CANADA - SEXTONdigital

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF I JOURNAL DE LA SOCIETE POUR L'ETUDE DE L' 

ARCHITECTURE!~ 

CANADA 

VOL. 30 > N' 1 > 2005

THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF ARCHITECTURE IN CANADA is a learned society 

devoted to the examination of the role of the built environment in Canadian society. Its membership includes 

structural and landscape architects, architectural historians and planners, sociologists, ethnologists, and 

specialists in such fields as heritage conservation and landscape history. Founded in 1974, the Society is currently 

the sole national society whose focus of interest is Canada's built environment in all of its manifestations. 

The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, published twice a year, is a refereed journal. 

Membership fees, including subscription to the Journal, are payable at the following rates: Student, $30; 

lndividual,$50; Organization I Corporation, $75; Patron, $20 (plus a donation of not less than $100). 

Institutional subscription: $75. 

There is a surcharge of $5 for all foreign memberships. Contributions over and above membership fees are welcome, 

and are tax-deductible. Please make your cheque or money order payable to the : 

SSAC > Box 2302, Station 0, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W5 

LA SOCIETE POUR L'ETUDE DE L'ARCHITECTURE AU CANADA est une societe savante qui se 

consacre a l'etude du role de l'environnement bati dans Ia societe canadienne. Ses membres sont architectes, 

architectes paysagistes, historiens de !'architecture et de l'urbanisme, urbanistes, sociologues, ethnologues 

ou specialistes du patrimoine et de l'histoire du paysage. Fondee en 1974, Ia Societe est presentement Ia seule 

association nationale preoccupee par l'environnement bati du Canada sous toutes ses formes. 

Le Journal de Ia Societe pour /'etude de /'architecture au Canada, publie deux fois par annee, est une revue dont les 

articles sont evalues par un co mite de lecture. 

La cotisation annuelle, qui comprend l'abonnement au Journal, est Ia suivante : etudiant, 30$; individuel, 50$; 

organisation I societe, 75$; bienfaiteur, 20$ (plus un don d'au moins 100$). 

Abonnement institutionnel: 75$. 

Un supplement de 5$ est demande pour les abonnements etrangers. Les contributions depassant l'abonnement 

annuel sont bienvenues et deductibles d'impot. Veuillez s.v.p. envoyer un cheque ou un mandat postal a Ia : 

StAC > Box 2302, Station 0, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W5 

www.canada-architecture.org 

The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada is produced 

with the assistance of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research 

Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage. 

Le Journal de Ia Societe pour /'etude de /'architecture au Canada est publie 

avec I' aide du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada et de 

Ia Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain. 

Publication Mail40739147 > PAP Registration No. 10709 

We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Government of Canada, 

through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs. 

ISSN 1486-0872 

(supersedes I remplace ISSN 0228·0744) 

EDITING, PROOFREADING, TRANSLATION I REVISION LINGUISTIQUE, TR ADUCTION 

MICHELINE GIROUX-AUBIN 

ASSISTANT ED ITOR IADJOINTE A LA REDACTION 

ISABELLE CARON 

GRAPHIC DESIGN I CONCEPTION GRAPH IQUE 

MARIKE PARADIS 

PRINTING I IMPRESSION 

K2 IMPRESSIONS, QUEBEC 

COVER ICOUVERTURE 

Montreal. lnterieur de l'eglise Saint-Edouard. 

(PHOTO LUC NOPPEN) 

PAGE MAKE-UP I MISE EN PAGES 

B GRAPHISTES 

JOURNAL EDITOR I REOACTEUR DU JOURNAL 

LUC NOPPEN 

Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain 

Etudes urbaines et touristiques, 

Ecole des sciences de Ia gestion 

Universite du Quebec a Montreal 

CP 8888. succ. centre-ville 

Montreal, (QC) H3C 3P8 

(514) 987-3000 x-25621 I : (514) 987-7827 

e : noppen.luc@uqam.ca 

WEB SITE I SITE WEB 

LANA STEWART 

Lana Stewart 

Parks Canada 

25, Eddy Street, 5th floor 

Gatineau, QC K1A OMS 

(819) 997-6098 

e : lana.stewart@pc.gc.ca 

ED ITOR Of NEWS & VIEWS I 

REDACTRICE OE NOUVELLES ET COUPS D'CEIL 

HEATHER BRETZ 

CPV Group Architects & Engineers Ltd. 

Calgary, Alberta 

e : HeatherB@cpvgroup.com 

PRESIDENT I PRES I DENTE 

PIERRE DU PREY 

Department of Art 

Ontario Hall 

Queen 's University 

Kingston, ON KZL 3N6 

(613) 533-61661 I: (613) 533-6891 

e: pduprey@post.queensu.ca 

VICE-PRESIDENTS I VICE-PRESIDENTS 

ANDREW WALDRON 

Architectural Historian, National Historic Sites Directorate 

Parks Canada 

5"' floor, 25 Eddy Street 

Hull, QC K1A OMS 

(819) 953·5587 If: (819) 953-4909 

e : andrew.waldron@pc.gc.ca 

LUCIE K. MORISSET 

Etudes urbaines et touristiques 

Ecole des sceinces de Ia gestion 


C.P. 8888, succ. Centre-ville 

Montreal, QC H3C 3P8 

(514) 987-3000 X 45851 I : (514) 987-7827 

e : morisset.lucie@uqam.ca 

TR EASURER I TRESORIER 

JULIE HARRIS 

Julie Harris 

342, Maclaren St. 

Ottawa, ON K2P OM6 

e : jharris@contentworks.ca 

SECRETARY I SECRE TAIRE 

MARIE-FRANCE BISSON 

Ecole de design, UQAM 

Case postale 8888, succursale "Centre-ville» 

Montreal (Quebec) 

H3C 3P8 

(514) 987 3000 # 3866 

e: docomomo@er.uqam.ca 

PROVINCIAL REPRESENTATIVES I 

REPRESENTANTS PROVINCIAUX 

GEORGE CHALKER 

Heritage foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador 

P.O. Box 5171 

St. John's, Nf AlC SVS 

(709) 739-1892 1 I: (709) 739-5413 

e: george@heritagefoundation.ca 

TERRENCE SMITH LAMOTHE 

193S Vernon 

Halifax, NS B3H 3N8 

(902) 42S-0101 

THOMAS HORROCKS 

ADI Limited 

1133 Regent Street. Suite 300 

fredericton, NB E3B 3Z2 

(506) 452-9000 I I: (906) 452-7303 

e · thd @adi.ca I horto@reg2.health .nb.ca 

CLAUDINE DEOM 

2078, avenue Claremont 

Montreal, QC H3Z 2P8 

I I I: (514) 488-4071 

e : cdeom@supernet.ca 

SHARON VATTAY 

11 Elm Avenue, Apt#322 

Toronto, Ontario M4W 1N2 

(416) 964-723S 

svattay@chass.utoronto.ca 

TERRENCE J. SINCLAIR 

Heritage Branch 

Saskatchewan Department of Municipal Affairs, 

Culture and Housing 

430·1855 Victoria Avenue 

Regina, SK S4P 3V7 

(306) 787-5777 I I : (306) 787-0069 

e: tsinclair@mach.gov.sk.ca 

L. FREDERICK VALENTINE 

CPV Group Architects & Engineers ltd. 

Suite 500 110-12th Avenue SW 

Calgary, AB T2R OG7 

(403) 262-5511 I I : (403) 262-5519 

e : fval@cpv-architecture.com 

DANIEL MILLETTE 

511-55 Water Street 

Vancouver, BC V68 1 A 1 

t I I: (604) 687-4907 

e : lucubratio@yahoo.com 

KAY HAN NADJI 

126 Niven Dr. 

Yellowknife, NT X1 A 3W8 

I I I : (867) 920-6331 

e : kayhan_nadji@gov.nt.ca 

SHELLEY BRUCE 

25 forks Market Road# 401 

Winnipeg, MB R3C 4S8 

(204) 983-2221

CONTENTS I TABLE DES MATU~RES 

JOURN AL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF I JOU RNAL DE LA SOCIETE POUR L'ETUDE DE L' 

ARCHITECTURE~~ 


ANALYSES I ANALYSES 

ESSAIS I ESSAYS 

RAPPORT I REPORT 

COMPTE-RENDU I REVIEW 

> LUC NOPPEN 

Presentation I Presentation 

> SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT 

Un patrimoine religieu x en devenir 

les eglises de !'arrondissement Rosemont 

La Petite-Patrie a M o ntreal 

> PETER COFFMAN 

St. Anne's Anglican Church and its Patron 

> RoBERT McGEACHY 

Polson Park and Calvin Pa rk, 1954-1962: Two 

Land Assembly Subdivisions in Kingston, 

Ontario 

> COLIN RIPLEY 

Emptiness and Landscape: National Identity in 

Canada's Centennial Projects 

> MELANIE BOUCHER 

Lo rsque les artistes e xposent dans les 

eglises. Les ca s de Carl Bouchard et de Laura 

Vickerson 

> KATE MACFARLANE 

Hangar No. 1 National Historic Site, Brandon 

Municipal Airport, Brandon, Manitoba 

> YONA JEBRAK 

De Ia Ruffiniere du Prey (2004). 

Ah Wilderness! Resort Architecture in the 

Thousand Islands. 

2 

3 

15 

25 

37 

47 

53 

61 

VOL. 30 > N' 1 > 2005

PRESENTATION I PRESENTATION 

Ce numero de Ia revue de Ia Societe pour !'etude de 

!'architecture au Canada marque le 30e anniversaire de sa 

parution. Du feuillet d'information qu'elle etait, Ia revue s'est 

au fil des ans metamorphosee en une veritable revue scientifique. 

Sa presentation graphique a connu des transformations, son 

contenu s'est enrichi de collaborations plus nombreuses- plus 

variees, aussi. Mais Ia revue cherche toujours, comme c'etait le 

cas lors de sa fondation, a donner une place enviable aux jeunes 

chercheurs. 

Pour souligner l'anniversaire, nous avons adopte une maquette 

graphique nouvelle- a Ia fois pour Ia couverture et pour les 

pages interieures- qui epouse les contours actuels de nos sensi 

bilites esthetiques changeantes. Marike Paradis, jeune graphiste 

de talent, fralchement dipl6mee de !'Ecole superieure d'arts 

appliques Estienne a Paris, nous a soumis plusieurs projets; nous 

vous proposons celui que nous avons retenu dans ce numero 1 

du volume 30 d'Architecture Canada . 

Lors de l'assemblee generale de Ia Societe, a Lethbridge, il a aussi 

ete decide de formaliser une pratique mise en ceuvre depuis 

quelques annees deja : Ia revue, desormais, est publiee deux 

fois l'an. Nous aurons done a Ia fin du printemps le numero 

1 et, a Ia fin de l'automne, le numero 2, chaque fois avec un 

nombre de pages equivalent a deux livraisons de l'ancienne 

edition trimestrielle. 

Notre revue sera aussi en vente au numero (15 $, plus les frais 

d'envoi s'il y a lieu) et offerte par le biais d'un abonnement institutionnel 

(75 $ par an, incluant les frais d'envoi). La cotisation 

a Ia Societe pour !'etude de !'architecture au Canada, qui pour sa 

part continue d'inclure l'abonnement a Ia revue, pourra dorenavant 

etre souscrite de fa~on triannuelle. Enfin, abonnements et 

cotisations seront renouvelables a leur terme et non plus a une 

date fixe a chaque an . En esperant que ces modifications plairont 

a notre lectorat, que nous souhaitons toujours plus vaste, nous 

proposons dans ce numero des articles issus de quelques-unes 

des ass·emblees annuelles passees, mais aussi des propositions 

soumises par de jeunes chercheurs qui, sans necessairement avoir 

participe aces assemblees, ont souhaite contribuer a Ia revue et 

vu leurs essais reconnus par les pairs. 

This issue marks the 30th anniversary edition of Architecture 

Canada, the journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture 

in Canada . With time, from its humble beginnings as 

an information leaflet, the magazine turned into a true scientific 

publication- its graphic grid was modified, and its content 

enriched thanks to more numerous, and varied, contributions. 

But, as was the case when it was founded, it still strives to lend 

enviable exposure to young researchers. 

To honour this milestone, we adopted a new look- both inside 

and out- which more accurately embodies the current outlines of 

our changing aesthetic sensibilities. To this end, Marike Paradis, 

a talented young graphic artist fresh out from Ecole superieure 

d'arts appliques Estienne in Paris, submitted a number of 

projects. It is a pleasure to introduce the one we retained with 

this first issue of volume 30 of Architecture Canada. 

During the general assembly of the Society held in Lethbridge, 

a decision was also made to officialize a practice which has 

already been implemented unofficially for a few years- the 

magazine is now published twice a year. Issue no. 1 will therefore 

be published at the end of spring and issue no. 2 at the end 

of fall, with twice the number of pages the previous quarterly 

editions held. 

Our magazine will also be sold on a per-issue basis ($15, plus applicable 

postage, if required) and available through corporate 

subscriptions ($75 per year, including shipping). From now on, 

membership fees to the Society for the Study of Architecture in 

Canada, which will continue to include a magazine subscription, 

can now be paid in three instalments. Finally, subscriptions and 

fees will be renewable upon term instead of on a fixed date 

each year. Hoping these changes will meet the expectations of 

our readers, whose numbers we always enjoy to see growing, 

we propose an issue filled with articles related to some of the 

past annual meeting topics, but also to proposals submitted by 

young researchers who, without necessarily having attended 

these meetings, wished to contribute to the magazine and see 

their efforts recognized by their peers. 

> LUC NOPPEN 

> LUC NOPPEN 

2

ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

UN PATRIMOINE RELIGIEUX EN DEVENIR: 

LES EGLISES DE IJ\RRONDISSEMENT 

ROSEMONT-LA PETITE-PATRIE A MONTREAL 1 

SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT complete un rnemowe 

de maitr-rse en geogr-aph re a I'UQAM sur 

>SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT 

les fonctrons geo-rdentrtawes des eglrses de 

quartrer. En septembre 2005 el le entreprend 

des etudes doctorales dans le programme 

con1ornt en etudes urbarnes [UOAM/INRS ] 

Elle est assocree a Ia Charre de r-echer-che du 

Canada en pacr'llllOrne urbarn. 

Le Quebec, comme plusieurs autres 

regions du monde occidental, est aux 

prises avec un probleme d'amenagement 

des plus complexes en ce qui concerne 

les lieux de cu lte desaffectes ou en voie 

de l'etre. En effet, Ia diminution de Ia 

pratique religieuse, jumelee a !'augmentation 

des couts d'entretien des eglises et 

au manque de releve sacerdotale oblige 

les dioceses, tant catholiques que protestants, 

a fusionner eta eliminer des 

paroisses dans le but de consolider leurs 

avoirs et leurs activites' . Ces dioceses procedent 

ensuite a Ia vente des lieux de culte 

excedentaires qui, si le transfert a une 

autre communaute religieuse se revele 

impossible, sont reconvertis a d'autres 

usages ou encore demolis. 

Cette tendance se remarque surtout dans 

les quartiers centraux des principales vi lies 

quebecoises, attendu que leur population, 

plus importante, y a genere un plus grand 

nombre de lieux de culte. Par contre, les 

residants de ces quartiers s'opposent frequemment 

a Ia liquidation de leurs eglises, 

alleguant que ces biHiments font partie 

du patrimoine collectif. Ce conflit d'usage 

interpelle !'administration municipale qui 

s'efforce de preserver les batiments religieux 

les plus significatifs a l'echelle du 

quartier. Toutefois, ce qui est significatif 

pour les experts en patrimoine et les 

autorites municipales ne l'est peut-etre 

pas pour les residants. 

Un tel contexte souleve plusieurs questions 

:Comment les residants d'un quartier 

procedent-ils pour determiner Ia valeur 

relative de leurs eg lises? Temoignentils 

d'une certaine conscientisation dans 

leurs choix ou plut6t d 'un attachement 

lie a l'usage et a Ia connaissance? Se re 

presentent-ils les eglises comme des lieux 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005 > 5-16 

3

S OPH IE RIOUX-H EBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

voues principalement au culte ou comme 

des lieux patrimoniaux qui possedent des 

valeurs historiques et artistiques ? 

A partir de l'exemple de !'arrondissement 

Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie a Montreal, le 

present article examine les representations 

que les residants se font de leurs eglises de 

quartier afin de decouvrir si ces representations 

temoignent de !'emergence d'une 

conscience patrimoniale. 

LES REPRESENTATIONS 

COLLECTIVES DES EGLISES, UNE 

PERSPECTIVE PEU ETUDIEE 

Un rapide survol de Ia litterature concernant 

les lieux de culte pe rmet de constater 

Ia pauvrete de Ia recherche scientifique sur 

les representations collectives des eglises 

de quartier dans un contexte de secularisation. 

La geographie de Ia religion, champ 

disciplinaire ou l'on pourrait s'attendre a 

trouver ce type d'etude, ne genere que 

peu de recherches en ce sens 3 . II existe 

bien deux etudes geographiques datant 

des annees 1980 qui examinent le recyclage 

des eglises rurales du Minnesota et 

du Manitoba en lien avec les represen 

tations identitaires qu'en possedent les 

families qui habitent a proximite•. Ces 

etudes concluent que les residants considerent 

toujours leurs eglises, malgre leur 

desaffectation, comme des batiments 

signifiants pour des raisons relig ieuse, 

historique et culturelle, mais surtout 

pa rce qu'ils entretiennent avec celles-ci 

des liens affectifs forts developpes sur 

plusieurs generations 5 . 

