQUE LES ARTISTES EXPOSENT DANS LES EGLISES<br />
LES CAS DE CARL BOUCHARD ET<br />
DE LAURA VICKERSON 1<br />
MELANIE BOUCHER poursuit des etudes de<br />
doctorat a I'UQAM. Elle est responsable de<br />
>MELANIE BOUCHER<br />
l'ed1t1on et de Ia recherche a EXPRESSION.<br />
Centre d 'expos1tion de Sa1nt-Hyacmthe. Elle<br />
a ete aSSIStante a Ia programmation et a Ia<br />
coordmat1on pour Ia Manifestation 1nternat1onale<br />
d'art de Quebec. en 2000, et est directr1ce<br />
de publication de ORANGE. L'evenement d'art<br />
actuel de Sa1nt-Hyacinthe.<br />
'<br />
Al'occasion du Symposium international<br />
de Montreal en 1964, douze artistes<br />
ont realise et present€ des sculptures sur<br />
le site du Mont-Royal, ce qui constituait<br />
a l'epoque un mode de diffusion inedit.<br />
Depuis, au Quebec, on compte un nombre<br />
important de projets artistiques qui n'ont<br />
pas ete proposes a l'interieur de galeries<br />
ou de musees, mais plut6t dans d'autres<br />
espaces publics comme des pares, des batiments<br />
inoccupes ou des eglises 2 • II va sans<br />
dire que cette integration d' N 1 > 2005 > 4 7-52<br />
47
M ELANIE B ouCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
entrent en resonance avec les ceuvres et<br />
les gens. Comme l'a souligne Ia sociologue<br />
Andree Fortin,<br />
Evoquer l'esprit des lieux , c'est renvoyer aux<br />
lieux geogr aphiques, a leurs caracteristiques<br />
phys iques, ecologiques et sociales, avec<br />
lesq ue ls une per sonne, une ceuvre, un<br />
evenement peut entrer en resonance.<br />
Par ticiper a l'e sprit des li eux, c'est se gr effer<br />
a un lieu et a sa specificite et, en r etour,<br />
contribuer a sa definition en r e n for~;a n t ou<br />
en inflechissant ses specifici t es. Processus<br />
de retroaction, processus (( dialectique ».<br />
S'a ncrer dans un lieu et da ns sa specifi cite<br />
cont ribue a marquer enc ore dava ntage<br />
cette specificite, a Ia renforcer, a Ia limite,<br />
« !'inve nter » 4 .<br />
L'esprit des lieux de culte peut generer des<br />
resonances particulieres. Les eglises et les<br />
autres batiments voues a Ia celebration du<br />
culte catholique ont Ia capacite d'etablir<br />
un dialogue fecond avec les ceuvres et les<br />
individus. lis marient, pour Ia majorite<br />
d'entre eux, une forte symbolique a une<br />
architecture ornementee et imposante.<br />
Les plafonds hauts et voutes, les dorures<br />
scintillantes, Ia lumiere filtree par les<br />
vitraux et l'odeur distinctive des eglises<br />
n'ont de cesse de transporter l'esprit, de<br />
faire voyager l'imaginaire et Ia pensee<br />
dans un etat de recueillement auquel nous<br />
ne pouvons guere acceder dans d'autres<br />
espaces publics.<br />
C'est pourquoi il est necessaire de considerer<br />
l'esprit des lieux lorsqu'il s'agit d'integrer<br />
des ceuvres d'art contemporain dans<br />
des espaces voues au culte. La charge des<br />
eglises, des chapelles et des cathedrales<br />
est si grande que les ceuvres ne peuvent<br />
s'y tailler une place sans en tenir compte.<br />
L'ignorer, c'est mettre en peril le projet ;<br />
c'est risquer de le mettre a plat, de le<br />
banaliser. En tenir compte, c'est miser sur<br />
des integrations reussies.<br />
Deux projets exemplaires ont ete presentes<br />
dans le cadre de Ia premiere edition de<br />
Ia Manifestation internationale d'art de<br />
Quebec, en 2000 5 • Ces projets de Laura<br />
Vickerson, artiste de Calgary (Alberta), et<br />
de Carl Bouchard, artiste de Chicoutimi,<br />
etaient respectivement exposes a l'eglise<br />
Saint-Roch et a l'eglise Notre-Dame-de<br />
Jacques-Cartier.<br />
Ceux et celles qui sont familiers avec le<br />
patrimoine religieux de Ia vieille capitale<br />
connaissent Ia disparite qui existe entre<br />
les deux eglises. La premiere, l'eglise<br />
Saint-Roch, construite pendant Ia periode<br />
1914-1923, est un vaisseau amiral de<br />
notre patrimoine religieux, pour citer le<br />
cure Mario Dufour• qui, a l'epoque, etait<br />
en charge des deux eglises investies. Elle<br />
est un carrefour cultuel, culture! et communautaire<br />
ou se tient depuis 1997 le<br />
Festival des musiques sacrees de Quebec<br />
et ou se croisent bien des gens dont plusieurs<br />
ne sont pas des paroissiens. Situee<br />
au cceur de Ia revitalisation du quartier<br />
Saint-Roch, entamee il y a de cela une<br />
quinzaine d'annees, elle est Ia plus grande<br />
eglise de Quebec'.<br />
La deuxieme, l'eglise Notre-Dame-de<br />
Jacques-Cartier, date de 1851". Selon<br />
Mario Dufour, elle est une petite eglise<br />
de quartier qui se compare a une eglise de<br />
campagne, Ia messe en semaine y reunissant<br />
une vingtaine d'individus, essentiellement<br />
des personnes agees. Elle constitue<br />
un lieu de culte en peril, contrairement a<br />
l'eglise Saint-Roch qui ne risque pas dans<br />
les prochaines annees de voir ses portes se<br />
fermer au public.<br />
LAURA VICKERSON<br />
OFFERING A L'EGLISE SAINT-ROCH<br />
L'eglise Saint-Roch accueillait Offering<br />
(2000) (ill. 1), une installation in situ de<br />
Laura Vickerson constituee de longs tissus<br />
d'organdi sur lesquels des milliers<br />
de petales de roses etaient juxtaposes,<br />
individuellement epingles. De l'organdi,<br />
ce tissu fin qui est utilise pour les voiles<br />
de mariees, etait enroule sur les colonnes<br />
du chceur, deferlant aussi sur l'autel et le<br />
sol. Le procede de fabrication d'Offering<br />
revelait un travail repetitif de collecte et<br />
d'epinglage, traditionnellement associe a<br />
l'univers de Ia femme- que l'on pense a<br />
Ia broderie, au tissage ou au tricot, par<br />
exemple.<br />
Pero:;u a distance, Offering apparaissait<br />
tels d'immenses et somptueux drapes de<br />
velours rouge chatoyant. Les variations de<br />
teintes entre les petales generaient des<br />
modulations de couleurs qui n'etaient pas<br />
sans rappeler l'esthetique des courtepointes.<br />
De pres, les petales fixes a l'organdi<br />
ne procuraient cependant plus l'effet du<br />
velours. Les epingles etablissaient toujours<br />
un lien avec le travail de couture,<br />
mais elles faisaient egalement songer a Ia<br />
souffrance ; a celle de se fa ire transpercer<br />
par le metal, d'etre meurtri, cloue Ia . Les<br />
petales de roses ainsi intriquees incitaient<br />
a une reflexion sur l'amour et Ia douleur,<br />
Ia rose rouge etant le symbole de l'amour,<br />
alors que les petales evoquaient des gouttes<br />
de sang et les epingles Ia violence ou<br />
l'agression. Les petales juxtaposes faisaient<br />
aussi penser a des ecailles, brillantes<br />
et imbriquees les unes dans les autres.<br />
II n'est pas necessaire d'interpreter davantage<br />
Offering pour saisir sa polysemie et<br />
de ce fait Ia diversite des angles d'approche<br />
a partir desquels les visiteurs pouvaient Ia<br />
com prendre et se l'approprier. Bien sur, le<br />
lieu d'exposition encourageait une lecture<br />
de l'ceuvre dans laquelle le domaine religieux<br />
eta it mis a contribution. L'ensemble<br />
impressionnait, le travail associe a l'intrication<br />
des petales etant colossal et le resultat<br />
des plus magnifiques. A l'immensite<br />
et a !'opulence de l'eglise, qui impose le<br />
respect et Ia contemplation, se couplait<br />
pour un temps Offering, ceuvre in situ<br />
qui demandait, elle aussi, Ia consideration<br />