De !'autre cote de !'ocean, en France de 

!'Ouest, des geographes ont etudie !'impact 

des reamenagements paroissiaux sur 

les representations et les comportements 

religieux de divers groupes sociaux sans 

toutefois examiner les rapports possiblement 

affectifs et identitaires que ces 

groupes entretiennent avec leurs lieux 

de culte•. 

ILL. 1. MONTREAL ET L'ARRONDISSEME NT ROS EMO NT·LA PETITE·PATR IE 

Au Quebec, les etudes qui explorent le role 

des eglises dans Ia societe quebecoise ont 

emane principalement d'historiens, d'architectes 

et d'urbanistes. Toutefois, malgre 

le fait que le patrimoine religieux suscite 

depuis quelques annees un interet de plus 

en plus marque de Ia part des medias et 

de Ia population, comme en temoigne 

le nombre d'emissions de television et 

d'articles de journaux qui lui sont reserves, 

les etudes scientifiques qui abordent le 

probleme de Ia conservation des lieux de 

culte demeurent peu nombreuses. Au sein 

de ce mince corpus, nous n'avons trouve 

aucune etude scientifique analysant precisement 

les representations collectives 

des eglises de quartier dans le contexte 

actuel de Ia desaffectation ; tout au plus, 

certaines etudes soulignent !'importance 

des aspects culture! et identitaire dans 

Ia creation d 'un patrimoine religieux' . 

C'est pourquoi nous nous tournons 

vers Ia geographie de Ia representation 

pour alimenter le cadre theorique de 

notre etude. 

Les etu des geographiques sur les 

representations mentales se revelent 

particulierement fecondes pour notre 

!----!----!.... 

analyse. A l'instar de Debarbieux et de 

Bailly 8 , nous considerons que Ia represen 

tation mentale de l'espace est un schema 

cognitif, une interpretation du reel, transmis 

soit par Ia perception d'un lieu, soit 

par les modes de communication, et qui 

s'inscrit dans un cadre ideologique. Ces 

representations individuelles interagissent 

entre elles grace aux moyens de communication, 

aux symboles et aux experiences 

pour se combiner et s'alterer mutuellement. 

De cette association, ou socialisation, 

resultent des representations collectives 9 • 

Celles-ci, continuellement alimentees par 

de nouvelles representations individuelles, 

fluctuent, se construisent ou se deconstruisent 

au fil du temps' 0 • Par ailleurs, ces 

representations collectives comportent 

une assise spatiale dans Ia mesure ou le 

groupe social ou culture! projette sur un 

lieu des valeurs affectives et identitaires, 

lui assignant par le fait meme une 

symbolique qui ancre dans celui-ci l'identite 

du groupe. Cette projection de valeurs 

resulte en un marquage territorial qui 

s'effectue par Ia production et l'entretien de 

referents identitaires, auxquels on accole 

frequemment le terme « patrimoine ». 

4 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005

•,: r 

S OPHIE R IOUX-HE:BERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

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\ ,.,___,..... 

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, . ··~~-_:;;. , 

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ILL. 4. L'EGLISE NOTRE-DAM E-D E-LA-DEFENSE I JONATHAN CHA 

ILL. 2. L'ARRONDISSEMENT ROSEMONT-LA PETI TE- PATRIE, SES TROIS QUART IE RS AIN SI 

QUE LE S DEU X EGLI SES DES PARO ISSES-MERES I PRODUIT PAR SOPHIE RIOUX-HEBERT 

Selon Gravaris-Barbas, « !'identification 

d'un groupe a un territoire [s 'exprime] 

compose de trois quartiers plus ou moins 

distincts : Ia Petite-Patrie, Rosemont et 

essentiellement a travers les elements Nouveau-Rosemont (ill. 1 et 2) . 

patrimoniaux materiels, portes par le territoire 

» 11 • Ainsi, les representations collectives 

peuvent mener a Ia patrimonialisation 

d'un lieu dans Ia mesure ou il y aurait un 

consensus au sein du groupe sur Ia valeur 

historique, architecturale, artistique et 

culturelle du lieu et sur !'importance de 

celui-ci dans !'affirmation identitaire et 

territoriale du groupe. 

LE CONTEXTE SOCIOHISTORIQUE 

DE L'ARRONDISSEMENT 

ROSEMONT-LA PETITE-PATRIE 

Pour illustrer nos propos, no us avons choisi 

d'explorer les representations que les re 

sidants de !'arrondissement Rosemont 

La Petite-Patrie possedent de leurs eglises. 

Le choix de cet arrondissement n'est pas 

fortuit. Celui-ci possede une riche histoire 

religieuse, s'etant developpe autour 

de deux poles paroissiaux catholiques, 

les paroisses Saint-Edouard et Sainte 

Philomene (qui devint, en 1964, Ia paroisse 

Saint-Esprit-de-Rosemont). II importe 

de mentionner que !'a rrondissement se 

La Petite-Patrie s'est developpe au tournant 

du vingtieme siecle grace a !'inauguration 

d'un trace de tramway qui Ionge Ia 

rue Saint-Denis (ancien chemin du Sault), 

entrainant le peuplement de ce quartier 

du nord de Ia ville". Les limites actuelles du 

quartier englobent une partie de deux an 

ciennes municipalites, Saint-Louis du Mile 

End et Coteau Saint-Louis, et de deux quartiers, 

Saint-Jean et Saint-Denis 13 • Compose 

majoritairement de Canadiens fran c;ais, a 

l'origine le secteur accueillit aussi des Italiens 

et des Canadiens anglais. Les premiers 

s'etablirent autour de Ia rue Saint-Denis 

et fonderent Ia paroisse Saint-Edouard en 

1895. La construction de l'eglise, situee au 

coin des rues Saint-Den is et Beaubien, fut 

terminee en 1909, ce qui en fait le lieu de 

culte le plus ancien de !'arrondissement 

(ill. 3) . Aujourd 'hui encore, l'eglise Saint 

Edouard constitue le cceur nevralgique 

du quartier. De me me que les francophones, 

les Canadiens anglais s'etablirent a 

proximite de Ia ligne de tramway, mais ils 

nommerent le secteur Amherst Park, du 

I JONATHAN CHA 

ILL. 6. L'EG LI SE SAINT-ARSENE I JONATHAN CHA 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

5

S OPHIE R IOUX-H EBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

nom d'une des compagnies immobilieres tive d'economie, ne s'est construit aucun dans le quartier. Par ailleurs, des angloqui 

le developpa. Les nombreux lieux de lieu de culte, utilisant plut6t l'eglise protestants et, plus tard, des immigrants 

culte protestants qui parsement toujours catholique Saint-Arsene (1954), situee ukrainiens de confessions orthodoxe et 

le quartier temoignent de cette presence sur Ia rue Belanger (ill. 6) . catholique s' installerent dans le quartier 

culturelle importante. Pour sa part, Ia 

communaute italienne s'etablit auteur du 

boulevard Saint-Laurent, entre les rues Saint 

Zotique et Jean-Talon, et c'est pourquoi ce 

secteur est nomme Piccola ltalia (Petiteltalie). 

L'eglise Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense 

(1911), classee monument historique national 

par le gouvernement federal en 2002, 

et l'eglise Notre-Dame-de-la-Consolata 

(1961) demeurent les deux lieux de culte 

les plus visibles de cette communaute (ill. 4 

et 5). En 1985, pour tenter de renforcer 

l'appartenance des residants au quartier 14 , 

!'administration municipale lui accola 

!'appellation de Petite-Patrie, inspiree du 

titre d'un roman autobiographique de 

Claude Jasmin dans lequel il raconte son 

enfance dans le quartier 15 • Aujourd'hui, 

Ia communaute anglophone a pratiquement 

disparu du quartier et Ia population 

italienne a beaucoup diminue 16 • Par contre, 

une population latino-americaine s'y 

est installee. Celle-ci, dans une perspec- 

De meme que La Petite-Patrie, Rosemont 

a connu une urbanisation rapide vers le 

tournant du vingtieme siecle. L'element 

declencheur en fut l'arrivee du Canadien 

pacifique dans le sud-ouest du quartier". 

En effet, en 1902, le Canadien pacifique 

decida d'y installer ses usines de fabri 

cation et d'entretien de locomotives, 

communement appelees les Shops Angus. 

A partir de ce moment, les possibilites 

d'emplois aux Shops Angus ont amene un 

flot constant de nouveaux residants dans 

le quartier. La paroisse Sainte-Philomene, 

qui devint Saint-Esprit en 1964, vit le jour 

en 1904 et, l'annee suivante, le village de 

Rosemont fut fonde et annexe a Ia ville de 

Montreal. En 1933, Ia chapelle Sainte-Philomene, 

devenue trop exigue, fut remplacee 

pa r !'actuelle eglise Saint-Esprit , plus vaste 

et majestueuse (ill. 7) ' 8 . Celle-ci, situee sur 

Ia rue Masson, principale artere commerciale, 

jouit toujours d'une position centrale 

pour travailler au x usines Angus. Tout 

com me les catholiques, ces communautes 

y ont laisse leur marque sous Ia forme de 

nombreux lieux de culte. En 1961, Ia fermeture 

partielle des usines Angus amor ~ a le 

lent declin de Rosemont. Les anglophones 

et les Ukrainiens quitterent graduellement 

le quartier pour s'etablir dans differents 

secteurs de !'ouest de Ia ville. Toutefois, 

depuis les dix dernieres annees, Rosemont 

a subi un embourgeoisement semblable 

a celui de La Petite-Patrie grace a Ia 

tendance au reinvestissement des 

quartiers centraux, mais surtout grace a 

Ia reconversion des usines Angus, fermees 

en 1992, en technop61e eta Ia construction 

d'un vaste projet domiciliaire sur une 

partie des terrains laisses vacants . 

Au contraire de Rosemont et de La Petite 

Patrie qui se sont urbanisees des le debut 

du vingtieme siecle, Ia partie est de !'arrondissement 

ne se developpa veritablement 

6 


S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANA LYSIS I ANALYSE 

Ill. 11 . EGLISE SAINT-EUGENE I JONATHAN CHA 

que dans les annees 1950 pour repondre au !'arrondissement au centre de Ia polemique vifs debats societaux tant au sein qu'a !'exmanque 

de logement cause par le boom de- liee a Ia desaffectation des lieux de culte terieur de !'arrondissement, sur l'avenir des 

mographique de l'apres Deuxieme Guerre urbains. En effet, depuis les trois dernieres eglises de quartier. II y eut tout d'abord, 

mondiale. Deux projets ont favorise ce de- annees, quatre evenements ont suscite de en 2002, Ia demolition de l'eglise anglicane 

veloppement : le jardin botanique inaugure 

dans les annees 1930 et l'h6pital Maisonneuve 

construit dans les annees 1950. Considere 

comme une extension de Rosemont, 

le quartier s'est vu attribuee !'appellation 

de Nouveau-Rosemont. De plus, Ia population 

moins dense de ce quartier s'avere 

beaucoup plus homogene que dans le reste 

de !'arrondissement. Ainsi, seulement deux 

eglises catholiques francophones y ont pignon 

sur rue. Ne possedant aucun centre 

nevralgique, Nouveau-Rosemont peine toujours 

a se construire une identite distincte. 

ISD!¥1111 

Les cinq eglises les plus importantes selon les repondants et les types de raisons 

evoquees pour justifier ces choix 

1. Eglise 2. Eglise 

Saint-Edouard Saint-Esprit 

3. Cathedrale 4. Eglise Saintorthodoxe 

Jean-de-la-Croix 

Sainte-Sophie (avant sa reconversion) 

5. Eglise 

Saint-Marc 

Proportion de 

repondants ayant 

choisi ces eg lises 

67 % 50% 44% 38 % 34% 

Types de raisons 

Proportion de reponses se classant dans chaque categorie de raison pour chacune des egli ses 

En 1992, !'administration municipale 

regroupa ces trois quartiers en arrondissement, 

mais ce dernier n'obtint de veritables 

pouvoirs decisionnels qu'en 2001 

grace a Ia reforme municipale. Aujourd'hui, 

!'arrondissement compte 37 eglises de 

confession majoritairement catholique, 

mais aussi protestante et orthodoxe' 9 • 

Ce corpus imposant d'eglises positionne 

Valeurs architecturale 55% 57% 75% 62 % 50% 

et artistique 

Valeur identitaire 

(attachement et 

38% 33% 18% 28% 41% 

habitude) 

Valeurs sociale et 5 % 8% 

communautaire 

7% 5% 8 % 

Va leur historique 1 % 2 % 0% 3% 1 % 

Valeur spirituelle 1 % 2 % 0 % 2% 1 % 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

7

S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSI S I ANALYSE 

1. ~GLISE SAINT - ~DOUARD 2. ~GLISE SAINT-ESPRIT 

3. CATH~DRALE ORTHODOXE 

SAINTE-SOPHIE 

4. ~GLISE SAINT-JEAN -DE-LA-CROIX 5. ~GLISE SAINT-MARC 

St. Lukes (1928) qui fut remplacee par des 

condominiums, suivie en 2003 de Ia demolition 

de l'eglise catholique Saint-Etienne 

(1914) qui fit place a des logements 

sociaux et de Ia reconversion de l'eglise 

catholiq ue Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix (1926) 

en condominiums haut de gamme. Finalement, 

Ia reconversion, amorcee en 2004, 

de l'eglise catholique Saint-Eugene (1954) 

en hall communautaire d'un complexe de 

logements sociaux se poursuit toujours 

(ill. 6-9). Ces recents bouleversements, 

qui ont marque l'imaginaire collectif des 

residants, ainsi que Ia presence toujours 

forte des eglises dans le tissu urbain de 

!'arrondissement, en font un terrain privilegie 

pour l'etude des representations 

collectives de ces memes batiments. 

DES REPRESENTATIONS INEGALES 

Dans le but de decouvrir si les representations 

collectives des eglises temoignent 

d'un processus de patrimonialisation, 

nous avons interroge 304 residants de 

Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie au printemps 

2004' 0 • Nous avons classe les resultats en 

trois themes devant nous permettre de 

saisir, en partie du moins, Ia nature de 

leurs representations: !'importance relative 

des eglises et les raisons justifiant 

ces choix, les fonctions que les residants 

associent aux eglises et les valeurs qu'ils leur 

conferent. 

L'importance relative des eglises 

Nous avons cherche a connaTtre les eglises 

de !'arrondissement qui sont considerees 

par les residants comme etant les plus importantes. 

Pour ce faire, nous leur avons 

presente une planche-photo repertoriant 

toutes les eglises de !'arrondissement en 

leur demandant de choisir les trois plus importantes 

selon leurs propres criteres. S'ils 

avaient de Ia difficulte a repondre, nous 

leur demandions ensuite quelles etaient 

leurs trois eglises preferees. L'analyse 

des resultats montre que cinq eglises se 

demarquent particulierement des autres : 

l'eglise Saint-Edouard, l'eglise Saint-Esprit, 

Ia cathedrale orthodoxe Sainte-Sophie, 

l'eglise Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix et l'eglise 

Saint-Marc (tableau 1 ). 

Ce qui surprend de prime abord dans cette 

liste, c'est le rang qu'occupe l'ancienne 

eglise Saint-Jean-de- la -Croix. En effet, 

celle-ci se classe au quatrieme rang des 

eglises les plus importantes de !'arrondissement, 

selon les repondants, ce qui 

s'avere tout de meme etonnant pour une 

eglise qui fut reconvertie en coproprietes 

en 2003. Un autre resultat quelque peu 

surprenant concerne Ia cathedrale orthodoxe 

Sainte-Sophie qui se classe au 

troisieme rang. Pourtant, seulement un 

repondant de notre echantillon etait de 

confession orthodoxe, tandis que 71 % 

des repondants etaient de confession catholique". 

Cette majorite de repondants 

catholiques peut expliquer pourquoi les 

quatre autres eglises en tete de liste sont 

de vocation catholique. Fait a noter, les 

deux eglises des paroisses fondatrices de 

!'arrondissement, l'eglise Saint-Edouard et 

l'eglise Saint-Esprit, arrivent au premier et 

au deuxieme rangs respectivement. On 

note egalement que, a part Ia cathedrale 

orthodoxe Sainte-Sophie qui fut erigee 

en 1962, toutes les eglises de cette liste 

furent erigees pendant Ia periode allant 

de 1900 a 1935. On peut d'ailleurs observer 

des similitudes architecturales entre 

celles-ci. En effet, ces eglises possedent un 

style architectural traditionnel caracterise 

par une monumentalite, une elevation du 

plancher, un plan longitudinal et de hauts 

clochers 22 • Ces similitudes dans !'architecture 

de quatre des cinq eglises en tete de 

liste nous portent a croire que les repondants 

auraient une preference pour les 

eglises qui arborent ce style architectural 

traditionnel. 

Par ailleurs, il importe de noter qu'aucune 

de ces cinq eglises n'est classee patrimoniale 

par le gouvernement du Quebec ou du Ca 

nada. Seule l'eglise Saint-Esprit beneficie 

d'une protection a l'echelle municipale, 

car elle fait partie d'un site du patrimoine 

constitue en 1990 23 • La seule eglise qui 

possede une protection nationale, l'eglise 

Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense, classee monument 

historique du Canada, n'apparaTt 

qu'en treizieme position de notre liste. 

Ce constat suggere que l'eglise Notre-Damede-la-Defense 

jouit d'un statut mal defini 

a l'interieur de !'arrondissement, mais que 

8 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005


son statut d'eglise-mere de Ia communaute 

italienne de Montreal lui confere 

un rayonnement important aux echelles 

regionale et nationale. 

Nous avons classe en cinq categories les 

raisons qui justifient les choix des repondants 

: 1) valeurs architecturale et artistique, 

2) valeur identitaire liee a !'habitude 

et a l'attachement, 3) valeurs sociale et 

communautaire, 4) valeur historique et 

5) valeur spirituelle (tableau 1). De plus, 

puisque les repondants justifiaient fre 

quemment leurs choix en evoquant plusieurs 

raisons se classant dans differentes 

categories, nous avons divise le nombre 

de reponses dans chaque categorie par le 

total de raisons evoquees pour chacune 

des eglises et non par le total de repondants. 

Les resultats de cette analyse montrent 

que Ia raison principale qui motive 

les choix des repondants est d'ordre 

esthetique. De fait, les repondants se sont 

grandement bases sur les dimensions et le 

style architectural d'une eglise pour faire 

leurs choix. C'est pourquoi les eglises les 

plus majestueuses se trouvent en tete de 

liste alors que les eglises de style moderne 

n'y figurent pas. La deuxieme raison evoquee 

le plus souvent releve d'un sentiment 

identitaire lie a !'habitude et a l'attachement. 

Plusieurs repondants ont choisi des 

eglises au xquelles ils s'identifient, soit parce 

qu' ils les connaissent depuis longtemps 

(s'y etant maries, ayant passe leur enfance 

dans Ia paroisse, etc.), soit parce qu'ils les 

c6toient f requemment (y assistant a Ia 

messe regulierement, passant devant tous 

les jours, habitant a proximite, etc.). No us 

remarquons que Ia cathedrale orthodoxe 

Sainte-Sophie a ete choisie beaucoup plus 

pour ses qua lites esthetiques que pour des 

raisons liees a !'habitude et a l'attachement. 

Beaucoup de repondants semblaient 

Ia reconnaitre et apprecier son architecture 

de style byzantin qui ajoute, selon eux, un 

exotisme au quartier; cependant, com me 

c'est un lieu de culte orthodoxe, peu s'y 

sont identifies. 

Pour ce qui est des activites sociales et 

communautaires, peu de repondants 

ont choisi ces raisons pour justifier leurs 

choix. Encore plus marquant est le fait 

que personne ou presque n'ait evoque 

Ia valeur historique de ces eglises comme 

raison de leurs choix. Pourtant, l'eglise 

Saint-Edouard, Ia plus ancienne de 

!'arrondissement, a joue un role non 

negligeable dans le developpement du 

nord de Ia ville. Aussi, nous remarquons 

que 3 % des repondants accordent une 

valeur historique et 2 % une valeur spirituelle 

a l'eglise Saint-Jean-de-la-Croi x, une 

eglise qui pourtant n'existe plus comme 

lieu de culte. Finalement, pour ce qui est 

de Ia qualite spirituelle, c'est-a-dire Ia 

qualite et Ia frequence de Ia messe, Ia 

disponibilite du pretre, etc., Ia faible proportion 

de gens qui ont choisi cette raison 

reflete sans doute Ia faible frequentation 

de ces lieux pour le culte. 

Par contraste, l'examen des cinq eglises 

qui ont obtenu le moins de mentions de 

Ia part des repondants nous apporte un 

eclairage complementaire sur Ia nature des 

representations des residants (tableau 2). II 

importe d 'abord de noter qu'a part l'eglise 

nationale polonaise Sainte-Croix, toutes 

ces eglises sont de vocation protestante. 

La majorite des repondants etant catholiques, 

ces lieux de culte les interpellent done 

d'une maniere moindre. II faut dire que le 

lieu de culte pour les protestants ne revet 

pas Ia meme signification, Ia meme symbolique, 

que pour les catholiques. En effet, 

pour une grande partie des protestants, a 

!'exception des anglicans, le culte se celebre 

dans une sobriete et une simplicite qui 

lf11C!¥11tl 

En ordre decroissant, les cinq eglises les moins importantes de !'arrondissement selon les repondants 

1. Eglise adventiste 

Beer Sheba 

2. Ministere de Ia foi 

en Jesus-Christ 

3. Centre evangelique 

eglise du Nazareen 

4. Eglise nationale 

polonaise Sainte-Croix 

5. Rosemount 

United Church 

1. PHOTO : FONOATION DU PATRIMOINE REUGIEUX 2, 3, 4, 5. PHOTOS : JONATHAN CHA 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

9

S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

100% 

80 % 

• 20 - 34 ans 

c 

• 35-54 ans 

0 

'f 60 % 

• 55 ans et + 

0 

c. 

0 

.t 40 % 

20 % 

0% 

Types de fonction 

economique 

touristique 

Les fonctions des eglises 

de /'arrondissement 

Un element qui revele une facette differente 

de Ia representation que possedent 

les res idants de leurs eglises reside dans 

leur perception de l'utilite de celles-ci . 

Nous avons done pose aux residants Ia 

question suivante : « A quoi servent les 

eglises de votre arrondissement selon 

vous ? >>. Nous avons classe leurs reponses 

en six categories qui ne sont pas exclusives, 

puisque plusieurs personnes ont nomme 

plus d'une fonction : 

ILL. 12. LES FONCTIONS DES EGLISES DE l'ARR ON DISSEME NT SELON LES REPONDANTS 

se refletent dans !'architecture depouiiiE~e 

du lieu de culte 24 • Au contraire, dans Ia 

tradition catholique romaine, les eglises, 

erigees pour Ia gloire de Dieu, temoignent 

de Ia grandeur de Ia foi de ceux qui financent 

leur construction et du pouvoir 

de I'Eglise catholique dans Ia societe. C'est 

pourquoi les eglises catholiques possedent 

bien souvent une somptuosite et un faste 

qui n'ont aucun egal dans !'architecture 

des batiments environnants". En outre, il 

faut com prendre que les communautes re- 

ligieuses protestantes qui se sont etablies 

dans !'arrondissement etaient de taille 

reduite et n'avaient done pas les moyens 

financiers ni le besoin de batir de plus 

grands et plus riches lieux de culte. Par 

consequent, le style architectural austere 

de ces quatre temples, qui se positionne a 

l'encontre de !'archetype de l'eglise pour 

les catholiques, a certainement joue en 

leur defaveur. Par ailleurs, leurs dimensions 

reduites et leur emplacement sur des 

rues residentielles ne leur donnent pas une 

visibilite et un rayonnement tres grands. 

Pourtant, elles font partie des dix eglises 

les plus anciennes de !'arrondissement. 

Trois de celles-ci, le centre evangelique 

eglise du Nazareen, le Ministere de Ia foi 

en Jesus-Christ et le Rosemount United 

Church, furent construites dans les annees 

1910, ce qui en fait les lieux de culte les 

plus anciens de !'arrondissement apres 

l'eglise Saint-Edouard. Ainsi, en depit de 

Ia modestie de leur architecture, ces lieux 

de culte possedent une valeur historique 

non negligeable puisqu'elles temoignent 

de Ia presence de Ia communaute angloprotestante 

des les debuts du developpement 

de !'arrondissement. Finalement, 

le pietre classement de l'eglise nationale 

polonaise Sainte-Croix peut s'expliquer par 

Ia banalite de son architecture, sa situation 

sur une rue tranquille ainsi que Ia faible 

representativite des residants d'origine 

polonaise dans notre echantillon 26 • 

45 % 

40 % 

35 % 

c 30 % 

0 

'f 25 % 

0 

c. 20% 

e 

a.. 

15% 

10% 

5% 

0% 

religieuse 

sociale 

Valeurs 

1. fonction spirituelle ; 

2. fonction communautaire 

(evenements de charite, bazars, etc. ) ; 

3. fonction sociale 

(lieux de rassemblement, endroits ou 

rencontrer des gens, etc.) ; 

4. fonction ludique 

(danses, fetes, etc.); 

5. fonction economique 

(pole d'attraction et de developpement 

dans le quartier); 

6. fonction touristique. 

ILL. 13. LES VALEURS DES EGLISES DE l'ARRONDISSEMENT SELON LES REPONDANTS 

• 20 · 34 ans 

• 35 · 54 ans 

• 55 ans et + 

10 


S OPHIE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

L'analyse nous demontre que Ia grande 

majorite des gens considerent que Ia fonction 

principale des eglises est spirituelle 

(ill. 12). En deuxieme et troisieme positions 

arrivent les fonctions communautaire et 

sociale. La fonction touristique, envisagee 

par certains auteurs comme une possible 

solution de reconversion 27 , arrive loin derriere 

dans le classement avec seulement 

2 % des repondants de 20-34 ans qui 

l'ont suggeree. Ce 2 % annonce toutefois 

!'emergence d'une transition dans Ia 

perception de l'eglise d'un lieu cultuel a 

un lieu culture I. Cette transition s'observe 

d'ailleurs entre Ia perception des gens plus 

ages qui, a 80 %, considerent que l'utilite 

principale des eglises est le culte et celle 

des autres groupes d'age qui accordent un 

peu moins d'importance a cette fonction 

et un peu plus a Ia fonction communautaire. 

Malgre ce faible decalage entre les 

groupes d'age, les representations des repondants 

concernant l'utilite des eglises 

demeurent conservatrices. De fait, meme 

si Ia majorite de ceux-ci ne frequentent 

plus que tres rarement, sinon jamais, les 

eglises, ils les per 2005 

11

S OPHIE A IOUX-HE:BERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

de !'arrondissement de 1992, puis dans 

le rapport de !'evaluation du patrimoine 

urbain de !'arrondissement de 2004 30 • De 

plus, une etude de Ia Chaire de recherche 

du Canada en patrimoine urbain de I'Universite 

du Quebec a Montreal confirme 

Ia valeur patrimoniale elevee des eglises 

Saint-Edouard, Saint-Esprit et Saint-Marc 3 '. 

Bien que Ia valeur historique de l'eglise 

Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix y soit mentionnee, 

celle-ci n'a pas fait l'objet d'une evaluation 

patrimoniale de meme nature que les 

trois precedentes, puisqu'elle a deja subi 

passablement de modifications architecturales32. 

Enfin, notre etude souligne Ia 

valeur emblematique de Ia cathedrale 

orthodoxe Sainte-Sophie qui lui procure 

un rayonnement au-dela des frontieres 

de !'arrondissement. Cette comparaison 

avec les etudes patrimoniales de Ia ville 

et des experts nous incite a conclure que 

les repondants, malgre leur faible evocation 

de Ia valeur historique des eglises 

choisies, ont fait preuve d'une conscience 

patrimoniale dans leurs choix. 

Si les repondants demontrent une sensibilite 

a Ia beaute architecturale et artistique 

des eglises, ils semblent difficilement 

pouvoir se les representer autrement 

qu'en lieux de culte. De fait, les resultats 

lies a Ia perception de Ia fonction et des 

valeurs des eglises montrent des representations 

beaucoup plus traditionnelles 

que ce a quoi nous nous attend ions. Ainsi, 

en depit du fait que leur frequentation 

a beaucoup diminue, les repondants se 

representent toujours les eglises comme 

des lieux servant principalement au culte 

et comme des lieux investis d'une valeur 

religieuse avant tout. 

De tels resultats suggerent que les eglises 

possedent toujours une dimension sacree a 

leurs yeux et qu'elles repondent toujours a 

un besoin de spiritualite qui, meme s'il ne 

se materialise que pour les rites de passage 

ou les fetes religieuses, requiert, a tout 

le moins, Ia conservation de Ia fonction 

cultuelle pour quelques-unes des eglises 

de !'arrondissement. II importe de souligner 

que ces rites et ces celebrations font 

partie des traditions qui appartiennent a 

l'identite et a Ia culture quebecoises et 

c'est pourquoi certains residants y sont 

attaches. A ce sujet, il faut s'interroger 

sur un possible glissement semantique du 

terme N• 1 > 2005

SOPH IE R IOUX-HEBERT > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

3. Kong, Lily, 2001, « Mapping 'New' Geographies 

of Religion: Politics and Poetics in Modernity », 

Progress in Human Geography, vol. 25, n• 2, 

p. 211-233; et Kong, Lily, 1990, >, 

Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast 

Geographers, n• 45, p. 55-70. 

5. Ibid. 

6. Humeau, Jean-Bertrand, 1997, , 

dans Jacques Levy et Michel Lussault (dir.), 

Dictionnaire de Ia geographie et de l'espace des 

societl!s, Paris, Belin, p. 791 ; et Bailly, Antoine, 

1995, > 

dans Antoine Bailly, Roger Ferras et Daniel 

Pumain (dir.), Encyclopedie de geographie, 

Paris, Economica, p. 371-383. 

9. Relph, Edward, 1976, Place and Placelessness, 

Londres, Pion; et Durkheim, Emile, 1967, 

Sociologie et philosophie, Paris, Presses 

universitaires de France 

10. Debarbieux, Bernard, 2001, , n• 9, 

Montreal, Ville de Montreal / Ministere des 

Affaires culturelles. 

18. Cha, Jonathan, 2005, Evaluation du potentie/ 

monumental du patrimoine religieux de 

/'arrondissement Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie 

a Montreal, memoire de maitrise, Montreal, 

Universite du Quebec a Montreal. 

19. Nous incluons sous le vocable N' 1 > 2005 

13


23. Ville de Montreal, Service de Ia mise en valeur 

du territoire et du patrimoine, Division du 

patrimoine et de Ia toponymie, 2004, Evaluatio!? 

du patrimoine urbain. Ville de Montreal, 

Arrondissement de Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie 

-26, 5 mai 2004, Montreal. 

24. Munkittrick, Judy A., 1984, Les eglises 

protestantes de Ia region de Coaticook, 

Coaticook, Quebec, Musee Beaulne; et 

Bergevin, Helene, 1981 , L'architecture des 

eglises protestantes des Cantons de /'Est et 

des Bois Francs au XIX' siecle, Art ancien du 

Quebec I Etudes, n' 3, Sainte-Fay, Quebec, 

Universite Laval. 

25. Martin, Paul-Louis, 2001, « Le paysage des 

noyaux religieux >>, dans Serge Courville et 

Normand Seguin (dir.), La Paroisse, Atlas 

historique du Quebec, Sainte-Fay, Quebec, Les 

Presses de I'Universite Laval, p. 53-81 . 

26. Sur les 304 repondants, un seul a affirme etre 

d'origine polonaise. 

27. Blais, Sylvie, et Pierre Bellerose, 1997, « Analyse 

du potentiel touristique du patrimoine religieux 

mont realais >>, Teoros, val. 16, n' 2, p. 38-40 ; 

Noppen, Luc, et Lucie K. Morisset, 1997, « A 

propos de paysage culture! : le patrimoine 

architectural religieu x, une offre distinctive au 

Quebec 7 >> Teoros, val. 16, n' 2, p. 14-20; et 

Noppen, Luc, et Lucie K. Morisset, 2003, « Le 

tourisme rellgieux et le patrimoine 7 >> Teoros, 

val. 22, n' 2, p. 69-70. 

28. Demers, Christiane, 1997, « Rapport de 

I' atelier 1: L'economie >> dans Nap pen, Luc, 

Lucie K. Morisset, et Robert Caron (dir.) 1997, La 

conservation des eg/ises dans /es vil/es-centres, 

Sillery, Les editions du Septentrion, p. 141 -144. 

29. Cha, /oc. 6 •. 

30. Ville de Montreal. 2004; et Ville de Montreal, 

Service de !'habitation et du deve·loppement 

urbaiA, 1992, Plan d'urbanisme : plan directeur 

de /'arrondissement Rosemont I Petite-Patrie, 

Montreal. 

31 . Cha, /oc. cit 

32. Cha, /oc. cit. 

33. Noppen et Morisset, 2003 : 69-70. 

14 



ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH 

AND ITS PATRON 

PETER COFFMAN 1s a doctoral student at 

Queen's Univei'Sity, w1th prev1ous degrees from 

>PETER COFFMAN 1 

York. Ryerson. and the Un1vers1ty of Toronto. 

He has published on varrous aspects of English 

Rornanesque end Gothic Rev1val arch1tectu1'e. 

and h1s architectural photogl'aphy has been 

exhibited at d1fferent venues 111 Canada and 

the Un1ted States. 

Ther e is one city church which is not afraid of 

in novation [ ... ] When the present St. Anne's 

was built in Byzantine style instead of the 

conventional Gothic, there was surprise and 

to t his day its unusual lines [ ... ] stand out 

for their suggestion of the Moslem world 

[The Globe, December 15, 1923]. 

By the time St . Anne's Anglican 

Church was completed in 1925, it was 

certainly the oddest Anglican church in 

Toronto, and arguably in the country 

(fig. 1). Designed in 1907 by Ford Howland, 

St. Anne's is Byzantine in style, with interior 

murals and sculptures by such artists as 

J.E.H . MacDonald, Frederick Varley, Frank 

Carmichael, Frances Loring, and Florence 

Wyle. It rema ins a singular monument 

to a wilful, visionary, and singularly 

determined patron, the Rev. Lawrence 

Skey. 