et le regard admiratif que l'on porte aux<br />
grandes ceuvres.<br />
4 8<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
MELANIE B oUCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
Pour reprendre les mots de Jean-Marc<br />
Poinsot,<br />
En fait, l'rnuvre in situ preleve dans le reel qui<br />
l'environne des elements aussi divers que le<br />
cadre architectural et nature! ou les traces<br />
et marques d'evenements et d'activites.<br />
Une des manifestations de Ia maniere dont<br />
opere l'rnuvre in situ sur le reel apparait avec<br />
l'effet particulier que l'rnuvre ou Ia prestation<br />
produit en retour sur le reel dont elle a<br />
preleve un element. Elle etend son registre<br />
esthetique a !'ensemble de ce reel et ne le<br />
rend visible desor mais que de ce seul point<br />
de vue, ou integre les autres points de vue<br />
anterieurs [discours architectural, marques<br />
d'une occupation specifique, etc.] dans le<br />
nouveau discours instaure•.<br />
L'reuvre in situ preleve l'esprit des lieux<br />
pour diriger ou enrichir sa portee ainsi que<br />
celle de l'espace qu'elle habite.<br />
Le prelevement qui fut opere avec<br />
Offering est d'ordre architectural. Laura<br />
Vickerson considera les composantes baties<br />
de l'eglise dans Ia mise en exposition<br />
de son reuvre, sans reorienter sa demarche<br />
en fonction des caracteristiques historiques,<br />
sociales, culturelles ou cultuelles de<br />
l'eglise et de son environnement. Ni les<br />
petales epingles sur l'organdi, ni le caractere<br />
majestueux de !'ensemble n'etaient,<br />
avec Offering, exploites pour Ia premiere<br />
fois par Laura Vickerson . Cinq ans avant<br />
Ia creation de cette reuvre, !'artiste avait<br />
d'ailleurs presente Fragile Heart, a Ia Walter<br />
Phillips Gallery (Banff, Alberta, 1995),<br />
et Velvet, a !'Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Cal <br />
gary, Alberta, 1995), deux installations si <br />
milaires a Ia premiere, de grand format<br />
et elles aussi constituees de milliers de<br />
petales de rose.<br />
CARL BOUCHARD<br />
LES PLEUREUSES [OUBLIER PAR<br />
DON) A lJ~ GLISE NOTRE-DAME-DE<br />
JACQUES-CARTIER<br />
L'installation in situ Les Pleureuses (Oublier<br />
par don) (2000) de Carl Bouchard jouait<br />
sur d'autres registres que celle de Laura<br />
Vickerson. Disseminee a l'interieur de<br />
l'eg lise Notre-Dame-de-Jacques-Cartier,<br />
elle se constituait d'interventions distinctes<br />
les unes des autres, qui faisaient sens<br />
lorsqu'elles etaient mises en relation.<br />
L'artiste avait applique du vinyle troue de<br />
differentes couleurs sur des fenetres de<br />
l'eglise, suggerant l'effet des vitraux et<br />
rappelant les suintements d 'eau sur les<br />
vitres ou les pleurs sur les joues. L'eglise<br />
en larmes, les souffrances du Christ ou les<br />
malheurs d'autrui, pouvait-on etre amene<br />
a penser. II avait investi deux confessionnaux<br />
qui n'etaient plus employes de sa cs<br />
d'epicerie, d'un necessaire pour nettoyer<br />
les planchers, de quenouilles pansees de<br />
diachylons et d'un dispositif comprenant<br />
differents elements dont un siege, un<br />
tue-mouches et une voix enregistree qui<br />
confessait ses peches. Les expressions la <br />
ver ses ptkhes, panser ses plaies et purger<br />
sa peine revenaient en memoire a Ia vue<br />
de ces confessionnaux, comme s' ils les<br />
exemplifiaient.<br />
Sur deux des trois tableaux surplombant<br />
l'autel, des photographies etaient superposees<br />
(ill. 2) . Sur Ia premiere, un individu<br />
- l'artiste - effectuant un signe de benediction<br />
etait presque totalement cache<br />
sous des pierres sur lesquelles des serrures<br />
etaient esquissees. La deuxieme photographie<br />
revelait un assemblage de porte-clefs<br />
suspendu a son bras. Comme si l'on avait<br />
jete des pierres au prophete et que, dans<br />
l'abondance, on ne pouvait trouver Ia clef<br />
du paradis ou celui qui detient Ia clef du<br />
Mystere.<br />
Carl Bouchard avait egalement superpose<br />
a un tableau de Ia Sainte Trinite un autoportrait<br />
(ill. 3), perce, dans lequel il contemplait<br />
son squelette, sa pro pre mort. Du<br />
vinyle rouge et troue recouvrait aussi une<br />
sculpture de Ia derniere Cene et le parement<br />
d'autel. Sur celui-ci , une main soutenant<br />
un distributeur a gelules etait pose.<br />
La croyance est-elle un narcotique a nos<br />
malheurs ? semblait interroger l'artiste.<br />
Une horloge situee au milieu de l'allee cen <br />
trale eta it masquee par un miroir de forme<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
4 9
M ELANIE B OUCHE R > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
convexe, de maniere a refleter le portrait<br />
de celui qui chercherait a savoir l'heure.<br />
Regardons-nous, nous qui celebrons<br />
tout en comptant le temps qui passe,<br />
presses que nous sommes a retourner a<br />
nos obligations.<br />
Enfin, sur le sol de !'entree, avec des<br />
feuilles d'or, !'artiste avait inscrit le mot<br />
moi, com me le font ceux qui pratiquent le<br />
graffiti dans l'illegalite. Se centrer au cceur<br />
d'une pratique artistique ou religieuse, se<br />
pencher ego·lstement sur soi-meme alors<br />
que l'on nous enseigne a donner, voila a<br />
quoi referait surement ce mot imposant en<br />
feuilles d'or, sur lequelles fideles devaient<br />
marcher pour se rendre a leur bane.<br />
Dans Ia publication de Ia Manifestation<br />
internationale d'art de Quebec, Ia commissaire<br />
Andree Daigle ecrit au sujet du<br />
travail de Carl Bouchard :<br />
L'amour, qui implique un don de soi et Ia<br />
reception de ce don, ainsi que Ia notion du<br />
temps , celui de l'attente, du desir, de Ia<br />
creation et des vi ci ssitudes de !'existence,<br />
impregnent les installations de Carl Bouchard.<br />
Ses ceuvres se composent de materiaux et<br />
ob1ets de toutes sortes, utilises pour leur<br />
aspect esthetique et pour Ia symboli que qu 'il<br />
est possible d'extraire de leur cote utilitaire<br />
au des qualites de leurs matieres. Bouchard<br />
les t r anspose dans des dispositifs installatifs<br />
d'ou emergent des images subtiles chargees<br />
d'affects qui portent un regar d lucide sur Ia<br />
qualite de notre presence dans le monde, les<br />
motifs de nos actes et les patterns de nos<br />
comportements sociaux ' 0<br />
Ainsi, l'installation Les Pleureuses<br />
(Oublier par don) ne se situe pas en<br />
marge de Ia pratique de Carl Bouchard.<br />
Elle s'inscrit, au contraire, au cceur de<br />
sa pratique.<br />
Les deux ceuvres in situ presentees dans<br />
ce texte ont ete elaborees en lien avec les<br />
composantes architecturales des eglises<br />
qui les accueillaient. Le tissu recouvert<br />
de petales de roses d'Offering s'enroulait<br />
sur les colonnes du chceur ou deferlait<br />
sur l'autel et le sol , faisant corps avec Ia<br />
structure en place. Les differentes interventions<br />
des Pleureuses (Oublier par don)<br />
se deployaient a partir des elements ba <br />
tis de l'eglise - fenetres, confessionnaux,<br />
tableau x, horloge, sculpture, autel et<br />
sol d'entree -, de maniere a ce que<br />
!'ensemble devienne inoperant s'il etait<br />
transpose dans un autre espace.<br />
II s'agit Ia d 'une difference significative<br />
entre les deux ceuvres. Bien qu'elle etait<br />