At the time St. Anne's was built, Gothic 

had for several decades been the accepted 

and expected style for Anglican churches. 

That had come about largely through the 

zeal of the Cambridge Camden Society, 

which held an iron grip on matters of Anglican 

architectural propriety in the middle 

and later nineteenth century.' Since 

the 1850s, their model church had been 

William Butterfield's All Saints, in London 

(fig. 2). 3 Later christened "The Ecclesiological 

Society," the Camdenians aired their 

views, praised "good" church architects, 

admonished "bad" ones, and generally 

bullied the architectural community into 

submission in the pages of their journal, 

The Ecclesiologist. The influence of 

the Society was enormous, and their 

judgements had a profound effect on the 

careers of many Victorian architects.' 

Ecclesiological Gothic arrived in British 

North America via the east coast. Christchurch 

Cathedral in Fredericton (begun 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005 > 17-26 

15

PETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

1845), designed mostly by Frank Wills (the Gothic was complete. No other style, 

east end was completed by Butterfield), it seemed, was as beautiful, as pracwas 

one of the most ecclesiologically up 

to date buildings of its day. 5 That was closely 

tical, as adaptable, as rational-in short, 

as English. 

followed by the Anglican Cathedral of 

Seven years after the completion of All 

St. John's, Newfoundland, begun in 1847 

Saints, London, in 1867, Lawrence Edward 

to the designs of the most prolific and famous 

of all Victorian architects, Sir George 

Skey was born to a good Anglican family 

in Toronto. In 1902, Lawrence Skey-by 

Gilbert Scott.• Through the second half of 

then the Rev. Lawrence Skey-became Rector 

of St. Anne's Anglican Church, whose 

the nineteenth century, Ecclesiological Gothic 

established itself in Toronto 7 through 

congregation worshipped in a respectable 

such monuments as St. James' Cathedral by 

Gothic Revival church in Toronto's west 

Frederick Cumberland and Thomas Ridout 

end that had been designed by Kivas 

in 1849 (fig. 3), 8 St. James's Cemetery Chapel 

Tully (fig. 5). That church, built in 1862, 

(Cumberland and Storm, 1857-1861), 9 

had been enlarged by the addition of a 

St . Paul's Church (G .K. and E. Radford, 

south aisle in 1879, a north aisle in 1881 , 

1861),' 0 All Saints Church (Richard Windeyer, 

1874), and the Church of St. Alban 

and by the addition of transepts and a 

new chancel in 1888. 17 Skey soon realized 

the Martyr (Richard Windeyer and John 

that his flock had yet again outgrown its 

Falloon, 1885-1891). The identification of 

space, and a special meeting of the congregation 

was called on April 17, 1906, to 

Gothic with the Established Church even 

extended to academia, where Bishop John 

discuss the building of a new church.' 8 By 

Strachan's Trinity College, founded in 1851, 

1907, Skey was ready to act. 

was housed in an appropriately "Pointed" 

building on Queen Street West designed 

by Kivas Tulley." 

It is not known whether, by 1907, the 

Anglican authorities in Toronto already 

knew that Lawrence Skey was born to be 

Thus, by the time St . Anne's was built, 

a square peg in a round hole. If not, then 

Gothic utterly dominated Anglican church 

they would know by 1908, when Skey held 

building in British North America. It did 

the first service in his newly built (but not 

not matter that Gothic had originated in 

yet decorated) church (fig. 6). The unsuspecting 

Toronto Anglicans of 1908, familiar 

medieval France," nor did it matter that 

the Gothic Revival's first great champion 

with the traditions of Anglican architecture, 

must have thought that a dreadful 

as a serious church style had been a zealous 

Catholic convert, A.W.N. Pugin. 13 To 

mistake had occurred. The architect, Ford 

the eyes of a century ago, Gothic was as 

Howland, produced a Byzantine design 

English, and as Anglican, as architecture 

that would have looked quite at home in 

could be. 14 That is reflected in St. Anne's 

very near contemporary, St. Paul's Anglican 

Church (the successor to the Radford 

brothers' building), designed by E.J . Lennox 

in 1913 (fig. 4) . 15 With its size, rectilinear 

apse, delicate arch mouldings, and 

cliff-like transept fa N' 1 > 2005

P ETER C OFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

concerned with church union. Exceedingly 

resistant to the idea of papal supremacy, 

he had written off the Roman Catholics, 

and had, by his own admission, no 

sympathy at all for the Anglo-Catholics. 

Skey's hope was for union with the Protestant 

denominations and, according to 

Mastin, his choice of Byzantine was a deliberate 

attempt to evoke an early era of 

church history not blighted by interdenominational 

schisms and bickering. 

If that was his motivation, however, it is 

not clear why Byzantine would have seemed 

the right choice. An early Christian 

Basilica, being the style spread by Constantine 

himself when there was only one 

Christian Church, would have done just as 

well. Romanesque, a style which flourished 

centuries before the Reformation, was 

already well established in Toronto, both 

in sacred and secular contexts." Indeed 

Gothic, which also pre-dates the Reformation, 

would offer a distinctly English idiom 

within which to work, and enjoyed the 

wholehearted approval of the Anglican 

establishment as well as a solid grounding 

in Anglican theology. Moreover, anyone 

familiar enough with church history and 

architecture to have been concerned with 

that question in the first place would 

surely have known that, in choosing 

Byzantine, he was erecting a potent reminder 

not of church unity, but of the 

great and ancient schism in church history 

between Rome and Constantinople.» 

More recently, Marilyn MacKay has suggested 

that Skey's architect, Ford Howland, 

was the driving choice behind the selection 

of Byzantine. 23 Howland, she argues, 

is far more likely than his patron to have 

been up to date with current architectural 

trends, and by the time he began designing 

St. Anne's, the Byzantine Revival was 

a significant, though not widespread, 

trend. James Cubitt had recommended 

Byzantine for Protestant worship in his 

FIG. 5. 'OLD' ST. ANNE 'S, TORONTO, BY KIVAS TULLEY (1862) 

Church Designs for Congregations in 

1870. 24 Whether either Howland or Skey 

owned a copy of that book is unfortunately 

not known. John Oldrid Scott and 

Beresford Pite had each designed one 

Byzantine Anglican church in London." 

The best-known example of the Byzantine 

Revival, however, was the Roman Catholic 

Cathedral in Westminster-hardly a model 

likely to have been emulated by an anti 

Catholic low-churchman like Skey. A letter 

in the Anglican archive in Toronto, written 

in 1960 by one P. Douglas Knowles, 

muddles things further.'• According to 

Knowles, who identified himself as a 

friend and neighbour of Ford Howland's 

from 1907-1910, the architect had intended 

St. Anne's to be a miniature version of the 

Roman Catholic Cathedral at Manila, Philippines. 

If that is true, then one can only 

suppose that Howland had kept it a secret 

from his patron-like Westminster Cathedral, 

this is hardly a model that would 

have impressed Skey. And therein lies the 

FIG. 6. ST. ANNE'S ANG LICAN CHU RCH, TORONTO; 

INTERIOR BEF ORE DECORATI ON 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005 

17


FIG. 7. WALMER ROAD BAPTIST CHURC H, TORONTO, BY LANGLEY AND BURKE (BEGUN 1889) I PETE R COFFMAN 

main problem with attributing too much 

credit to Howland: whatever his wishes 

and inspirations, nothing was going to 

happen unless Lawrence Skey agreed that 

it was a good idea. And, as we shall see, 

Skey was no pushover. 

A simpler explanation may suffice. Skey 

was a Low Church Anglican, deeply com 

mitted to both halves of that label. Gothic 

had been revived in large part to facilitate 

the Anglo-Catholic liturgy; thus, it was 

the style of the High Church, and would 

have been undesirable to Skey. Byzantine, 

on the other hand, was emphatically not 

High Church in appearance, as well as 

being spatially well suited to Low Church, 

sermon-centred services. Nor could it 

be confused with non-Anglican spaces 

built by Protestant denominations like 

the Baptists and Methodists, whose amphitheatrical 

plans (for example, Walmer 

Road Baptist Church, 1888-1992, fig . 7) 

were by that time a frequent feature of 

the Canadian architectural landscape. In 

Byzantine, Skey had a style that was practical, 

unique, beautiful, and free of ideological 

baggage that would play into the 

hands of the feuding Protestants of early 

twentieth-century Toronto. 

Those considerations may have justified 

the choice of Byzantine in Skey's mind, 

but the choice remained an extremely 

unconventional one for Canadian Anglicans. 

In order to execute a highly original 

and expensive project within a highly 

conservative institution, it helps to have a 

dynamic, charismatic, slightly bull-headed 

instigator pushing it along. By all accounts, 

that describes Lawrence Skey quite accurately 

(fig. 8) . A newspaper profile of 1917 

characterized him as follows: 

Slight of build, but well-knit, fresh of face, 

hair slightly gray, mind alert and exceptionally 

well-informed, quick and enthusiastic in 

speech, strong in his opinions, shrewd, 

warm-hearted , and wholly devoted to his 

work-there you have an impressionistic 

picture of Reverend Lawrence Skey, M.A 27 

His popularity among his parishioners 

seems to have been unbounded. Skey served 

as an army chaplain in the First World 

War, and his flock welcomed him back from 

the front with an elaborate celebration on 

December 5, 1918. The musical program 

leaves no doubt about the feelings of the 

18 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 200 5

P ETER C OFFMAN > ANALYSI S I ANA LYSE 

FIG. R. REV. LAWRENCE SKEY 

FIG. 9. ST. GEORGE'S ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL, KINGSTON, BY VARIO US ARCHITECTS (1825-1899) 1 PETE R COff MAN 

congregation for the Reverend Captain 

Lawrence Skey. To the tune of "Marching 

Through Georgia," they sang of how Skey 

had single-handedly won the war: 

Don't you all remember w hen he went 

to do his bit 

We all prophesied the huns would 

surely have a fit 

Hindy and the Kaiser, Little Willy 

all have quit 

Let's give a cheer for the Re ctor. 28 

Later, this verse rang out (to the tune of 

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home"): 

They say that when he got to France, 

Th ey do. Hurrah I 

The Kaiser said: "We haven't a chance," 

He did. Hurrahl 

If he is only a chaplain, Gee I 

What must the regular soldiers be- 

Ach himmell Donnervetterl It's all 

off mit me. 29 

Had Skey suggested that they worship in 

an outhouse, he would probably have won 

the instant, wholehearted agreement of 

his flock. One doesn't generally win that 

kind of following by being an indecisive 

ditherer, so it comes as no surprise that 

Skey was not. Another newspaper clipping 

in the Anglican archive, unfortunately 

undated, tells of an occasion when Skey 

learned that a man in his church neighbourhood 

was in the habit of beating his wife. 

Skey paid the man a visit, and, finding 

him obstinate in the face of reasonable 

persuasion, determined to settle the 

matter once and for all: 

"Take off your coat," cried Mr. Skey, removing 

his own. Dumbly, the husband obeyed, and 

the fighting parson started at him. It was a 

fair fight, with no one to interfere. It lasted 

several minutes, but in the end the minister 

had "licked" his man. Mr. Skey came out of 

the fight with a black eye, but that worried 

him nothing at all. 30 

Whether that anecdote is true is less 

important than the fact that it was 

circulated. Moreover, Skey's feisty streak 

did not extend only to the weak and the 

drunk. In 1923, he held a special service to 

celebrate the completion of the decoration 

of St. Anne's. To mark the occasion, he invited 

one Rev. Pidgeon (a Methodist) and 

one Rev. MacNeill (a Baptist) to share his 

pulpit. Skey's bishop (Sweeney). in turn, 

marked the occasion by informing Skey 

that under no circumstances was he to 

share his pulpit with such company. Skey 

being Skey, he followed his convictions 

and ignored his boss. "I was glad," he reflected 

later, "that I stood by my principles 

in the matter." He then added a thought 

that could serve as his epitaph: "One must 

learn to defy opposition."" 

Such lack of regard for the approval of 

others-even of one's own superiors-was 

doubtless a useful trait for anyone planning 

to build a Byzantine Anglican church 

in Toronto in 1907. After the opening service 

of 1908, the Canadian Churchman 

summarized the resistance to Skey's new 

church : 

When this church w as in the course of 

erection many and various were the remarks 

made upon it, and many of them were far 

from flattering . Mosque, cyclorama and 

synagogue were among the most common 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 200 5 

19

P ETER COFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

FIG. 10. ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, J.E.H. MACDONALD'S ORIGINAL 

DECORATIVE SCHEME. 

and frequent epithets used, and, judged 

from the exterior view, having a dome as the 

main feature, it has of necessity a certain 

outward resemblance to the synagogue 

of the Jew, and no one is blamed fo r not 

altogether liking the external appearance. 32 

The writer does, however, make an 

attempt to defend Skey's church : 

The objections that have been made that 

it is contrary to church architecture are, 

of course, only made by the ignorant, for 

there is no rule or law that Gothic is the only 

type for Anglican churches. St. George's 

Cathedral, Kingston, is of the same [Greek or 

Byzantine] type, and though, like St. Anne's, 

many do not admire it from without, there 

are few who would not admit that when you 

enter in you find one of the most beautiful 

churches in our country. 33 

Several architectural and historical facts 

are muddled in that account: St. Anne's is 

Byzantine, not Greek; and Byzantine had, 

for 1300 years, been a Christian style only 

recently used in synagogues. The St. George's 

Cathedral referred to is not Byzantine 

(fig. 9), and has, in Wren's St. Paul's Ca 

thedral, London (begun 1675), as mainstream 

a lineage as one can wish for in the 

Anglican Church . 34 The claim that there 

was "no rule or law" that Anglican churches 

had to be Gothic, while technically 

true, displays remarkable ignorance the 

Ecclesiological Society and the very long 

shadow they had 

cast on Anglican 

church building. 

But perhaps more 

revea I i ng than 

the art historical FIG . 11 . ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH , INTERIOR I PETER COFFMAN 

mistakes is the assumption 

that identifying an architectu- J.E .H. MacDonald is famed as a founding 

ral precedent somehow made St. Anne's member of the Group of Seven . On the faacceptable. 

The need to find authority in ce of it, a more unlikely candidate for the 

historical precedent is a distinctly ecclesiological 

way of thinking, and one probably liturgical art in Canadian history would 

most ambitious programme of Anglican 

not shared by Skey. Despite the efforts be difficult to find. MacDonald had never 

of the Canadian Churchman, St . Anne's undertaken a large decoration job, and, 

remains, as the Toronto Star proclaimed as he himself admitted, his selection was 

in 1924, "Skey's Byzantine Defiance." 35 "an act of faith on Mr. Skey's part." 36 Yet, 

the more deeply one probes, the more 

That predilection for independent thought 

appropriate the choice seems. Although 

makes it easier to understand Skey's other, 

resistance to the work of the Group of 

more famous, unconventional decision 

Seven was not as universal as they would 

regarding St. Anne's. For the first fifteen 

later have had the world believe, the 

years of its life, the interior of St. Anne's 

battle was not yet won in 1923.'7 However, 

remained undecorated. When, in 1923, the 

some of the qualities that their critics most 

necessary funds to carry out the decoration 

became available, Skey hired neither 

disliked might actually have helped them 

when it came to decorating a Byzantine 

an established liturgical artist, nor an 

interior. The boldly graphic sense of design 

authority on Byzantine icons, nor even a 

and lack of academic painterly qualities 

good Anglican-but a landscape painter 

gives the Group's work a broad kinship 

whom he had met at the Arts and Letters 

to Byzantine work. Moreover, the visual 

Club, named J.E .H. MacDonald. 

and symbolic languages of the Group of 

Seven and of Christian art are arguably 

20 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 200 5


FIG . 13. ST. AN NE 'S ANGLI CAN CHURCH, CHANC EL CE ILI NG I PETER COF FMAN 

not as far apart as might be assumed. The 

tree, for example, plays a central role in 

both : in Christian iconography, the tree 

participates in the Fall in the Garden of 

Eden, then reappears in association with 

redemption through the Tree of Jesse (see, 

for example, the stained glass of St-Denis 

and Chartres); the tree also resonates in 

Canadian painting, presenting an image 

of the human soul in a variety of states. 

Tom Thomson's The West Wind is arguably 

the most famous tree in Canada and, to 

many, the quintessential Group of Seven 

image (notwithstanding the fa ct that it 

was, technically, not painted by a Group 

member). Thomson's tree is vibrant, wild, 

and teeming with life; by comparison, Carl 

Schaeffer, painting in the middle of the 

Great depression, featured a dead tree in 

Summer Harvest (1935) . In the immediate 

aftermath of World War II, Charles Com 

fort painted a poignantly uprooted tree in 

Early Jun e, Albion Country (1949) . 38 When 

Skey and MacDonald began discussion of 

the programme at St. Anne's, they would 

have found at least some common ground 

in their respective lexicons. Finally, the 

project of St. Anne's must be seen in the 

context of the MacDonald's experience as 

a commercial designer. 39 Neither he nor 

other members of the Group of Seven 

were strangers to commissioned work. 

MacDonald's original plan for St . Anne's 

had been to design the whole program 

himself and execute it with the help of some 

of his students at the Ontario College 

of Art. 40 Unfortunately for him (if not for 

posterity), by the time he was ready to begin, 

his students had left for the summer 

break. He did what anyone would do in 

such circumstances: he called on his friends 

for help-including friends named Frederick 

Varley, Frank Carmichael, Frances Loring, 

and Florence Wyle. The participation 

of these artists-a who's who of Canadian 

art in the 1920s-accounts for whatever 

fame the building now enjoys. 

FIG. 14. ST. ANNE'S ANG LICAN CHURCH, EVANGELIST SYMBOL 

(JOHN) BY LORING AND WY LE I PETER COFFMAN 

As seen in MacDonald's cross-sectional 

sketch (fig. 10), the major areas for decoration 

were the dome (now re-done in a 

manner that does not show great sensi 

tivity to MacDonald's vision- see fig. 11), 

the base of the dome, the pendentives 

(fig. 11), and the chancel ceiling (figs. 12 

and 13) . Loring and Wyle provided lowrelief 

sculptures of the four evangelists' 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005 

21


FIG. 16. ST. ANNE 'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, CRUCIFIXION 

BY J.E.H. MACDONALD I PETER COFFM AN 

symbols (fig. 14), while between them are 

portraits of prophets, painted by Varley. 

Dominating the central space are the huge 

pendentive paintings: the Nativity, by Varley 

(fig. 15); the Crucifixion, by MacDonald 

(fig. 16); with the Resurrection by H.S. Palmer 

and the Ascension by H.S. Stansfield 

on the other two pendentives. 

The artists' acceptance of the highly diagrammatic 

and flat Byzantine style is 

striking, as is the architectural solidity of 

the paintings. If architecture is the art of 

composition in mass, void, and light, these 

paintings unequivocally and unashamedly 

affirm that they are part of the mass. The 

same sensibility continues into the most 

elaborately decorated part of the church, 

the chancel (fig. 12). As well as a wealth of 

non-figural decoration, the chancel includes 

paintings by Frank Carmichael, Arthur 

Martin, Neil Mackechnie, J.E.H. MacDonald, 

and MacDonald's son Thoreau. 

The decoration of St. Anne's represents 

a remarkable collective effort, rendered 

perhaps even more remarkable by the 

fact that individual egos were, apparently, 

subordinated to the group project. Or, 

to use a distinctly Canadian metaphor, 

MacDonald and Skey assembled a group 

of first-team all-stars of Canadian art, got 

them to play as a team, and scored a stunning 

and unequivocal team victory. It is a 

unique, and uniquely Canadian, success. 

Works of striking originality often stand 

out more dramatically in relief, and the 

comparison between St . Anne's and 

St. Paul's, mentioned above (fig. 4), is instructive. 

Architecturally, St. Paul's defines 

itself entirely by reference to the English, 

Anglican, Gothic past. At St. Anne's, Skey 

proceeds as if the traditions of the Anglican 

Church didn't even exist. The two 

churches are of the same denomination, 

in the same city, and were built within 

five years of each other. Yet they could 

hardly be more different. They stand not 

side-by-side, but back-to-back, their gazes 

fixed in opposite directions. 

NOTES 

1. For their time, patience, assistance and 

expertise, the author would like to thank 

Robin Sewell and Rev. Peter Orme at St. Anne's 

Church, Mary Anne Nicholls and Marian 

Rhodes at the Diocese of Toronto Archives, 

Prof. Anna Hudson and Prof. Malcolm Thurlby 

of York University, and Prof. Pierre du Prey of 

Queen's University. 

2. For overviews of the importance of the 

Cambridge Camden I Ecclesiological Society, 

see Clark, Kenneth, 1928, The Gothic Revival: 

An Essay in the History of Taste, london, 

Constable; lewis, Michael, 2002, The Gothic 

Revival, london, Thames and Hudson; Brooks, 

Chris, 1999, The Gothic Revival, london, 

Phaidon Press. For recent sc holarship on 

specific issues, see Webster, Christopher, and 

John Elliott (eds.) 2000, 'A Church as it Should 

Be:' The Cambridge Camden Society and its 

Influence, Stamford, Shaun Tyas. 

3. On Butterfield, see Summerson, John, 

1963, « William Butterfield, or the Glory of 

Ugliness >>, Heavenly Mansions and other 

Essays on Architecture, london, W.W. Norton 

& Company, p. 159-176; see also Thomson, 

Paul, 1971 , William Butterfield, london, 

Routledge and K. Paul. 

4. For example, even the enormously successful 

Sir George Gilbert Scott showed a co ncern 

bordering on paranoia about how the Society 

reviewed his work. The paranoia was not 

altogether justified: see Stamp, Gavin, 2000, 

«George Gilbert Scott and the Cambridge 

Camden Society >, in Webster and Elliott, 

op.cit.: 173-189. 

5. See Richardson, Douglas, 1966, Christ Church 

Cathedral, Fredericton, New Brunswick, M.A . 

Th esis, Yale University; also Kalman, Harold, 

1994, A History of Canadian Architecture, 

vol. 1, Toronto, New York, Oxford, Oxford 

University Press, p. 282-287. For a contemporary 

discussion by the patron, Bi shop John Medley, 

see « Colonial Church Architecture: Chapter 

IX », The Ecclesiologist, no. LXVI - June, 1848 

(new series, no. XXX). p. 361-363. 

22 


PETER C OFFMAN > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

6. The church was discussed in The Ecclesiologist 

prior to its completion, and is reproduced 

in Simmins, Geoffrey, 1992, Documents 

in Canadian Architecture, Peterborough, 

Broadview Press, p. 33-42. 

7. On Toronto architecture, see Arthur, Eric, 

1986, Toronto: No Mean City, 3'' ed ., revised 

by Stephen A. Otto, Toronto, University of 

Toronto Press. On Ontario church architecture, 

see McRae, Marion, and Anthony Adamson, 

1975, Hallowed Walls: Church Architecture 

of Upper Canada, Toronto, Clarke, Irwin & 

Company. 

8. On St. James', see Kalman: 289-290; also 

Simmins, Geoffrey, 1997, Fred Cumberland: 

Building the Victorian Dream, Toronto, 

Buffalo, London, University of Toronto Press, 

p. 124-138. 

9. See Simmins, 1997: 141-150. 

10. Research has been done on "old" St. Paul's 

Church by Stephen Otto, and reproduced in 

the unpublished St. Paul's Anglican Church: 

Inspection Report on the Condition of the 

Old Church, Cody Hall and New St. Paul's 

Anglican Church, Spencer R. Higgins, Architect 

Incorporated, June 29, 1992. 

11 . Trinity College joined the University of 

Toronto in 1903, and subsequently moved to 

a new Gothic building on Hoskin Avenue. The 

original college was demolished in 1955. See 

Dendy, William, 1993, Lost Toronto, Toronto, 

McClelland and Stewart, p. 158-163. 

12. There is abundant literature on the French 

origins of Gothic. For a relatively recent 

discussion, see Wilson, Christopher, 1990, 

The Gothic Cathedral, London, Thames and 

Hudson. 

13 . On Pugin, see Stanton, Phoebe, 1971 , Pugin, 

New York, Viking Press; see also Atterbury, 

Paul, and Clive Wainwright, 1994, Pugin: A 

Gothic Passion, New Haven and London, Yale 

University Press; O'Donnell, Roderick, Blink by 

[him] in Silence?>>, The Cambridge Camden 

Society and A.W.N. Pug in, Webster and Elliott, 

p. 98-120. 

14. On the "Englishness" of Gothic, see Frew, J.M ., 

1982, « Gothic is English: John Carter and the 

Revival of Gothic as England's National Style >>, 

Art Bulletin, vol. 64, p. 315-319. 

15 . On Lennox's St. Paul's, see Otto, 1992. On the 

vast and varied output of Lennox, see Litvak, 

Marilyn, 1995, Edward James Lennox, "Builder 

of Toronto, " Toronto, Dundurn Press; see also 

Coffman, Peter, 2003, >, Journal of the Society 

for the Study of Architecture in Canada, 

val. 28, nos. 3, 4, p. 3-12 . 

16. The evidence of the fabric suggests that 

St. Paul 's was intended to be even more like 

its monumental models than it currently is. 

The timber ce iling of the nave cuts awkwardly 

across the windows of the (liturgical) west 

wall; a stone vault would not have done so, and 

presumably that was the original intention. 

17. On "Old" St. Anne's, see Robertson, J. Ross, 

1904, Landmarks of Toronto, val. 4, Toronto, 

Robertson, J.R. , 1912, St. Anne's Church, 

Toronto: Fiftieth Anniversary and Jubilee 

1862-1912, Toronto, Carlton Press. 

18. Vestry Meeting Minutes, April 17, 1906, 

Diocese of Toronto Archive 88-1, Box 11. 

19 . Except that even Athens has a Gothic Anglican 

Church-St. Paul 's Church, on Philellinon 

Street. 

20. Mastin, Catherine, 1988, James Edward Hervey 

MacDonald and the St. Anne's Anglican Church 

Mural Decoration Program, unpublished M.A. 

Thesis, York University. 

21. Significant Toronto buildings in the 

Romanesque (or Richardsonian Romanesque) 

style include University College (Cumberland 

and Storm, 1856-1859), the Church of 

St. Andrew (William Storm, 1874-1875), and 

the "Old" City Hall (E .J. Lennox, 1889-1899). 

22. The final sch ism occurred in 1054. 

23 . MacKay, Marylin, 1997, « St. Anne's 

Anglican Church, Toronto, Byzantium versus 

Modernity », Revue d 'art canadienne I 

Canadian Art Review, XVIII/I, p. 6-25. 

24. Cubitt, James, 1870, Church Design for 

Congregations: its Developments and 

Possibilities, London, Smith, Elder. 

25. See MacKay : 12-13 . 

26 . " The present church was designed by W. Ford 

Howland, who was a friend of mine, and a 

neighbour, when I was manager of the Bank 

of British North America at Bloor Street and 

Lansdowne Avenue, 1907-1910. My recollection 

is that the present church is, to a large extent, 

a small copy of the Roman Catholic Cathedral 

at Manila, Philippines." (P. Douglas Knowles to 

the Rev. Warren N. Turner, Rector, St. Jude's, 

October 1960, Diocese of Toronto Archive 88- 

1, Box 11 .) 

27. Skelton, James, n.d., « Rev. L. Skey Would 

Reach Mothers >>, clipping from unidentified 

newspaper, Diocese of Toronto Archive 88-1, 

Box 11. As the article concerns recruitment of 

so ldiers for WWI, it can presumably be dated 

between the start of the war in 1914 and 

Skey's departure for the front in 1917. 

28. « Souvenir of St. Anne's Congregational 

'Welcome' to the Rector Rev. Capt. Lawrence E. 

Skey on the occasion of his return from the 

Front Thursday, December 5'". 1918 at 8 :00 

p.m., Musical Program >>, Diocese of Toronto 

Archive 88-1, Box 11 . Song #2 (n .p.), A Lot of 

Solos with One Chorus. 

29. Ibid., Song #4, A Short Solo and a Very Long 

Chorus. 

30. « Rev. L. Skey Beat Wife Beater Well >>, n.p., 

clipping from unidentified newspaper, 

attributed to "J.D., " Diocese of Toronto 

Archive 88-1, Box 11 . The story is clearly 

written in retrospect, and may have appeared 

in connection with Skey's retirement in 1933. 

31 . « Play Golf After Sermon Canon Skey Advises 

Men >>, n.p., newspaper clipping possibly 

dating from Skey's retirement (1933), Diocese 

of Toronto Archive 88-1, Box 11. 

32. « St . Anne's Opening Services >>, Canadian 

Churchman, October 15, 1908, p. 669. 

33. Ibid. 

34. On St. George's, see Mckendry, Jennifer, 1995, 

With Our Past Before Us, Toronto, University 

of Toronto Press, p. 59-68. 

35. Greenway, C.R., 1924, « Lawrence Skey's 

Byzantine Defiance a Triumph of Toronto 

Artists >, Toronto Star Weekly, January 19, 

p. 22 . 

36. Greenway : 23. 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

23


37. For the most recent overview of the Group 

of Seven, see Hill, Charles, 1995, The Group 

of Seven : Art for a Nation, Ottawa, National 

Gallery of Canada; Toronto, McClelland & 

Stewart. See also Jessup, Lynda, 2002, « The 

Group of Seven and the Tourist Landscape 

in Western Canada, or The More Things 

Change .. . >>, Journal of Canadian Studies, 

vol. 37, p. 144-179. 

38. All three paintings are in the collection of the 

Art Gallery of Ontario. 

39. See Robert Stacey, J. E. H. MacDonald, Designer: 

an Anthology of Graphic Design, Illustration 

and Lettering, Archives of Canadian Art, 

1996. 

40. Greenway. 

24 



POLSON PARK AND CALVIN PARK, 1954-1962: 

TWO LAND ASSEMBLY SUBDIVISIONS 

IN KINGSTON, ONTARIO 

Robert McGeachy has a B.A. from Trent University, 

an M .A. from the University of Ottawa. and a 

>RoBERT McGEACHY 

certificate in Masonry-Heritage and Traditonal 

from Algonquin Heritage Institute in Perth . 

He has taught in China and in Southern 

California. This coming fall he will begin teaching 

in New York City. 

ABSTRACT 

Between 1954 and 1962, the land assembly 

program, which involved all three governmental 

levels of the Canadian federal 

system, produced nearly 600 lots in two 

Kingston subdivisions: Polson Park and 

Calvin Park . This article is a case study of 

the political and social dynamics behind 

the creation of these two land assembly 

subdivisions. Particular attention is paid 

to how a policy formulated at the upper 

echelons of the federal and provincial 

governments was implemented at the 

municipal level and became enmeshed in 

local politics. In short, this presentation 

examines the relationship between the 

state and architecture in the form of 

housing. 

INTRODUCTION 

Between 1954 and 1962, three levels of the 

Canadian federal system, the federal, provincial, 

and municipal governments, jointly 

created two subdivisions, consisting of 

approximately 600 lots, in Kingston, Ontario: 

Polson Park and Calvin Park. This article 

is a case study focusing on how a policy 

formulated at the upper echelons of the 

federal government, in consultation with 

provincial premiers, was executed within 

a municipal environment. These interactions 

also reflect the various governments' 

attitudes towards such crucial issues as 

private builders, home ownership, and 

public rental housing.' 

THE LAND ASSEMBLY PROGRAM 

Polson Park and Calvin Park were products 

of the federally directed land assembly 

program, which was introduced in 1949 

to help ease a severe housing shortage 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 > 2 7-39 

25

R OBERT M c G EACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

program, which helped produce such subdivisions 

as Polson Park and Calvin Park. 

FIG. 2. KINGSTON DURING THE 1960S. POLSON PARK IS THE SUBDI VISION TO THE LEFT 

AND CALVIN PARK THE SU BDI VISION TO THE RIGHT. 

in Canada. Among the various factors 

causing the shortage were the steady 

urbanization of Canada's population, the 

sharp increase in the number of households 

being formed with the arrival of the 

"baby boomers," and the wartime residen 

tial construction slump.' A more intangible 

factor was that a higher proportion of 

the Canadian population than before the 

Second World War believed that owning 

a home was an attainable goal.' 

providing such necessities as sewer lines 

While in 1946 the Federal Minister of Re- 

and sidewalks. In short, the nation's housing 

predicament probably would have 

construction, C.D. Howe, estimated that 

480,000 units would be needed by 1952 to 

worsened without substantial public interalleviate 

the housing shortage, the private 

· vention in the housing field. Reluctantly, 

construction industry was having difficulty 

the federal government, with sometimes 

meeting this challenge.• With the notable 

equally reluctant provincial and municipal 

exceptions of such prominent financiers 

support, intervened in the housing field 

as E. Taylor, who built Don Mills, most 

with such programs as the land assembly 

building companies were small and unable 

to undertake ambitious multi-home projects 

.5 Furthermore, because of financial 

difficulties, many municipalities in Ontario 

and elsewhere discontinued their pre 

Second World War practice of providing 

builders with serviced land to build on." 

As a result, already overstretched builders 

were often required to take on the additional 

financial responsibility of servicing 

the land for their projects; that is, 

In Canada, the federal government was 

the primary body charged with formulating 

a housing policy; various amendments 

to the National Housing Act (NHA) were 

the fundamental building blocks of this 

evolving housing policy. Faced with a 

severe housing crisis, the Liberal government 

of Louis St. Laurent made some noteworthy 

amendments to the NHA in 1949, 

including the land assembly program . 

During his November 15, 1949 House of 

Commons presentation, the then Minister 

of Reconstruction, Robert Winters, 

outlined the land assembly program's objectives: 

providing the means to increase 

the nation's housing supply and somewhat 

ease the pressure of urban sprawl. 7 More 

precisely, the land assembly program was 

to generate the infrastructure for subdivisions, 

such as Polson Park and Calvin Park, 

which were basically planned communities 

replete with relatively affordable housing 

organized in a comfortably ordered manner. 

These subdivisions would, in effect, 

act as bulwarks and decelerate the expansion 

of potentially chaotic urban sprawl 

around such municipalities as Toronto.• As 

urban theorist Allan Irving noted, "Urban 

planning represented one twentieth century 

thrust to establish something stable, 

structured and rationalized within a modernist 

world of chaos, flux and incessant 

change." In that respect, urban planning 

represents a modern "ideal of largescale, 

technical and efficient city plans."' 

Kingston 's land assembly subdivision 

represented efforts to achieve the modern 

ideal of urban planning. 