impregnee d 'un sen s insuffle par l'eglise,<br />
Offering aura it pu etre montree dans une<br />
galerie ou un musee tout en con servant<br />
son efficacite. En<br />
le Heart et Velvet.<br />
A !'inverse, il aurait<br />
ete impossible de<br />
presenter Les Pleureuse<br />
(Oublier par<br />
don) a un autre endroit<br />
qu'en l'eglise<br />
Notre - Dame-de<br />
Jacques-Cartier,<br />
sans que !'ensemble<br />
perde son sens.<br />
Quelle signification<br />
prendrait en effet<br />
le miroir, s' il n'etait<br />
pas superpo se a<br />
l'horloge de l'eglise<br />
- une horloge<br />
que connaissent<br />
et qu'utilisent les<br />
pratiquants de !'en <br />
droit? Comment<br />
interpreterait- on<br />
les v inyles troues<br />
s' ils etaient, par<br />
exemple, appliques<br />
sur des fenetres<br />
d'un musee I Alors<br />
qu 'Offering etait<br />
con N' 1 > 2005
MELAN IE B OUCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
Le travail de Laura Vickerson possedait des<br />
affinites naturelles avec l'eglise Saint-Roch<br />
-que l'on songe a son caractere imposant<br />
ou a l'etat de meditation qu' il inspire.<br />
Quant a Carl Bouchard, il demontrait sa<br />
capacite a developper un projet d'apres<br />
les specificites d'une realite donnee. Ses<br />
CEuvres, critiques et poetiques, savent<br />
amener le visiteur a accomplir un exercice<br />
introspectif.<br />
II etait astucieux de jouer sur Ia magnificence<br />
a l'eglise Saint-Roch, puisqu'elle est<br />
un batiment patrimonial hors du commun<br />
qui accueille une diversite d'individus. II<br />
eta it aussi judicieux de miser sur Ia remise<br />
en question a l'eglise Notre-Dame-de<br />
Jacques-Cartier, cet espace etant un<br />
lieu de culte en peril frequente par une<br />
poignee de gens qui y sont encore tres<br />
attaches. Avoir inverse le choix, c'est-a-dire<br />
avoir presente I'CEuvre de Laura Vickerson<br />
en l'eglise Notre-Dame-de-Jacques-Cartier<br />
et avoir demande a Carl Bouchard d'investir<br />
l'eglise Saint-Roch, n'aurait probablement<br />
pas donne des resultats aussi<br />
convaincants.<br />
II va de soi que Ia reussite des deux integrations<br />
a ete possible grace a l'ouverture<br />
d'esprit temoignee par Mario Dufour.<br />
Conscient des changements qu'a subis et<br />
que vivra dans le futur I'Eglise catholique,<br />
le cure des deux paroisses a ouvert les portes<br />
des eglises a des projets novateurs. II<br />
a lui-meme mis sur pied des initiatives<br />
qui debordent de Ia celebration du culte<br />
catholique et rejoignent d'autres visees,<br />
de nature artistique ou communautaire.<br />
Elargir les fonctions des lieux de culte a<br />
une epoque ou ceux-ci sont delaisses par Ia<br />
communaute constitue un moyen efficace<br />
de les maintenir ouverts et de favoriser<br />
leur integration dans les nouvelles dynamiques<br />
des cites. Revoir leurs fonctions en<br />
lien avec les besoins de Ia collectivite aide<br />
a prevenir !'appropriation du patrimoine<br />
commun par une minorite d'individus qui<br />
ont des interets prives.<br />
La majorite des CEuvres contemporaines<br />
s'integreraient difficilement dans un lieu<br />
de culte. Elles n'entreraient pas en reso <br />
nance avec l'espace d'accueil. Comme nous<br />
avons tente de le demontrer, une insertion<br />
reussie de l'art dans l'eglise force a<br />
se questionner sur les specificites de !'endroit<br />
choisi, sur les artistes qui ont le profil<br />
pour l'habiter et sur les visees recherchees.<br />
Cela demande aussi une ouverture d'esprit<br />
de Ia part des differentes parties en<br />
cause ainsi qu'une capacite d'adaptation,<br />
puisqu'il est question de mettre en place<br />
des CEuvres dans des lieux dont Ia fonction<br />
d'origine n'est pas d'exposer. Qui plus est,<br />
Ia majorite de ces lieux sont patrimoniaux,<br />
complexifiant d'autant Ia tache.<br />
Malgre les exigences et les obstacles,<br />
!'exposition d'CEuvres d'art contemporain<br />
dans des eglises demeure un moyen efficace<br />
de se reapproprier ces dernieres et<br />
de revoir leur fonction en ne detruisant<br />
pas, mais en affirmant l'esprit du lieu qui<br />
y est preserve. L'exposition est de plus une<br />
fa~on de renouveler le discours artistique,<br />
de voir sous un nouvel angle certaines pratiques<br />
et d'offrir aux artistes des occasions<br />
uniques d'exercer leur creativite. II s'agit<br />
certainement Ia de raisons pour lesquelles<br />
de nombreux artistes, commissaires et<br />
organismes ont deja choisi d'investir des<br />
lieux de culte, dans differents pays en<br />
Amerique et en Europe.<br />
NOTES<br />
1. Cet article est issu d'une conference presentee<br />
le 9 fevrier 2005 dans le cadre de Ia table<br />
ronde Qu'advient-il du patrimoine religieux ?<br />
qui s'est deroulee a Expression, Centre d'exposition<br />
de Saint-Hyacinthe. L'auteure remercie<br />
Marcel Blouin, directeur d'Expression, de<br />
l'avoir invitee a participer et d'avoir partage<br />
avec elle ses reflexions sur !'integration d'reuvres<br />
d'art contemporain dans des lieux de cu lte.<br />
Des remerciements vont aussi a Laurier Lacroix<br />
et Maxi me Lacroix, pour leur lecture critique<br />
du texte.<br />
2 A titre d'exem ples revelateurs, notons Corridart<br />
qui, avant son demantelement precipite<br />
et imprevu, proposait, dans le cadre des Jeux<br />
Olympiques de 1976, un ensemble d'reuvres sur<br />
Ia rue Sherbrooke, a Montreal, ou encore le<br />
Symposium international de sculpture environnementa/e<br />
de Chicoutimi en 1980, sur le site de<br />
Ia Vieille Pulperie. Mentionnons aussi Aurora<br />
Borealis, !'exposition des premiers Cent jours<br />
d'a rt contemporain de Montreal du Centre international<br />
d'art contemporain, presentee en<br />
1985 a Ia Place du Pare eta Ia Place Ville-Marie,<br />
ainsi que Territoires d'artistes. Paysages verticaux,<br />
un projet du Musee national des beauxarts<br />
du Quebec qui s'est deroule en 1989 en<br />
differents endroits de Ia vieille capitale. Par<br />
ailleurs, il y a eu Artifice'96 et Artifice'98, deux<br />
projets du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman<br />
proposes dans des locaux commerciaux desaffectes,<br />
au centre-ville de Montreal, ainsi que<br />
Sur /'experience de Ia ville, une initiative d'Optica<br />
egalement presentee a Montreal, en 1997.<br />
Plu s pres de nous, so ngeons aux deux premieres<br />
editions de Ia Manifestation internationale<br />
d'art de Quebec en 2000 et 2003, proposees a<br />
differents endroits du quartier Saint-Roch et<br />
de sa peripherie, a Artcite, une exposition hors<br />
les murs du Musee d'a rt co ntemporain deMontreal,<br />
eta Orange, L'evenement d'art actuel de<br />
Saint-Hyacinthe, qui s'est deroule a l'exterieur<br />
com me a l'interieur dans Ia ville de Saint-Hyacinthe.<br />
La premiere edition de cet evenement,<br />
dont l'auteure etait l'une des commissaires, a<br />
ete presentee en 2003 par Expression, Centre<br />
d'exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe.<br />
3. Dans son ouvrage Inside the White Cube: The<br />
Ideology of the Gallery Space, Santa Monica,<br />
Lapis Press, 1986.<br />
4. Andree Fortin, Nouveaux territoires de /'art.<br />
Regions, reseaux, place publique, Quebec,<br />
Nota Bene, 2000, p. 20 -21.<br />
5. Produite par le centre d'artistes I' N' 1 > 2005<br />
51