From an ideological perspective, the 

1949 NHA amendment marked a change 

in direction for the federal government 

in regards to city planning and housing; 

specifically, the federal government 

was beginning to play a progressively 

26 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N" 1 > 200 5

ROBERT M cGEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

more interventionist role in these two 

interrelated fields. Although Part V of 

the1944 version of the NHA called for the 

federal government to start encouraging 

city planning in Canada, for constitutional 

reasons little had been done until the 

land assembly program was introduced 

to fulfill such mandate. 10 Traditionally, 

the federal government was reluctant to 

interact directly with municipalities since 

municipalities were well within provincial 

governments' constitutional sphere of influence, 

as C.D. Howe (the almost legendary 

"Minister of Everything") noted in 

a 1947 article." City planning was very 

much a municipal concern and, therefore, 

a provincial concern. Likewise, the Liberal 

governments of Mackenzie King and 

St. Laurent were averse to intervening directly 

in the housing market by providing 

such initiatives as extensive social housing 

programs. During the Second World War, 

and in the immediate postwar years, the 

federal government built thousands of 

houses for war industry workers and veterans; 

however, as Howe observed, these 

were extraordinary efforts to meet an immediate 

crisis . In normal times, the federal 

government preferred using more indirect 

means to stimulate the housing industry, 

such as providing credit to homebuyers and 

homebuilders. 12 In a 1953 speech Robert 

Winters, the Liberal Minister of Resources 

and Development, said : "In the field of 

real estate it has never been possible to 

entertain the myth that the interests of 

government and private enterprise are 

opposed." 13 The federal government, in 

his view, aided, not hindered, privatesector 

housing by providing such services 

as helping to create serviced land for 

developers to build houses on and by 

insuring mortgage funds. 14 

Because of the seriousness of the housing 

situation in 1949, St . Laurent decided to 

break with traditional federal practices, 

to introduce the land assembly program 

and to begin to deal directly with municipalities. 

After negotiations with provincial 

premiers were conducted and the necessary 

enabling acts to permit the federal 

government to work directly with municipalities 

were passed, the basic procedures 

for implementing the land assembly program 

were formulated. According to the 

official land assembly program protocol, 

at the request of a municipal government, 

the federal government, through 

the federal crown corporation called the 

Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation 

(CMHC), would purchase a tract of 

land for a subdivision. The CMHC would 

then plan the subdivision and construct 

its roads, sewers, and lot boundaries. Finally, 

the CMHC would sell the lots first to 

individual buyers and then to developers. 

Some provisions were made to try to ensure 

that the developers would sell the lots 

and houses at a reasonable price. In exceptionally 

rare cases, the CMHC itself built 

the houses in a land assembly subdivision. 

Most of the steps of a land assembly project 

were subject to approval by provincial 

and municipal authorities. 15 

From a financial perspective, the federal 

government was responsible for 75% of 

a land assembly project's costs and the 

respective provincial government was 

responsible for the remaining 25% . The 

revenue from the sales of a project's lots 

was divided by the same ratio.'• It is significant 

that the federal government expected 

to recover the costs of its investment: 

it was not interested in running the program 

at a deficit. A public housing project, 

though, with its reduced rents and 

ongoing capital and administrative costs, 

would almost certainly be run at a continual 

loss. In other words, the land assembly 

program did not break with the basic 

laws of the marketplace. 

The nature of the subsidy passed on to 

the buyer was a serviced lot sold at a 

price slightly below the prevailing market 

price for a comparative lot. In short, 

the land assembly program represented 

a compromise: the federal government 

intervened in the housing market without 

unduly disrupting the dynamics of 

the private market. According to a 1951 

CMHC document, lot prices in land assembly 

subdivisions were to be set at a level 

that was acceptable to 70% of an area's 

builders." The federal government was reluctant 

to undertake the more interventionist 

strategy of a public social housing 

program where it would build units and 

rent them to low-income tenants at a rate 

well below the prevailing market rate. Although 

the 1949 amendment to the NHA 

also called for a public housing program 

for low-income tenants, preference was 

given to the land assembly program. By 

1952 a reported 2,078 public housing units 

had been, or shortly would be, erected in 

Ontario. In contrast, 11,3451and assembly 

lots were sold or ready to be sold.'" 

The disparity between the land assembly 

and public housing programs was 

evident in Kingston as, from 1954 to 

1962, only 71 publicly funded rental units 

were constructed; these were located in 

northeastern neighbourhood Rideau 

Heights, one of the city's least affluent 

neighbourhoods.' 9 

Practical and attitudinal considerations 

can account for the output disparities 

between the public housing and land 

assembly programs. From a procedural 

perspective, constructing and running a 

public housing project was a more complex 

endeavour than preparing and selling 

the lots of a land assembly subdivision. 20 

As such, Polson Park and Calvin Park were 

reflective of their times and the federal 

government's preference for encouraging 

homeownership. 

From an architectural and city planning 

perspective, land assembly such as 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

2 7


Polson Park and Calvin Park reflected the 

prevailing trends of the 1950s and early 

1960s. For instance, as will be discussed in 

more detail later, the subdivisions' layouts 

incorporated several-what were then con 

temporary-city planning concepts drawn 

from British and American doctrines. 

From an architectural perspective, Polson 

Park and Calvin Park, as was common for 

North American subdivisions during that 

era, consisted mostly of small houses such 

as bungalows, which was also reflective of 

the federal government's homeownershipcentred 

housing policy. That predominance 

of small houses in the two subdivisions 

mirrored such key socio-economic trends 

during the late 1950s and early 1960s as 

the growing rate of homeownership and 

the rising middle class . 2 ' 

From a more 

conceptual perspective, Polson Park and 

Calvin Park illustrate how such factors 

as status, aspirations, and gender can 

interact within the milieu of a newly 

created neighbourhood to fashion a sense 

of identity for its inhabitants. 22 

THE ONTARIO AND KINGSTON 

GOVERNMENTS AND LAND 

ASSEMBLY 

The CMHC needed the cooperation of 

provincial and municipal authorities to 

complete a land assembly project. During 

the 1950s and early 1960s, when a land 

assembly project was undertaken in On 

tario, the primary provincial authority, 

the CMHC, would interact with was the 

Department of Planning and Development 

(DPD), which was responsible for assisting 

municipalities produce and implement city 

plans. In Kingston, the provincial representative 

was W.M . Nickle, who became 

the Minister for the DPD in 1955. 23 The 

DPD was established to help the province 

cope with a growing and increasingly 

urbanized population : in 1951 , 55 .1% of 

Ontario's population lived in ci ties of at 

least 10,000 residents; in 

1971, the percentage had 

reached 73 .8 . 24 For vari 

ous reasons, the DPD had 

difficulty fulfilling its ap 

pointed role and, in the 

early 1960s, the larger 

and more established Department 

of Municipal Affairs 

absorbed most of the 

DPD's duties. 25 

Arguably, the most important 

political actor in 

a land assembly project 

was the municipal government. 

According to the 

FIG. 3. KINGSTON CITY HALL, AUGU ST 2, 1959 

land assembly program 's 

basic procedures, the municipal government 

was responsible for requesting a homeownership. For instance, from 1950 

government's preference for encouraging 

land assembly project, providing services to 1962, local entrepreneurs, mainly presidents 

or owners of small businesses, made 

up to the project 's edge, and approving 

the proposed subdivision's final plan. Any up nearly a third of the aldermen. 28 As the 

land assembly subdivision plan needed to Italian political theorist Gaetonio Mosca 

conform to municipal bylaws. 26 

noted, taxes frequently squeeze the middle 

class the hardest; consequently, they 

Kingston's municipal government, like 

are likely to seek public office. 29 To possibly 

others in Ontario, could be divided into 

over-generalize, office holders will often 

two basic branches: administrative and 

seek- and often with sound justificationto 

benefit those with backgrounds similar 

legislative. During the Polson Park and 

Calvin Park projects, the city planner, 

to their own. 30 In that case, evidence will 

George Muirhead, who began his career in 

demonstrate that Polson Park and Calvin 

Kingston in 1955, played a prominent role. 

Park can be considered middle-class subd 

ivisions, which were constructed with 

At that time, Kingston's population was 

approximately 48,000 and it was unusual 

government assistance. 

for a medium-sized city to have a planner 

on staff.n While Muirhead could provide a Real property played a vital role in city 

great deal of professional expertise, he did politics. Until 1960, only those Kingstonians 

who were at least 21 years old and 

not have the final authority to approve or 

reject a land assembly project plan. Kingston 

municipal government's legislative participate in municipal elections, either 

who owned $400 of real property could 

branch, more particularly Kingston City as candidates or voters." Kingston, like 

Council, had the power to decide the fate most other Canadian municipalities, derived 

most of its revenue from property 

of a land assembly project. 

taxes .n One result of that dependency 

Many of the 22 members of the biannually 

elected Kingston City Council were 

on real property was the erosion of 

municipalities' autonomy because the cost 

drawn f rom the elite of the local business 

of running a city was outstripping the 

community and shared the federal 

revenues that property taxes provided; 

28 


ROBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

hence, municipal governments had to increasingly 

rely on provincial subsidies.H 

Understandably, substantial land assembly 

projects were of great interest to Kingston's 

aldermen as they could, to a limited 

extent, alleviate some the challenges the 

city was facing during the 1950's and 1960s. 

In fact, before Polson Park and Calvin Park, 

there had been two unsuccessful efforts 

to undertake land assembly projects in 

Kingston. 34 Some of these challenges 

were typical of those facing any Canadian 

medium-sized town; others were unique 

to Kingston. 

KINGSTON'S SPECIFIC NEEDS 

Kingston's downtown, located at the waterfront, 

was run-down . Kingston City 

Hall, without its imposing portico (fig. 3), 

in effect symbolized the poor condition 

of the city's commercial centre. In 1955, 

the portico was removed for safety reasons 

and was not restored until 1966; a 

move sharply criticized by S.D. Lash who, 

in a letter to the Kingston Whig Standard, 

characterized the removal of the portico 

as an act of vandalism. 35 In an extensive 

report written in 1960, A Planning Study 

of Kingston, Ontario, George Muirhead 

and George Stephenson (who was a professor 

in the University of Toronto Town 

and Regional Planning Program) went 

further and described the block adjacent 

to Market Square, which was behind the 

City Hall, as presenting a "scene of almost 

unbelievable desolation." 36 The two planning 

experts also noted that the waterfront 

by Kingston City Hall was the site 

of declining traditional heavy industries 

which were potentially impeding the possibility 

of constructing a marina to attract 

the steadily growing number of pleasure 

boaters plying Lake Ontario and other 

nearby waters. 37 

While many medium-sized cities during 

that era had a less-than-idyllic downtowns, 

Kingston's situation was exceptional because 

of its highly developed sense of self 

derived from its rich heritage; explicitly, 

Kingston was Canada's first capital, Sir 

John A . Macdonald's hometown, and the 

site of one of the nation's most prominent 

institutions of higher education, Queen's 

University. The downtown area was where 

much of the city's heritage architecture 

was located and where the city presented 

its image to a broader audience. 38 As historical 

geographer Brian Osborne and historian 

Donald Swainson observed, Kingston 

is often referred to as the "Limestone City" 

because of the abundance of limestone in 

its heritage buildings. That epithet refers 

to the "fabric of the architecture," which 

is "a dominant and striking element of 

the total urban image." 39 Yet the city's architectural 

fabric in the 1950s and 1960s 

was in danger of becoming permanently 

frayed. Lash decried the civic leaders' apparent 

lack of care for the city's unique 

ambience and lamented, 

possibly overdramatically, 

"Kingston is surely the city 

of barbarians, a city where 

the almighty dollar is all 

important-where history 

is bunk." 40 

The condition of Kingston's 

downtown was also 

important for more pragmatic 

financial reasons. As 

Muirhead and Stephenson 

reasoned, Kingston's 

downtown heritage buildings 

could be a lucrative 

tourist destination; nonetheless, 

it would be necessary 

to clean up the area 

before the tourists would 

come to visit and spend 

their money. With a great 

deal of work, downtown 

Kingston was capable of 

becoming a " stimulating 

and enticing shopping district and one of 

the finest and most unique in Canada." 41 

In order to succeed, Kingston needed to 

preserve its heritage, to placate concerned 

citizens such as Lash, while also turning a 

profit exploiting its heritage. 

Like many communities, Kingston suffered 

from a severe housing shortage 

whose causes included pockets of decrepit 

housing stock, a rising population and a 

shortage of land. 42 The situation was exacerbated 

by the high proportion of land 

within city limits devoted to institutional 

use. 43 The Federal Department of Justice 

owned one of the largest portions of institutional 

land in the city, the Penitentiary 

Farm . That farm, located in Kingston's 

west end, would become the site both of 

Polson Park and Calvin Park . 

Along its western borders, Kingston 

was also facing a challenge in the form 

of the rapidly growing upstart Kingston 

FIG . 4. LT. COL. S.M. POLSON TURNS THE SOD WHILE JESSIE POL SON 

AND W.M. NICKLE LOOK ON 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

29


Township. Like many municipalities, 

Kingston was competing with its suburban 

rival for much needed residents and 

industries. Though it may have lacked 

Kingston's strong sense of almost hagiographic 

heritage, the flourishing suburb 

had more land and cheaper taxes to offer 

new homeowners, developers, and industries. 

For Kingston City Council, the possibility 

of losing out to Kingston Township 

was probably galling as relations between 

these two entities were, at times, less·than 

cordial. 44 

In all probability, Kingston City Council 

never intended Polson Park and Calvin 

Park to be a cure-all for Kingston's problems. 

The Planning Study was an indication 

that they were trying to find a means 

to cope with a whole series of challenges 

within the city, which had just expanded 

with the annexation of substantial areas 

in 1952. Among the report's recommendations 

was the need to revitalize the 

Sydenham Ward and the Central Downtown 

Area. In addition, Rideau Heights, 

an impoverished area located in the city's 

northeastern section, was in need of improvement.45 

The new subdivisions and the 

Planning Study were essentially part of the 

ongoing process of improving Kingston's 

vitality. The land assembly subdivisions 

would provide some much-needed houses 

to supplement Kingston's overstretched 

housing stock. People who thought about 

moving from Kingston to the rapidly growing 

Kingston Township might decide to 

move to the new subdivisions within city 

limits. Furthermore, the new subdivision 

homeowners would contribute essential 

tax revenues that could help pay for such 

projects as repairing Kingston City Hall's 

portico. 

In 1954, Kingston City Council made a 

request for a land assembly project to be 

constructed on a piece of the Penitentiary 

Farm that had become available. 46 ln 1955, 

the CMHC purchased 

a substantial 

portion of the 

farm along with 

a plot belonging 

to the Provincial 

Department of 

Health; the cost of 

the purchase was 

$63,040, or $1,000 

per acre. 47 The official 

sod-turning ceremony 

for the new 

subdivision, named 

Polson Park, took 

place on June 22, 

1957 (fig. 4) . 48 

Figure 4 symbolically shows how three 

levels of government cooperated on the 

project. Lt. Col. S.M . Polson, who is kneeling 

with the shovel, and Jessie Polson, who 

is looking on, are descendents of Neil 

Polson, a notable Kingston mayor during 

the 1890's. 49 The name "Polson" ties 

into Kingston's strong sense of heritage. 

The participant standing to the centre of 

the ceremony is W.M . Nickle, the Kingston 

member of the provincial parliament. 

While Nickle represents the provincial 

government, the Poisons metaphorically 

represent the municipal government. The 

federal presence is inferred by the fact 

that Nickle definitely was and S.M. Polson 

probably was a First World War veteran. 5° 

That is, their wartime service on behalf 

of Canada allegorically represented the 

federal government. 

Polson Park was completed shortly after 

the sod-turning ceremony photograph 

was taken and its 228 lots were offered 

for sale to the general public on April 27, 

1957. 5 ' There was some scepticism in the 

period leading up to the sale, as a number 

of buyers were concerned about the 

quality of lots that were produced by a 

governmental program; nonetheless, by 

the time the lots went on sale, the scepticism 

had vanished Y Buyers lined up 

outside the CMHC office for their chance 

to purchase a fully serviced Polson Park 

lot that was priced between $1,375 and 

$1,450. In contrast, private developers 

were charging approximately $2,500 for 

unserviced lots in their various projects. 5 3 

The CMHC charged professional homebuilders 

an $800 surcharge for each lot 

to discourage excessive land speculation; 

the surcharge was refunded if the homebuilder 

charged CMHC approved prices. 54 

Those who could afford the Polson Park 

lot prices had the opportunity to live in a 

professionally planned subdivision. 

The majority of Polson Park's houses were 

completed in 1958. 55 The aerial view in 

figure 5 demonstrates how Polson Park 's 

layout created a sense of place that incorporated 

then-contemporary city planning 

concepts. As George Muirhead observed, 

selected aspects of the post-World War II 

British New Town movement were incorporated 

into Polson Park's design. He also 

noted that the CMHC planners who designed 

Polson Park were British or Britishtrained, 

as were most of the planners in 

Canada . 56 The British New Town movement 

30 


R OBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

emphasized the creation of medium-sized 

units, which would not overwhelm the residents. 

The units would have green spaces 

so the residents would not be completely 

disengaged from nature and to reduce the 

sense of alienation, which also could be 

termed "depersonalization."" British-born 

Humphrey Carver, a prominent advocate 

for social housing and a senior CMHC official, 

was in favour of planning on a relatively 

small scale to avoid overcrowding 

or a sense of detachment from society. 58 

As seen from figure 5, Polson Park shows 

some New Town movement's doctrinal 

influence, as it is relatively compact and 

interspersed with a reasonable amount 

of green spaces. The photograph was 

taken before Calvin Park was completed; 

hence the large tracts of undeveloped 

land surrounding Polson Park. 

American city planning doctrines strongly 

influenced Polson Park's design. The United 

States, like Canada, was facing the challenges 

of a rapidly urbanized population 

and the impact of the automobile. One 

result was the rise of low-density suburbs 

around major urban centres, which generally 

consisted of bungalows populated by 

white middle-class families. 5 9 The suburbs 

shared an architectural similarity as regional 

distinctiveness began to erode: by 

the 1960s, suburbs across the United States 

started to closely resemble each other. 

One benefit of that design homogenization 

was the reduction of housing prices to 

a point where middle-class families could 

afford their own home. 60 Although Polson 

Park was not a suburb, it did share many of 

the characteristics of American suburbs, 

such as a low density and relatively 

standardized architectural designs. 

The influence of American city planner 

C.A . Perry's principles on Polson Park's 

design can be discerned from figure 5. 61 

According to his concept, city planning 

should revolve around the smallest urban 

collective component: the neighbourhood 

unit. Elementary schools, retail stores, and 

public recreation facilities should be situated 

within walking distance of a neighbourhood 

unit's homesY An unpublished 

CMHC pamphlet strongly implied that Polson 

Park was a neighbourhood unit with 

amenities, such as an elementary school, 

situated within walking distance. 63 Nonetheless, 

Polson Park was an imperfect 

neighbourhood unit since it lacked local 

convenience stores, as could be found in 

several older Kingston quarters; as a result, 

local residents needed to drive to do 

their shopping. In 1957, the shopping situation 

improved for Polson Park residents 

when the nearby Kingston Shopping Centre 

opened. In 1963, the Kingston Branch 

of the YM-YWCA opened and provided 

recreational facilities a short distance from 

Polson Park. 64 

Polson Park's design was in keeping with 

the CMHC planning doctrine. In a 1946 article, 

senior CMHC official S.A. Gitterman 

demonstrated how the CMHC had incorporated 

some of Perry's ideas into its 

planning practices. Like Perry, Gitterman 

advocated using the neighbourhood unit 

as the smallest workable planning unit 

with an elementary school at the core. 

Houses in this unit, Gitterman stressed, 

should be a maximum of half a mile from 

a school. 65 Later CMHC publications also 

contained concepts that were strongly 

reminiscent of Perry's work in the field. For 

instance, Perry recommended protecting 

neighbourhood units from heavy traffic 

by having major streets flow around their 

circumference and serving their interiors 

with less-busy arterial roads. 66 The CMHC 

had a similar philosophy regarding traffic 

flow. According to the Crown corporation's 

1956 publication, Principles of Small 

House Grouping, a grid-pattern street system 

was unsatisfactory because it would 

invite "traffic to move in all directions," 

thus multiplying traffic hazards and 

reducing the privacy of residential streets. 67 

It was preferable to design a subdivision 

that incorporated varied types of streets, 

including major thoroughfares, collector 

streets, and minor residential streets. 

Cui-de-sacs and loops could help slow 

traffic and create visually interesting 

areas. 68 As shown in figure 5, Polson Park's 

interior mostly consisted of winding roads 

and cui-de-sacs, while its exterior 

borders consisted of wide and straight 

thoroughfares. 

In his detailed study, urban planner 

Dimos A . Zarkadas compared Polson Park 

with Sydenham Ward, a neighbourhood 

dating from the eighteenth century and 

located in a southeastern sector of Kingston. 

Of the two neighbourhoods, Polson 

Park had larger lots, greater spacing 

between buildings, more homogeneous 

building types (i .e. small detached houses), 

more open spaces, proportionally fewer 

sidewalks, and a greater number of curvilinear 

roads. 69 Overall, the land use in 

Sydenham Ward was far more intensive. 70 

The older neighbourhood was a more integrated 

part of Kingston and embodied 

much of the city's traditional image. The 

newer neighbourhood, on the other had, 

was a more autonomous part of the city. 

In her critical assessment of city planning, 

The Death and Life of Great American 

Cities, originally published in 1961, Jane 

Jacobs argued that the modern tendency 

to isolate various functioning parts of a 

city damaged its life and spirit. 71 Diversity 

and organic interdependence, for 

her, enhanced the quality of life in the 

city. 72 As Irving pointed out, such notion 

was almost pre-modern and harkened 

back to a Romantic ideal that parts 

functioned to create an organic whole. 73 

Modern city planning tended to separate 

the various parts of a municipality. 

It is highly debatable if Polson Park 

damaged Kingston's life and spirit; still, 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

31


the subdivision was a concrete example of 

the modern city- planning trend of 

dividing an urban area into autonomous 

components. 

While the next land assembly subdivision 

to be constructed in Kingston, Calvin Park, 

shared many of Polson Pa rk's design attributes, 

its creation was a considerably more 

complicated process. 

CALVIN PARK 

In 1959, another section of Penitentiary 

Farm became available. Kingston City 

Council formally asked the federal and 

provincial governments to begin a land 

assembly project, which would be named 

Calvin Park (after the Calvins, a prominent 

local nineteenth-century family) . CMHC 

planners prepared a plan for t he subdivision 

(fig. 6), which Muirhead and Nickle 

approved. Kingston Traffic Engineer Ken 

Linesman, however, did not share their enthusiasm. 

74 He worried that if constructed 

as presented, Calvin Park would obstruct 

some of the city's principal traffic arteries. 

In the original plan, Avenue Road, a 

projected thoroughfare, is drawn as being 

Calvin Park's eastern border; that configuration 

was in keeping w ith the basic CMHC 

planning ethic of not having major roads 

cut through a projected subdivision. 

After some long-drawn-out political 

proceedings in Kingston City Council, a 

modified Calvin Park plan (fig. 6) , which 

addressed Linesmen ' s concerns, was 

adopted. Avenue Road (later renamed 

Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard) was extended 

through Calvin Park. Incidentally, 

that is another example of heritage being 

evoked as the new "boulevard," a more 

elegant sounding name than "road," was 

named after one of Kingston's most famous 

sons, Canada's first Prime Minister. 

Although this disagreement was of relatively 

minor importance, it was indicative 

of the impact the escalating number of automobiles 

was having on city planning. As 

early as 1942, a traffic survey reported how 

the growing number of automobiles was 

steadily challenging the Kingston's road 

system. 75 The Calvin Park design disagreement 

highlighted how traffic engineers 

and city planners were, at times, in conflict 

over the planning process' priorities. 

City planners were primarily concerned 

with designing comfortably laid out, 

relatively traffic-free subdivisions, while 

traffic engineers concentrated on the 

impact of new subdivisions on a city's 

traffic flow. 76 

There was another political dispute during 

Calvin Park's creation, this time involving 

the YM-YWCA building located in the 

northwest corner of Calvin Park. In 1959, 

the organization received assurances that 

it would soon be able to purchase land 

for its building." Nickle listed his role in 

the YM-YWCA land deal as one of his accomplishments 

in his June 6, 1959 election 

advertisement, which appeared in 

the Kingston Whig Standard.'• In 1961, 

YM-YWCA executives were frustrated 

because they had not yet received an opportunity 

to purchase 

the land for the new 

building. YM-YWCA Director, 

Bruce Matthews, 

issued a strong statement 

criticizing the various 

politicians involved 

in the land dealings. 79 

The YM-YWCA was 

eventually able to purchase 

the land, albeit at 

a higher price than that 

promised by Nickle in 

1959, and constructed 

the new building. 80 In 

1963, the YM-YWCA 

located in Calvin Park 

opened its doors for its 

members. 81 

The planning vs. traffic and the YM-YWCA 

disputes underscore the sometimes-asymmetrical 

nature of power. On one hand, 

the CMHC had all the appearances of 

power: a large budget, offices in many 

cities throughout Canada, and access to 

the upper echelons of the federal government.82 

On the other hand, it was almost 

powerless during the Calvin Park project 

as its officials were reluctant to resist the 

traffic engineer's efforts to modify the 

subdivision's original plan and respond 

to the YM-YWCA executive's sharp public 

criticisms. 83 In short, even though the 

CMHC apparently had a great deal of potential 

political power, the organization's 

leaders could not or would not exercise 

that power for fear of inflaming the local 

political situation. The CMHC did, nevertheless, 

have the power to set the price 

for the lots in Calvin Park. 

Calvin Park's lots were reasonable when 

compared to the prices of lots then being 

sold in the Kingston area by private 

developers. In 1962, the average price for 

an unserviced lot was $1,859. The price 

was the product of a balancing act, as 

the CMHC sought to set lot prices that 

32 



FIG . 7. CALVIN PARK MAP 

were reasonably affordable without 

being so low that they alienated local developers.•• 

Phase 1 of Calvin Park had a very 

short-term effect on Kingston lot prices; 

in 1963, the average price was $2,594. The 

sharp price increase suggests that private 

investors were recouping revenues they 

had lost when they lowered their prices 

to compete with the Calvin Park Phase 1 

lots. 85 

According to a 1962 Kingston Whig Standard 

article, potential buyers needed 

an annual income of at least $5,350 to 

purchase a lot and house in the subdivision.•• 

Evidence suggests that this 

figure is reasonably accurate. According 

to the 1961 census, the average income 

for the non-farm labour force in 

Ontario was $4,471. 8 ' A general guideline 

frequently used by real estate agents is 

that a family should be able to afford a 

house costing approximately two and half 

times its annual income.•• The 1961 census 

also showed that housing in Kingston was 

expensive. The median price for a house 

in Kingston was $14,190, almost $2,500 

more than in comparatively sized Ontario 

For CIS 

little as 

5 

1750 or '1850 

yo" con buy 

a fully serYicod 

resid•ntial building lot 

in 

CALVIN PARK 

KINGSTON 'S 

PROFESSIONALLY PLANNED 

COMMUNITY 

Sec your 1o,ol CMHC office 

for deto il• 

FIG. 8. CA LVIN PARK ADVERTISEMENT 

cities.•• Houses in Calvin Park probably 

cost around $15,000. Dacon Construction 

Limited, a Kingston firm that built houses 

in Calvin Park, advertised models costing 

from $15,790 to $16,248.' 0 In short, evidence 

strongly suggests that a substantial 

portion of Kingstonians probably did not 

earn enough to purchase a home in Calvin 

Park. 

The income range quoted in the Kingston 

Whig Standard cannot be considered a 

conclusive indicator as to who could afford 

to live in Calvin Park. The article's author 

evidently did not take into account such 

factors as interest rates, potential buyers' 

debt loads, and credit ratings when calculating 

the quoted figure. Nonetheless, the 

number demonstrates the complexity of 

formulating public policy vis-a-vis determining 

who would actually benefit from 

the land assembly program. 

CMHC statistics in 1956 indicate that the 

average income of a house-buyer using 

mortgage funds provided with the backing 

of the National Housing Act (NHA) was 

$5,312; that sum was over the midpoint 

of the nation's income range. 91 During the 

1950s and early 1960s, the land assembly 

program generally produced considerably 

more units than did the public housing 

program . 92 In 1957, the CMHC Director 

of Development Division, J.S. Hodgson, 

questioned the value of the land assembly 

program, as he believed it essentially 

subsidized middle-income homebuyers 

without benefiting those in the lower 

income brackets. 93 CMHC President Stewart 

Bates shared Hodgson's reservations. 

Bates, whose tenure lasted from 1954 

to 1964, favoured more social welfareoriented 

programs than those favoured 

by the governments of Prime Ministers 

Louis St. Laurent and John Diefenbaker. 94 

Evidence supports the assertion that Calvin 

Park was very much a product of the 

land assembly program, which primarily 

benefited middle-class homeowners. 

The CMHC advertisement's slogan for 

Calvin Park was "Kingston's Professionally 

Planned Community"(fig. 8). That slogan 

was probably intended to attract whitecollar 

professionals who were generally 

regarded by such social commentators as 

C. Wright Mill in the 1950's and 1960's as 

being the mainstay of the middle class. 95 

City planning was becoming recognized 

as a distinct professional discipline taught 

at such institutions as the University of 

Toronto••; hence, the term "professionally 

planned" created a sense of administrative 

order to which white-collar professionals 

probably aspired. A sampling of names 

taken from the 1964 Might's Kingston and 

District City Directory (the first year Calvin 

Park was included in the directory) shows 

that most of the recorded residents were 

white-collar middle-class professionals. 

The largest block (62.4%) consisted of the 

related professional classifications: owners 

and managers, self-employed, middle 

class : professional and related, middle 

class : supervisory positions (table 1) . 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

33


Available data also indicates that most Calvin 

Park residents came from other parts 

of Kingston; the dispersion of middleclass 

professionals in the new land assembly 

subdivision is, in a sense, reflective of 

Kingston's overall economic composition 

as the city had a very large service sector 

partly because of the large number 

of local institutions.'" While urban historians 

John Weaver and Michael Doucet 

observed that homeownership is not an 

automatic badge of membership to the 

middle class, evidence strongly suggests 

that Calvin Park could be classified as a 

middle-class subdivision as the majority 

of the sampled residents were members 

of that class.'' As such, it can be concluded 

that a fairly restricted portion of 

Kingston's population could actually take 

advantage of the land assembly program 

and the subsidy it offered: a serviced lot at 

a below market price. As Polson Park's lot 

prices were similar to those of Calvin Park, 

the occupational composition of both land 

assembly subdivisions was almost certainly 

parallel. 

In addition to having the power to set 

the prices of lots, the CMHC also had the 

power to use indirect and direct means 

•mnrw• 

Classification of occupations of 85 sampled 

Calvin Park residents, 1964 97 

Classification Number (%) 

Owners and managers 13 15.3 

Self-employed 2 2.4 

Middle class: professional and related 29 34.1 

Middle class: supervisory positions 9 10.6 

Working class: blue collar primary sector 6 7.1 

Working class : blue collar secondary sector 2 2.4 

Working class: white collar 1 1.2 

Occupation not given 13 15.3 

Military: no rank given 10 11 .8 

Total 85 100.2 * 

* 0.2 is the result of rounding off. 

FIG . 10. PEMBER PLACE MODEL 

to influence Calvin Park's architectural 

composition. Homeowners who wanted 

to attain NHA mortgage funds had to 

have houses that adhered to CMHC Building 

Standards; such safeguard constituted 

indirect CMHC control over houses' 

design.' 00 In 1963, the CMHC selected a 

few developers to construct 29 houses 

in a section of Calvin Park called Pember 

Place, thus directly controlling the design 

of the houses in that segment of Calvin 

Park. In keeping with its practices, as outlined 

in Principles of Small Group Housing, 

the Crown corporation sought to create 

a "balanced architectural appearance" 

in Pember Place (fig. 10) by having three 

selected developers construct houses that 

met strict criteria for such considerations 

as setbacks, landscaping, colour schemes, 

and structural design. 101 Elements such 

as spacing between and the size of the 

houses were coordinated so Pember Place 

exhibited a sense of cohesion without being 

either too monotonous or too eclectic.' 0 ' 

As with Polson Park, there was a degree of 

consistency in design of the houses found 

in Pember Place and Calvin Park; nevertheless, 

the designs were not uniform, 

a trend that would become common in 

later "cookie cutter " subdivisions.' 03 

Pember Place represented CMHC's quest 

for modern orderliness and cohesive 

efficiency. 

CONCLUSION 

Polson Park and Calvin Park were very 

much products of their time. The land 

assembly program that created them 

reflected the attitudes of the respective 

governments towards property, ownership, 

and who should benefit from the 

offered assistance. The subdivisions' designs 

epitomized the trend of modern 

city planning during the 1950s and 1960s. 

The curved streets, for example, were an 

effort to deal with the automobile. The 

subdivisions' near segregation from the 

main body of the city was in keeping with 

modern city planning's tendency to isolate 

various components of a municipality. 

Finally, the predominance of middle-class 

professional homeowners in these neighbourhoods 

corresponds to the rise of the 

middle class during that era . 

NOTES 

1. For a comprehensive study of Canadian 

housing policies, see : Bacher, John C. , 1993, 

Keeping the Marketplace, Kingston and 

Montreal, McGill I Queen's University Press. 

2. Miron, John R., 1988, Housing in Post-War 

Canada: Demographic Change, Household 

Formation and Housing Demand, Toronto 

and Kingston, McGill I Queen's University 

Press, p. 7-9. 

3. G. Barker, J. Penney, and W. Secombe, 1973, 

High rise and Superprofits, Kitchener, Dumont 

Press, p . 8; and Porter, John, 1965, Vertical 

Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Cla ss and Power, 

Toronto, University of Toronto Press, p . 4-5. 

4. Howe, C. D., 1947, 2005

R OBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

6. Rea, Kenneth, 1985, The Prosperous Years: 

The Economic History of Ontario, 1939-1975, 

Toronto, University of Toronto Press, p. 49. 

7. Winters, Robert, 1950, N' 1 > 2005 

35

ROBERT M c GEACHY > ANALYSIS I ANALYSE 

49. Gray, Jeff, 1994, «A Neighborhood from 

the Boom Years >>, 

Normandin : 659-660. 

50. Normandin : 659-660. 

KWS, July 9, p. 2; and 

51 . Sale of Lots-Polson Park Land Assembly 

Project, unpublished CMHC report, RG56, 

vol. 171, file 119-2-K, NA. 