MELANIE B OUCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY<br />
les cachots de l'ancienne prison de Quebec qui,<br />
depuis des travaux d'agrandissement effectues<br />
de 1989 a 1991, constitue l'un des trois<br />
pavilions du Musee national des beaux-arts du<br />
Quebec.<br />
6. Entretien de l'auteure avec le cure Mario Dufour,<br />
automne 2000.<br />
7. Voir le site Internet de Ia Corporation du pa <br />
trimoine et du tourisme religieux de Quebec:<br />
[http://www.patrimoine-religieux.com/ ].<br />
8. Ibid.<br />
9. Jean-Marc Poinsot,
RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
HANGAR NO. 1 NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE,<br />
BRANDON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT,<br />
BRANDON, MANITOBA<br />
KATE MACFARLANE is an architectural historian<br />
with Parks Canada. She has a B.A. from the<br />
>KATE MACFARLANE<br />
University of Winn1peg and a M.A. from York<br />
Un1vers1ty in Toronto.<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
In 2001, the former British Commonwealth<br />
Air Training Plan (BCATP) Hangar No. 1<br />
in Brandon, Manitoba, 1 was designated a<br />
National Historic Site. The building is significant<br />
as an "excellent and exceptionally<br />
well-preserved representative example of<br />
a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan<br />
hangar," one which remains in its original<br />
location and in a functioning airport<br />
environment. Furthermore, as the home<br />
of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan<br />
Museum, it retains a direct link with the<br />
program responsible for its design and<br />
construction .><br />
Hangar No. 1 is located at the Brandon<br />
Municipal Airport, which is the site of<br />
the former No. 12 Service Flying Training<br />
School (SFTS) of the BCATP. It is a standard<br />
BCATP double hangar, measuring 112 x 160<br />
feet, with a flat roof, shingle cladding, and<br />
single-storey lean-tos on the east and west<br />
sides. There are sliding hangar doors on<br />
the north elevation and large, multi-paned<br />
windows at the upper levels on the<br />
west and south elevations provide natural<br />
light to the interior. Inside, but for a<br />
relatively small area of display space, the<br />
hangar continues to provide a large open<br />
space in which period aircraft and vehicles<br />
are housed.<br />
THE COMMONWEALTH AIR<br />
TRAINING PLAN MUSEUM INC.<br />
FIG . 1. BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, WEST AND SOUTH ELEVATIONS.<br />
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum<br />
Inc. is the only museum in Canada<br />
dedicated solely to preserving the history<br />
and artefacts of the BCATP. Incorporated<br />
in 1981, its stated Mission is to "commemorate<br />
the British Commonwealth Air Training<br />
Plan by telling its story, preserving its<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005 > 53-60 53
KATE M ACFARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
FIG. 2. BRANDON, MANITOBA. SERVICE FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL (SFTS) 12, N.D.<br />
artefacts, and paying tribute to the over<br />
18,000 Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)<br />
personnel who gave their lives during<br />
World War 11." 3 The museum is home to<br />
over 15,000 artefacts consisting of photographs,<br />
uniforms and clothing, personal<br />
papers, logbooks, station magazines,<br />
tools, equipment, trade badges, medals,<br />
and so forth. Thirteen aircraft are on display<br />
and four (The Harvard, Tiger Moth,<br />
Cornell, and Stinson HW-75) are airworthy<br />
and flown occasionally. The museum has<br />
nine other RCAF wartime vehicles on display,<br />
including: a staff car, six wheel drive<br />
crash tender, half-ton truck, Ford airfield<br />
tractor, Jeep, panel truck, stake flat deck<br />
truck, FWD snowblower, and aircraft re <br />
fuelling tanker. These aircraft and vehicles<br />
(as well as other displays) are housed in<br />
the museum's most significant artefact,<br />
Hangar No. 1, one of five (two of which<br />
remain) built at No. 12 SFTS and originally<br />
used to hangar the Cessna Crane aircraft<br />
that served for pilot training.<br />
The museum also contains a chapel featuring<br />
the Memorial Book,• They Shall Grow<br />
Not Old and private memorials placed by<br />
the families of airmen and airwomen lost<br />
in training and operations. That reflects<br />
the mission statement, which emphasizes<br />
paying tribute to the personnel who<br />
died. On June 4, 1984, the museum was<br />
officially dedicated as memorial to all<br />
of Canada 's airmen and women killed in<br />
training and operations during the Second<br />
World War.<br />
FIG . 3. BRANDON, MANITOBA. THREE PI LOTS, SFTS 12, N.D.<br />
Museum membership is broadly based<br />
with over 900 members from across<br />
Canada, the United States, England,<br />
Australia, and other parts of the world.<br />
The facility is open year-round and places<br />
special emphasis on getting its message<br />
out to young people (school groups,<br />
4-H clubs, churches, Scouts and Girl Guides)<br />
through conducted tours. The museum<br />
also participates at anniversary celebrations<br />
54<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
KATE M ACFARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
and province-wide fairs and air shows,<br />
having four flying aircraft available.<br />
Within the broader community of military<br />
and aviation history scholars and enthusiasts,<br />
the museum plays a significant role<br />
in the protection, study, and dissemination<br />
of military history (particularly that of the<br />
BCATP), through its ongoing research and<br />
preservation activities. The museum also<br />
publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled<br />
Contact.<br />
THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH<br />
AIR TRAINING PLAN<br />
One of Canada's most important contributions<br />
to the Allied effort during the<br />
Second World War was the training of over<br />
130,000 Commonwealth airmen at Canadian<br />
air bases constructed for the BCATP<br />
between 1940 and 1943 . The agreement,<br />
signed December 17, 1939, reflected Canada's<br />
political commitment to the war<br />
effort, its role in training Royal Air Force<br />
personnel during the Second World War,<br />
its sensitivity to national sovereignty, its<br />
ideal climatic conditions for flying, and its<br />
geographical location, beyond the threat<br />
of enemy attack but close to American<br />
industry, and to Britain, via the North<br />
Atlantic shipping lanes.<br />
FIG . 5. BRANDON, MANITOBA. MAIN GATE, SFTS 12, N.D.<br />
FIG. 4. "BRANDON 3 MILES," N.D.<br />
At the outbreak of war, the Royal Canadian<br />
Air Force had only five airports of its<br />
own with six more under construction.' Its<br />
total strength was approximately 4,000<br />
personnel and its activities confined mainly<br />
to two stations organized under one<br />
Air Training Command.• Rapid expansion<br />
was necessary to meet the requirements<br />
of the plan and that was done through<br />
the cooperative effort of the RCAF and<br />
the Department of Transport (DOT) . The<br />
former designed and erected buildings<br />
while the latter selected and developed<br />
airfields after RCAF's approval. 7 Eighteen<br />
airports were chosen for immediate use<br />
by the BCATP, because they needed little<br />
development other than additional buildings<br />
and 75 other sites were chosen for<br />
development, including Brandon.<br />
The training plan was divided into several<br />
units: initial training schools, elementary<br />
flying training schools, service flying training<br />
schools (SFTSs, as at Brandon), air<br />
observer schools, air navigation schools,<br />
wireless schools, bombing and gunnery<br />
schools, and operational training units. It<br />
was at SFTSs that pilots and gunners were<br />
trained. The first two SFTSs were at Camp<br />
Borden and Trenton in Ontario, • Brandon<br />
was No. 12. At the plan's peak, there were<br />
29 SFTSs in operation, each of which had<br />
facilities for 240 students at a time. Courses<br />
emphasized cross-country navigational<br />
flights, instrument flying, night flying, and<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
55
KATE M ACFARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
During the first four and one half years<br />
over 8,300 buildings were constructed,<br />
701 of which were hangars or hangar type<br />
construction. This work not only involved a<br />
multiplicity of designs for the various types<br />
of buildings but in order to comply with the<br />
opinions of the heads of other branches and<br />
finally receive ministerial approval a complete<br />
design or layout might have to be done<br />
over several times before final decisions<br />
and approval [was] received. Likewise the<br />
specifications would have to be completely<br />
changed and in many instances these would<br />
have to be altered several times after the<br />
contracts were awarded due to the inability<br />
of manufacturers to supply the quantity of<br />
type of materials concerned. During the<br />
period 1939-44 over one and three quarter<br />
million blue prints were made and issued as<br />
well as thirty three thousand finally approved<br />
drawings-"<br />
reconnaissance missions, and many were<br />
associated with bombing ranges. Many<br />
SFTSs were located on the prairies because<br />
of the ideal practice areas and clear weather.<br />
Thirty-five thousand pupils received<br />
their wings at western schools.•<br />
Each SFTS had a main aerodrome with<br />
three to six hard-surfaced runways laid out<br />
in a triangular form. There were two relief<br />
fields built a few miles away for emergency<br />
landing and practice. Each base required<br />
dozens of buildings to accommodate servicemen,<br />
teachers, and ground crew, as well<br />
as to provide technical airport services.<br />
The buildings were grouped according to<br />
their use- administrative, technical and/or<br />
training- and were arranged as follows:<br />
Buildings were, as far as possible, concentrated<br />
in one area, preferably convenient<br />
to t he landing strip in t he direction of the<br />
prevailing wind to reduce the amount of<br />
taxiing to the minimum and good entrance<br />
roads. Hangars were set back on a zoned<br />
line parallel to this strip with provision for a<br />
150' taxi strip and a 200' apron in front of<br />
the hangar entrance so that aircraft could<br />
stand out for refuelling and running up, and,<br />
awaiting their turn, use the field without<br />
interference with flying operations. Clearing<br />
rights on adjacent properties were obtained<br />
where necessary and buildings, trees, power<br />
lines and other obstructions were removed<br />
to the required locations.' 0<br />
The construction challenges faced by<br />
the RCAF were enormous. According<br />
to the RCAF's History of Construction<br />
Engineering,<br />
The chief purpose of those 701 hangars,<br />
"the airline's equivalent to the railroad<br />
engine house," was to provide exten <br />
sive enclosed interior space without<br />
intermediate supports.' 2 Besides providing<br />
areas of clear space, hangars met the main<br />
design needs for aircraft servicing and<br />
safety, these being adequate lighting,<br />
heating, and fire protection. Most BCATP<br />
hangars were constructed to a standard<br />
plan and hangar size varied according to<br />
the type of school or unit concerned and<br />
the type of aircraft and operational work<br />
56<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005
K ATE M ACF ARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
involved . Some standard sizes were as<br />
follows: single (112' x 126'), double (112 ' x<br />
160') and double/double (224' x 320'). The<br />
bulk were built of wood, due to wartime<br />
shortages of steel, and their frameworks<br />
consisted of heavy wooden trusses<br />
with bolted joints and supported by rigidly<br />
braced wooden timber columns."<br />
The design and construction of wooden<br />
trusses for the length of span were challenging<br />
jobs. The timbers were all of Douglas<br />
fir and all connections were bolted<br />
with TECO connection rings used between<br />
all timbers, which resulted in a stronger,<br />
more rigid joint. Those flat wooden<br />
roof trusses were not designed for any<br />
interior suspended load but merely for<br />
the actual dead load plus a snow load of<br />
up to 40 pounds per square foot, and a<br />
horizontal wind load of 35 pounds per<br />
square foot.<br />
FIG . 8. BRANDON, MANI TOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, NORTH ELEVATI ON I STEPHEN HAYTER. 1999<br />
Hangar roofs were covered with two layers<br />
of tarred felt, covered in fibreboard, then<br />
tarred and gravelled. Hangar doors were<br />
either the lifting or the horizontally folding<br />
type. 14 In order to provide access<br />
for personnel without having to open<br />
the large doors, pilot or wicket doors were<br />
installed in the large doors, one at each<br />
side of the hangar.<br />
The most common siding material used was<br />
cedar sh ingles over diagonal sheeting."<br />
Significant natural lighting was provided<br />
by large windows placed at a height of<br />
approxi mately 18 feet above floor level on<br />
the sides and six feet above the floor on<br />
the closed end of the building.<br />
Hangar floors were of concrete, pou <br />
red in sections to a depth of five inches.<br />
Reinforcing steel (either rods or mesh) was<br />
used during 1940 and early 1941, but it<br />
was later discontinued due to shortages.<br />
By late 1943, however, steel reinforcing<br />
of concrete was once again generally<br />
allowed.<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
57
KATE M ACFARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
and heated, but also dealt successfully<br />
with wartime constraints and requirements<br />
such as material shortages and the<br />
need to erect enormous numbers of such<br />
buildings in a very short time.<br />
HANGAR NO.1<br />
FIG . 10. BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, SOUTH AND WEST ELEVATIONS I STEPHEN HAYTER,1999<br />
FIG . 11 . BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, VIEW OF SEVERAL REPAIRED TIMBER WARREN TRUSSES, SHOWING<br />
THAT REPAIRS ARE UNOBTRUSIVE AND DO NOT ALTER THE HERITAGE CHARACTER<br />
Single or, in some cases, double hangar<br />
used for offices were covered with hardlean-tos<br />
were built on either one or both<br />
sides of the hangars. These were divided<br />
up into offices, equipment stores,<br />
washrooms, heating plants, and so forth.<br />
Lean-to floors were constructed of three<br />
inch concrete and sections that were<br />
wood. Washrooms and toilet rooms were<br />
surfaced with a mastic floor.<br />
The standard plan hangar developed by<br />
the RCAF met not only the functional<br />
requirements of a large, open space for<br />
the servicing of aircraft, adequately lit<br />
Hangar No. 1 is a standard BCATP "double<br />
landplane hangar" designed by the<br />
Construction Engineering Branch, RCAF.<br />
It was built in 1940-1941, under the British<br />
Commonwealth Air Training Plan,<br />
for the training of aircrews from Canada<br />
and Commonwealth countries for service<br />
during World War II. It is rectangular in<br />
configuration, measuring 112' x 160', with<br />
a two-storey high elevation, green shingle<br />
cladding, and a single storey lean-to on<br />
the east and west sides. There are sliding<br />
hangar doors on the north elevation and<br />
large, multi-paned windows at the upper<br />
levels on the west and south elevations<br />
provide natural light to the interior.<br />
The hangar has a flat roof of 112' clear<br />
span, supported on heavy timber Warren<br />
trusses of Douglas fir with bolted joints<br />
and TECO split ring connectors-a standard<br />
connection ring, developed in the 1930s.<br />
The split ring connectors provide a strong<br />
and rigid joint, permitting an increase in<br />
span lengths. The Warren truss is a patented<br />
(1848) bridge and roof truss, which<br />
consists of parallel upper and lower chords<br />
with web members inclined throughout<br />
to form a continuous series of equilateral<br />
triangles. The roof trusses are strengthened<br />
and interconnected, with sway and<br />
cross bracing at right angles to better resist<br />
wind loads, and are supported on rigidly<br />
braced wood columns. The chords and<br />
columns are of select structural Douglas<br />
fir, and the truss diagonals and end verticals<br />
are of common grades. When erected,<br />
the truss timbers were treated with<br />
either creosote or zinc chloride. The roof<br />
covering was specially designed to withs-<br />
58<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005
K ATE M AC FARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
COMPARATIVE CONTEXT<br />
FIG. 12. BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, WEST (FRONT) ELEVATION I STEPHEN HAYTER. 1999<br />
tand the suction lift of high velocity winds notable changes to the building include<br />
passing over the hangar, as well as to resist<br />
ruptures by preventing any ballooning side, the replacement of random panels of<br />
the filling in of large windows on the east<br />
effect caused by interior air pressure generated<br />
by high winds blowing through tion of museum related signage.<br />
lost window glass by wood, and the addi<br />
open doors and penetrating through gaps<br />
In the 1990s, truss failure became a concern<br />
and sympathetic repair was an issue.<br />
in the roof sheeting.<br />
The wide-span, interior column-free space It was done through utilizing the new<br />
was necessary for housing the training aircraft<br />
which were stored and maintained in elsewhere for repairing and strengthening<br />
steel truss insertion approach developed<br />
the hangar, while the lean-tos along the timber hangar trusses. At Brandon, three<br />
sides of the hangar accommodated offices, failed trusses were repaired by building a<br />
workshops, and equipment storage areas, steel truss piecemeal within the existing<br />
washrooms, and heating plants.••<br />
timber truss to form a composite truss capable<br />
of sustaining the roof design loads.<br />
INTEGRITY<br />
Elsewhere, a number of timber trusses<br />
showing less serious deterioration were<br />
Hangar No. 1 is remarkably unaltered and<br />
repaired through placing clamps and/or<br />
intact. It is typical in its framing, cladding,<br />
steel splice plates over weak joints, and<br />
arrangement of doors and windows, and<br />
through replacing failed web members<br />
single-storey side lean-tos. Most of the<br />
in kind with glue-laminated wood pieces<br />
original features and finishes remain.<br />
of the same dimensions. Although the laminated<br />
pieces are not a totally accurate<br />
The interior has been altered somewhat<br />
with the addition of some partitioning to<br />
replication of the solid wood pieces they<br />
create display and office space, but this<br />
replaced, they are of the same material<br />
is unobtrusive and reversible. The most<br />
and difficult to distinguish.<br />
It is difficult to determine how many of<br />
the 701 Second World War BCATP hangars<br />
constructed by the RCAF remain across<br />
Canada and to determine the condition<br />
of those that do. An original list of these<br />
hangars and their location may never have<br />
been compiled." In 2001, when Hangar<br />
No. 1 came before the Board, 41 BCATP<br />
hangars were identified' 8 and it was assumed<br />
there were others. Not surprising ly,<br />
many of the remaining hangars, now in<br />
private hands, have evolved as to function<br />
(or are vacant) and are in a deteriorated<br />
and/or altered condition. Those hangars,<br />
which continue in use and in much the<br />
same function (for example, those owned<br />
by flying clubs and the Department of National<br />
Defence-DND). tend to be in good<br />
condition but have often been much<br />
altered, most frequently by new cladding<br />
and new roofs.<br />
Perhaps the closest functional comparison<br />
to the Brandon hangar found to<br />
date is the Alberta Aviation Museum in<br />
Edmonton . Dedicated to the collection,<br />
preservation, restoration, research, and<br />
display of the history of aviation in Alberta<br />
and the city of Edmonton, the museum<br />
is housed in a double-wide, double-long<br />
BCATP hangar, said to be the only surviving<br />
hangar of its type.<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
Faced with the enormous chal lenge of<br />
constructing huge numbers of hangars in<br />
a limited time and hampered by wartime<br />
shortages of material, the RCAF perfected<br />
a standard plan, wood frame, Warren truss<br />
hangar, which was constructed by the<br />
hundreds across the country. Today, most<br />
of those buildings have been lost and<br />
many that remain are in poor condition<br />
and used for unrelated functions .<br />
Within the context provided by known<br />
survivors, Hangar No. 1 is exceptional for its<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005<br />
59
KATE MACFARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT<br />
cumulative merits. It is largely unaltered,<br />
in very good condition for its age, on its<br />
original site (which is still an airport),<br />
associated with other wartime structures<br />
at the site, and it retains both its<br />
functional integrity and an ongoing and<br />
close association with the BCATP due to its<br />
function as a museum.<br />
NOTES<br />
1. Brandon is in southwestern Manitoba, 197 kilometres<br />
west of Winnipeg.<br />
2. Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada,<br />
Minutes, June 2001, p. 37-38.<br />
3. Quoted in Commonwealth Air Training Plan<br />
Museum, Background Material (n.d.), p. 6.<br />
4. The Memorial Book contains the name and<br />
short biography of each of the Canadian airmen<br />
and women lost in training and operations<br />
during World War II. Also included are<br />
the names of airmen from other countries who<br />
served and died with the RCAF. That book contains<br />
over 18,000 names and is displayed in the<br />
Museum's Chapel. The first edition published<br />
in 1992 sold out and the second edition was<br />
printed in 1996.<br />
5. Douglas, W.A.B., The Creation of a National Air<br />
Force: The Official History of the Royal Canadian<br />
Air Force, Vol. II, 1986, Toronto, University<br />
of Toronto Press, p. 220.<br />
6. Canada, National Defence, Directorate of History,<br />
1945, Final Report of the Chief of the Air<br />
Staff to the Members of the Supervisory Board<br />
BCATP, Aprill6, p. 7.<br />
7. Canada, National Archives of Canada, 1939-<br />
1940, RG24, vol. 4775, File HQ103-74/68,<br />
vol. I.<br />
8. Trenton is the eastern Canadian site of the<br />
HSMBC plaque to the BCATP.<br />
9. Hatch, F.J., 1983, Aerodrome of Democracy:<br />
Canada and the British Commonwealth Air<br />
Training Plan, 1939-45, Ottawa, Department<br />
of National Defence, p. 141 .<br />
10. Wilson, J.A., n.d., «Aerodrome Construction<br />
for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan<br />
1940 >>, in Canada, Department of Transport,<br />
Development of Aviation in Canada, 1879-1948:<br />
Articles by J.A. Wilson, C. B. E., p. 32.<br />
11. Canada, National Defence, Directorate of History,<br />
n.p., N' 1 > 2005
COMPTE-RENDU I REVIEW<br />
DE LA RUFFINIERE DU PREY, PIERRE (CONS. INV.). 2004.<br />
AH WILDERNESS! RESORT ARCHITECTURE<br />
IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.<br />
YONA JEBRAK est candidate au doctorat en<br />
etudes urba1nes. dans le programme conjo1nt<br />
UQAM/INRS. Elle est associee a Ia Chaire<br />
de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urba1n<br />
et au Celat.<br />
Catalogue d'exposition (Kingston , Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 30 mai-29<br />
septembre 2004). Kingston : Agnes Etherington Art Centre. 128 p., 103<br />
reprod. caul. , ISBN [).88911-543-5, 29.90 $.<br />
> YDNA JEBRAK<br />
Pour le citadin, posseder une residence<br />
de villegiature repond a des besoins<br />
a Ia fois psychologiques et ideologiques.<br />
Au desir de quitter un monde urbain<br />
en pleine effervescence, s'ajoute celui<br />
de trouver- voire de creer si necessaire<br />
- un mode de vie propice au repos et au<br />
recueillement. Proche des centres industriels,<br />
et pourtant suffisamment difficile<br />
d'acces pour etre preservee d'un developpement<br />
urbain incontr61e, Ia region des<br />
Mille-lies a represente, pour les families<br />
fortunees du tournant du siecle dernier,<br />
cet ideal de calme, de beaute et de<br />
reclusion volontaire, propice a l'etablissement<br />
d'une residence d'ete. Mais quelles<br />
reponses architecturales une telle ideologie<br />
a-t-elle amenees? Tel est !'objet du catalogue<br />
Ah, Wilderness! Resort Architecture in<br />
the Thousand Island de Pierre de Ia Ruffiniere<br />
du Prey, professeur au departement<br />
d'art de I'Universite Queen's, et de ses collaborateurs,<br />
publie en 2004 dans le cadre<br />
de !'exposition du meme nom au Centre<br />
artistique Agnes Etherington a Kingston.<br />
Voyage tempore! et architectural dans Ia<br />
region des Mille-lies, !'exposition proposait<br />
de decouvrir le developpement d'une<br />
architecture de villegiature, a mi-chemin<br />
entre Ia villa urbaine et Ia residence balneaire.<br />
La combinaison d'objets usuels,<br />
de plans et de photographies permettait<br />
aux visiteurs de constater Ia multitude<br />
de chalets de tout genre, construits des<br />
annees 1870 a 1920, et de souligner leur<br />
denominateur commun ainsi que leurs<br />
differences esthetiques. Aboutissement<br />
d'un travail de recherche mene par Pierre<br />
du Prey et ses etudiants sur plus d'une<br />
dizaine d'annees, le catalogue d'exposition<br />
servait a Ia fois d'accompagnement<br />
a !'exposition et d'essai d'histoire de<br />
!'architecture de Ia region.<br />
JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 > 61 -62<br />
61
Y DNA J EBRAK > COMPTE-RENDU I REVIEW<br />
L'ouvrage propose une lecture en deux<br />
temps. La premiere partie s'interesse aux<br />
origines ideologiques et esthetiques de<br />
!'architecture des chalets presentes a !'exposition.<br />
Elaborant autour de Ia these de<br />
N' 1 > 2005
COLLOQUE INTERNATIONAL<br />
Quel avenir pour quelles eglises?<br />
Universite du Quebec a Montreal<br />
19-22 octobre 2005<br />
UN COLLOQUE ORGANISE PAR LA CHAIRE DE RECHERCHE DU <strong>CANADA</strong> EN PATRIMOINE URBAIN DE L'UQAM,<br />
LE CONSEIL DU PATRIMOINE DE MONTREAL ET LA FONDATION DU PATRIMOINE RELIGIEUX DU QUEBEC,<br />
AVEC L'APPUI DE LA VILLE DE MONTREAL, LA VILLE DE QUEBEC, LE MINISTERE DE LA CULTURE ET<br />
DES COMMUNICATIONS DU QUEBEC, LE CENTRE INTERUNIVERSITAIRE D'ETUDES SUR LES LETTRES,<br />
LES ARTS ET LES TRADITIONS ET L'UNIVERSITE CONCORDIA.<br />
Des eglises de plus en plus nombreuses ferment, pour etre<br />
converties ou demolies. Ce probleme se pose partout en Occident;<br />
au Quebec, par exemple, pres de 3000 « lieux de culte », parmi<br />
lesquels se trouvent les hauts lieux de l'investissement collectif<br />
quebecois, de leur imaginaire et du paysage construit, sont<br />
menaces a plus ou moins breve echeance de disparition. Impossible,<br />
en effet, de trouver les moyens financiers qui soutiendraient Ia<br />
conservation de ce patrimoine. Dans le contexte plus large du big<br />
bang du patrimoine occidental qui requiert des Etats des fonds<br />
qu'ils n'ont pas, et dans celui de Ia desaffection massive des<br />
traditions religieuses historiques, ce colloque rassemblera des<br />
decideur~ et des professionnels quebecois de toutes les regions<br />
du Quebec, ainsi qu'une quarantaine de chercheurs de plus de<br />
dix provinces, Etats et pays de I'Europe et de !'Amerique du<br />
Nord, afin de ITiettre en commun les experiences occidentales<br />
en matiere de patrimonialisation des eglises. II s'agit, au bout<br />
du compte, d'identifier des solutions concretes et des moyens<br />
de mise en ceuvre de ces solutions par les autorites publiques,<br />
a Ia lumiere de trois grandes thematiques qui federent Ia<br />
problematique: les regimes de propriete des eglises, leurs valeurs<br />
d'usages et Ia planification urbaine de leur requalification au<br />
titre d'espaces communautaire, tant en termes de participation<br />
de Ia societe civile a Ia gouvernance que du point de vue du<br />
design urbain qui reiterera leur presence au XXI• siecle.<br />
Parmi les conferenciers, les participants inscrits pourront, entre<br />
autres, rencontrer: Yvon Abiven, maire de Saint-Thegonnec<br />
(France); Virginia Benson, Center for Sacred Landmarks,<br />
Cleveland State University (Ohio); Eric Breitkreutz, Historic<br />
Boston Incorporated/Boston Steeples Project (Massachusetts) ;<br />
Thomas Coomans, KADOC-Katholiek Documentatie en<br />
Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique); Kathleen Crowther,<br />
Cleveland Restoration Society (Ohio); Joel Duvignacq, Plan<br />
eglises, Ville de Paris; Ann-Isabel Friedman, Sacred Sites Program,<br />
New York Landmarks Conservancy (New York); Xavier Greffe,<br />
professeur d'economie des arts et des medias, Universite de<br />
Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne); Robert A. Jaeger, Partners for<br />
Sacred Places, Philadelphie (Pennsylvanie); Jean-Michel Leniaud,<br />
Ecole nationale des chartes et Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes<br />
(Paris); Wies van Leeuwen, Monumentenzorg Provincie Noord<br />
Brabant (Monuments et sites du Brabant septentrional, Pays<br />
Bas); Jan De Maeyer, KADOC-Katholiek Documentatie en<br />
Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique); Max Ingar M0rk, Church<br />
of Norway Employers' Association, Oslo (Norvege); Luc Noppen,<br />
Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain de I'UQAM<br />
(Montreal); Hermann Reidel, Commission pontificale pour les<br />
biens culturels de I'Eglise (AIIemagne); Oddbj0rn S0rmoen,<br />
Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Norvege); Yvon Tranvouez,<br />
Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique, Universite de Bretagne<br />
occidentale; Crispin Truman, Churches Conservation Trust<br />
(Royaume-Uni).<br />
Un service d'interpretation simultanee franc;ais/anglais sera offert tout au long du colloque.<br />
Les actes seront disponibles (Presses de I'Universite du Quebec) des fevrier 2006 et distribues gratuitement aux participants<br />
inscrits. Pour informations, suivi en ligne ou pour s'inscrire : www.avenireglises.ca ou www.churchesfuture.ca.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM<br />
What Future for What Churches?<br />
Universite du Quebec a Montreal<br />
October 19-22, 2005<br />
A SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZED BY UQAM'S <strong>CANADA</strong> RESEARCH CHAIR ON URBAN HERITAGE, THE MONTREAL<br />
HERITAGE COUNCIL, AND THE QUEBEC RELIGIOUS HERITAGE FOUNDATION<br />
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE CITY OF MONTREAL, THE CITY OF QUEBEC, MINISTERE DE LA CULTURE<br />
ET DES COMMUNICATIONS DU QUEBEC AND CELAT AND CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY.<br />
An increasing number of churches are closing their doors,<br />
either to be converted or demolished. This problem is pervasive<br />
throughout the Western world. In Quebec, for example, almost<br />
3,000 places of worship-some of which showcase Quebec's<br />
collective investments, creativity, and built landscape-are<br />
in danger of disappearing in the somewhat near future. The<br />
financial resources to preserve this heritage are nowhere to be<br />
found. In the broader context of the Western heritage big bang,<br />
which has required governments to provide funding they do not<br />
have, and in light of the sharply declining interest in historic<br />
religious traditions, this symposium will bring together decision<br />
makers and professionals from throughout Quebec, as well as<br />
some forty researchers from more than ten European and North<br />
American provinces, governments, and countries, in order to<br />
pool the Western experience in church "heritagization." In the<br />
end, the issue is one of identifying concrete solutions and ways<br />
for public authorities to implement these solutions in light of<br />
three main themes that govern the issue-church ownership,<br />
possible church uses, and urban planning to convert them into<br />
community spaces-both in terms of community involvement<br />
in running the properties as well as the new roles urban design<br />
will lead them to play in the 21st century.<br />
Amongst speakers, registered conference participants will meet:<br />
Yvon Abiven, mayor of Saint-Thegonnec (France); Virginia Benson,<br />
Center for Sacred Landmarks, Cleveland State University (Ohio);<br />
Eric Breitkreutz, Historic Boston Incorporated/Boston Steeples<br />
Project (Massachusetts); Thomas Coomans, KADOC-Katholiek<br />
Documentatie en Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique);<br />
Kathleen Crowther, Cleveland Restoration Society (Ohio); Joel<br />
Duvignacq, Plan eglises, City of Paris; Ann-Isabel Friedman,<br />
Sacred Sites Program, New York Landmarks Conservancy (New<br />
York); Xavier Greffe, professor in arts and medias economy,<br />
Universite de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne); Robert A . Jaeger,<br />
Partners for Sacred Places, Philadelphie (Pennsylvanie);<br />
Jean-Michel Leniaud, Ecole nationale des chartes et Ecole Pratique<br />
des Hautes Etudes (Paris); Wies van Leeuwen, Monumentenzorg<br />
Provincie Noord Brabant (Monuments et sites du Brabant<br />
septentrional, Pays-Bas); Jan De Maeyer, KADOC-Katholiek<br />
Documentatie en Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique);<br />
Max Ingar M0rk, Church of Norway Employers' Association,<br />
Oslo (Norvege); Luc Noppen, Canada Research Cha ir on Urban<br />
Heritage, UQAM (Montreal); Hermann Reidel, Pontificatl<br />
Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church (AIIemagne);<br />
Oddbj0rn S0rmoen, Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Norvege) ;<br />
Yvon Tranvouez, Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique,<br />
Universite de Bretagne occidentale; Crispin Truman, Churches<br />
Conservation Trust (Royaume-Uni).<br />
A simultaneous French/English interpretation service will be available throughout the symposium.<br />
The proceedings, which will be available from Presses de I'Universite du Quebec in February 2006, will be distributed free of charge<br />
to registered conference participants. For more information or to register, go to www.avenireglises.ca or www.churchesfuture.ca.
CALL FOR PAPERS I APPEL A TEXTES<br />
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF I JOURNAL DE LA SOCIETE POUR lETUDE 0[ L<br />
ARCHITECTURE~~<br />
<strong>CANADA</strong><br />
EDITORIAL STATE MENT<br />
POLITIQUE EDITORIALE<br />
The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada is a bilingual<br />
refereed publication whose scope encompasses the entire spectrum of Canadian architecture<br />
from all historical periods and all cultural traditions. In addition to historical,<br />
cultural, and
Nouveautes<br />
Les eglises du Quebec<br />
Un patrimoine a reinventer<br />
Luc Noppen et Lucie K. Morisset<br />
2005 I 456 pages<br />
Bien plus qu'ailleurs,les eglises au Quebec ant profondement marque le developpement<br />
du paysage construit des villes et des villages et impregnent l'imaginaire collectif des<br />
habitants et de leurs visiteurs. C'est ce qu'on appelle un patrimoine.<br />
D'ici 2010, plus de Ia moitie des 3 000 eglises du Quebec seront vendues, converties ou<br />
demolies. En restera-t-il quelques-unes pour les generations futures?<br />
Le combat du patrimoine a Montreal<br />
(1973-2003)<br />
Martin Drouin<br />
2005 I 400 pages<br />
Visiteurs et residants s'accordent aujourd'hui pour affirmer que Montreal est<br />
une ville ou il fait bon vivre et que cela tient, entre autres, a son « caractere<br />
patrimonial ».<br />
Si plusieurs se souviennent, taus ne savent cependant pas qu'il a fallu plus de<br />
trente ans de luttes urbaines pour fonder cette image par laquelle Ia metropole<br />
se represente aujourd'hui.<br />
JJf Presses de l'Universite du Quebec<br />
Sans frais: "1 800 859.7474<br />
Commandez en ligne et economisez<br />
v.~v.~v.~. lJIJlil .ca