52 . George Muirhead, Interview, June 19, 1989. 

53. «Sale of Lots-Polson Park Land Assembly 

Project >>; and Spurr, Peter, 1976, « Five Land 

Banks >>, City Magazine, vol. 2, no. 1, March 

April, p. 12. 

54. Spurr : 11 . 

55. « Polson Park Project Taking Shape >>, KWS, 

July 19, 1958. 

56. Gray : 2; and Zarkadas, Dimos A. 1996, 

Urban Design Analysis of Two Residential 

Neighborhoods in the City of Kingston: 

Recommendations for Improving and 

Supplementing the City of Kingston Zoning 

By-Law, unpublished Master's Report, 

Queen's University, p. 2-3. 

57. Osborn, Frederic J., 1979, «New Towns>>, 

Encyclopedia of Urban Planning, New York, 

McGraw-Hill Book Company, p. 30-734. 

58. Carver, Humphrey, 1962, Cities in the Suburbs, 

p. 98-99; and Carver, 1975 : 117-118. 

59. Jackson, Kenneth T., 1985, Crabgrass Frontier: 

The Suburbanization of the United States, 

New York, Oxford University Press p. 241. 

60. Jackson : 240-241. 

61. Whitfield, Kate, 2004, «The Inner Suburbs 

of Kingston, Ontario: 1950's and 1960's 

Neighborhood Units >>, Urban Plans: Past and 

Present: An Exhibition in the WD. Jordan 

Special Collections & Music Library, January 

19" to February 1S" , 2004, W.O. Jordan 

Special Collections & Music Library Occasional 

Paper no. 2, Queen's University Library, p. 14- 

15. 

62. Perry, Clarence A., 1939, Housing for the 

Machine Age, New York, Russell Sage 

Foundation, p. 50-51. 

63. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 

64. 

65. 

66. 

67. 

n.d., Kingston's Polson Park, unpublished 

pamphlet. 

Zarkadas: 2-12. 

Gitterman, S.A., 1947, 

Community Planning >>, 

October, p, 255. 

Perry: 57. 

« Objective of 

Public 

Affairs, 

Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 

Principles : 32. 


Principles : 47. 

69. Zarkadas : 3-13, 3-16, 3-18, 4-14. 

70. Zarkadas : 4-18. 

71. Jacobs, Jane, 1984, Death and Life of Great 

American Cities, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 

Penguin Books, p. 15-17, 24. 

72. Jacobs: 156. 

73. Irving : 479. 

74. « Nickle OKs Pen-Land Plans: Project is 

Approved; Remainder Up to City >>, KWS, 

September 29, 1960. 

75. Low, R.A ., 1942, Traffic Survey of the City 

of Kingston, Kingston, Town Planning 

Commission of the City of Kingston, p. 2-3. 

76. >, 

Ontario Planning, vol. 8, no. 4 ., 

1961, p. 1. 

April-May 

77. >, 

KWS, November 2, 1960, p. 1. 

78. >, KWS, June 6, 

1959, p. 21 . 

79. >, KWS, May 17, 1961, 

p. 1. 

80. , KWS, 

May 30, 1959, p. 15; and Coli, A. E., 1961, Letter 

to the Secretary of the Executive, May 15, RG 

56, vol. 172, file 119-2-K, NA. 

81 . Official Opening and Dedication of the 

New YM-YWCA Building, April24, 1963, 

unpublished Program 

of the Dedication 

Ceremony, Vertical File, Kingston Frontenac 

Public Library, Central Branch. 

82. For example, see Central Mortgage and 

Housing Corporation, 1962, Annual Report: 

1962, Ottawa, Central Mortgage and Housing 

Corporation, p. 30-40. 

83. Report of the Proceedings of Special Joint 

Meeting in the Planning Office at 8:00 

p.m., Thursday, March the 24", 1960, RG56, 

vol. 172, file 119-2-K, NA; and Hunt, George, 

1961 Letter to C. MacDiarmid, May 31 , RG 56, 

vol. 172, file 119-2-K, NA. 

84. See >, The Central Mortgage 

and Housing Corporation Builder's Bulletin, 

vol. 79, September 14, 1956. 

85. 

86. 

Spurr: 12. 

>, KWS, October 24, 

1962, p. 8. 

87. Poduluk, Jenny R., 1968, Income of Canadians, 

Ottawa, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, 

p. 167. 

88. Harris : 35. 

89. Cited in Harris: 35. 

90. Dacon Construction Ltd., ca . 1962, Welcome 

to Easy Street, unpublished advertisement, 

Vertical File, Kingston Frontenac Library, 

Central Branch. 

91 . Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 

1961, Canadian Housing Statistics: 1957, 

Ottawa, Queen's Printer, p. 19. 

92 . By 1952, 2,078 public housing units and 11,345 

land assembly units were built or almost built 

in Ontario (Department of Planning and 

Development). 

93 . Hodgson, J.S., 1957, Letter to Hignett, May 3, 

RG56, vol. 171, file 119-2-K, NA. 

94. Carver, 1975 : 108. 

95. Mills, C. Wright, 1951, White Collar: The 

American Middle Classes, New York, Oxford 

University Press, p. ix-x. 

96. Hodge, Gerald, 1986, Planning Canadian 

Communities: An Introduction to the 

Principles, Practice and Participants, Toronto, 

Methuen, p. 362-364. 

97. The classification of occupations is taken 

from Harris, Democracy in Kingston: 160. 

The sampling is taken from Kingston and 

District City Directory, 1964, Toronto, Might's 

Directories Ltd. 

98. In 1951, 40.1% of Kingston's workforce was 

employed in the service sector. Stephenson 

and Muirhead : 24; and Kirkland, John, 1969, 

Housing Filtration in Kingston: 1953-1969, 

unpublished M.A. Thesis, Queen's University, 

p. 101 . 

99. Weaver, John, and Michael Doucet, Housing 

the North American City, Montreal and 

Kingston, McGill I Queen's University Press, 

1991, p. 468. 


1954, Building Standards, Ottawa, Central 

Mortgage and Housing Corporation, p. 7. 

101 . >, 

1963, KWS, August 21, p. 15. 


Principles : 43-45. 

103. Zarkadas : 4-19. 

36 


ESSAI I ESSAY 

EMPTINESS AND LANDSCAPE: 

NATIONAL IDENTITY IN CANADA'S 

CENTENNIAL PROJECTS 

COLIN RIPLEY IS a assistant professor of 

architectural des1gn. histoJ'y, and them'y 1n the 

Department of Architectural Sc1ence at Ryerson 

Un1vers1ty, as well as principal of Colin Ripley 

Architects. a crJtJcal architectural pract1ce based 

1n Toronto. In both of these arenas, Colin's work 

focuses on the use of sound in architecture: on 

issues of sexual 1dent1ty Within aJ'Chitecture: and 

on the study of Canad1an Modern Architecture. 

>COLIN RIPLEY 1 

Architecture, of course, has longperhaps 

always-had an intimate 

connection with the notion of identity. 

Indeed, one could claim that an expression 

of identity, whether cultural, national, 

sexual, or other, is one of the primary 

qualities distinguishing architecture from 

mere building. 

It should be equally obvious that this 

relationship between architecture and 

identity can be exploited or made use of 

for political purposes. Examples of that 

politicization, in which the relationship 

is inverted and architecture used not to 

simply express an autochthonous identity, 

but rather to impose and maintain a preconstructed 

identity, are easy enough to 

find, from the ancient world (one might 

think, for example, of the form of Roman 

colonial towns) to the postmodern world 

(for example, the embodiment of a politics 

of t ransparency in the Grands Projets in 

Paris in the 1990's). 

FIG. 1. FATHERS OF CON FEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDING, COM PETI TI ON MODEL PHOTOGRAPH, 1960. 

ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SISE. 

In Canada, the Centennial Projects, a group 

of Federal Government programs which 

amounted to a gigantic building campaign 

leading up to the Centennial of Confederation 

in 1967, can be understood to fall within 

that tradition. The Centennial Projects 

differ from the examples cited above, however, 

in one crucial way: while the examples 

mentioned attempted to express, impose, 

and maintain a specific, well-considered 

identification, imposing such an identity 

on an otherwise alien cultural substrate, 

the Centennial Projects aimed to express a 

national identity which was at best cloudy, 

imprecisely understood. Architecture was 

to be used as a research and production 

tool, whose role was to uncover and give 

form to a national identity, which would 

only become legible during, and as a result 

of, that process. 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N· 1 > 2005 > 39-43 37

COLIN RIPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY 

THE CENTENNIAL COMMISSION provided matching funds to municipalities 

(through the provinces) to support projects 

The Centennial programs we will be discussing 

in this paper were officially in 

of a lasting nature, preferably related to 

culture or recreation. That program was 

augurated by the passing of the National 

to provide one dollar for every resident 

Centennial Act, which received Royal 

of every community in Canada, provided 

Assent on September 29, 1961 . Action on 

that dollar was matched by a second dollar 

from the province and a third from 

the part of the Federal Government, under 

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, had 

the community itself for a total amount 

been prodded by the lobbying in the late 

of three dollars per capita (approximately 

1950's of a number of non-governmental 

$15 per capita in today's dollars). Such a 

groups, such as the YMCA, the YWCA, the 

relatively small amount of money funded 

Canadian Conference of Christians and 

some 2301 projects across the country, of 

Jews, the Canadian Citizenship Council 

which some 860 were buildings (including 

and the Canadian Amateur Sports Federation, 

which coalesced in 1959-1960 into 

renovations and restorations), and an additional 

520 were recreational structures. 

an umbrella organisation, the Canadian 

Projects completed under the program 

Centenary Council.' That citizen group 

for the city of Toronto, to give just one 

remained in place through 1967, but was 

example, included restoration of the 

largely subsumed in practice by the Na 

St. Lawrence Hall and the establishment of 

tional Centennial Administration (later 

the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Other 

renamed the Centennial Commission).' 

projects in smaller communities were of 

Once the Centennial Commission actually course much more modest in scope. 

got going (the Commissioner was not 

The second building-based program set up 

appointed until January 1963), a number 

by the Commission was the Confederation 

of programs and events were organized 

Memorial Program, which provided matching 

funds of up to $2 .5 million to each 

and planned. In addition to such mobile 

events as the Confederation Train and 

province to support a project, again preferably 

of a cultural nature, in the provinc 

the Confederation Caravan, the minting 

of Centennial Medals, the promotion of 

ial capital (lesser amounts were granted 

Youth Travel, the production of films, 

to the territories). Unlike the Centennial 

and so on, two major building programs 

Grants Program, which found its impetus 

were developed, in addition to one major 

within the Centennial Commission (and in 

built project which fell outside of those 

particular with its Director of Special Projects, 

Peter Aykroyd), the Confederation 

programs, the National Arts Centre. The 

most visible event in relation to the 1967 

Memorial Program arose in response to 

Centennial, Expo '67, was not connected 

initiatives which were already happening 

in an official capacity to the Centennial 

at a local and, to some extent, unofficial 

Commission, nor did Expo receive funding 

level. By the time the Commissioner was 

from the Commission. In total, the Centennial 

Commission was responsible for 

appointed in 1963, plans were already well 

under way to build a Fathers of Confederation 

Memorial Building, a large performing 

expenditures of approximately $85 million 

($440 million in today's dollars). 

arts centre to be located in Charlottetown, 

The first of the building programs set P.E.I., to memorialise the first Confederaup 

by the Centennial Commission was tion Conference held in that city in 1864. 

the Centennial Grants Program, which A national competition had been held in 

1962, and a winning scheme by Montreal 

architects Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakoupoulos, 

Lebensold, and Sise (later ARCOP) 

selected. A grant of $2.8 million was made 

to the project by the Centennial Commission. 

As Peter Aykroyd tells the story, the 

awarding of that grant prompted Quebec 

to request funding for LeGrand Theatre 

de Quebec, in recognition of the second 

Confederation Conference, held in Quebec 

City, also in 1864; a grant of $2 .8 million 

was made by the Centennial Commission 

in November 1963. In February 1964, the 

two grants were incorporated into the 

Confederation Memorial Program, open 

to all provinces. 4 1n total, $20.7 million of 

federal funds were disbursed as a part of 

the program. With the exceptions of Nova 

Scotia, (a medical centre), and New 

Brunswick, (an administration building), 

all provinces built major buildings of a 

cultural nature: six cultural centres or 

performing arts spaces were constructed, 

two museums and archives, and the 

Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. 

In addition to the municipal and provincial 

programs, the Centennial Commission also 

oversaw and funded a number of projects 

of national significance. In fact, in terms of 

expenditures, this category outweighs the 

other two programs. The majority of the 

national programs are either travelling exhibitions, 

such as the Centennial Train and 

Caravans (the largest single expenditure of 

the Commission, rece iving $11.4 million), 

or funding for performances, publications, 

films, etc. The single sizable building project 

in that category was the National Arts 

Centre (NAC) in Ottawa, also designed 

by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakoupoulos, 

Lebensold, and Sise, which actually opened 

two years after the Centennial, in 1969. 

The NAC received $2 .1 million in grants 

from the Centennial Commission. 

38 JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005

C OLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY 

Institute of Canada (RAIC) annual assembly. 

The first of these addresses, given by 

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to the 

53 'd Annual Assembly in June 1960, 5 actually 

predated by over a year the National 

Centennial Act. As the transcript of the 

address in the July 1960 issue of the RAIC 

Journal reinforces, Diefenbaker announced 

at that early date that "[a]rchitects can 

play an important part in the planning of 

Canada's Centennial." It is striking that already, 

before any concrete plans had been 

made, long before the Commission would 

be formed, Diefenbaker was already 

certain of the role that architects-and 

therefore architecture-would play, 

although we should note that he likely did 

not come to that conclusion unprompted. 

It is li kely not coincidence that one of the 

two founders of the Canadian Centenary 

Council (and later Director of Planning for 

the Centennial Commission) was Robbins 

Elliot, who in 1960 was still the Executive 

Director of the RAIC. Equally striking, to 

us, is Diefenbaker's choice of words: architects 

are to play a part in the centennial 

planning, that is, take on a role, mount a 

performance. 

FIG. 2. FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDING, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH, 1960. 

ARC HITECTS: AFFLEC K, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SISE. 

ARCHITECTURE AND NATIONAL 

IDENTITY 

There can be little doubt that a major .goal 

of the Centennial Commission was the 

development, nurturing and strengthening 

of a Canadian national identity. 

Canada in the 1950's and early 1960's 

was still seen as a young country. Then, 

as now, a Canadian identity was difficult 

to pinpoint, given the internal cultural 

divisions as well as competing external 

influences from, on the one hand, England 

and France and, on the other, the United 

States. It is no surprise then that Peter 

Aykroyd ranked identity first on his list of 

goals not just for that occasion, but for 

any anniversary celebration. 

The notion that architecture would have a 

major role to play in such exercise of identity 

construction was made clear in two 

remarkable addresses given by Canadian 

Prime Ministers to the Royal A rchitectural 

Diefenbaker, as one might expect of a 

politician speaking to a room of architects, 

begins by making a link on the 

level of metaphor between architecture 

and politics, as each profession "deals 

with building."• The politician deals with 

the building of a nation in the world, the 

architect builds the world of everyday 

experience. Further, both the politician 

and the architect must be "able to see 

and understand what can be done in the 

future and then to lay those plans which 

make possible the realities of tomorrow." 7 

After praising the efforts of the RAIC in the 

field of historic preservation, Diefenbaker 

then reinforces the notion that architects 

must look to the future as well as the past, 

and he does so in the framework of the 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

39

COLI N R IP LEY > ESSAI I ESSAY 

upcoming centennial, for which he asks 

architects to present 

[ .. ) something to touch the hearts of 

Canadians , something to represent t he 

unity of our country, something to embody 

that paradox of two great national stocks 

which joined together to make Con federation 

possible, something that w ill well represent 

the tremendous contributions of persons 

from all races and creeds w ho have come 

to Canada from all parts of the worldB 

In other words, Diefenbaker explicitly 

asks for an architecture of identity, and 

an identity bound up, in the first instance, 

with unity. 

The second of the two mentioned 

addresses was given by Diefenbaker's 

successor, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, 

to the 57 'h Annual Assembly in June 

1964. 9 While similar in many respects to 

Diefenbaker's address. Pearson makes 

much less reliance on metaphor. Where 

Diefenbaker had connected architects and 

politicians, seeing both as agents engaged 

in nation-or world-building, Pearson 

makes the connection between architecture 

and government, dealing with the 

issues and mechanisms these two institutions 

have in common. 

The re lationship of parts to the who leand 

the need to bring unity to the whole 

without inte r fering with t he functio n al 

needs and values of the parts-is a problem 

of government as well as of architecture. 

[ ... ) Architecture-like government-can get 

inspiration from the past without prejudicing 

its contribution , and indeed its obligation, to 

the futurem 

I 

~ 

v 

FIG . 3. FATHE RS OF CONF EDERATI ON MEMORIAL BU ILDI NG, COMPETITI ON MODEL PH OTOGRA PH, 1960. 

ARC HITECTS: AF FLECK, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOU LOS, LEBE NSOLD, AND SISE. 

link between our two Canadian cultures" 

(although he does not pinpoint how architecture 

forms this link), Pearson discusses 

a recent report on the state of architecture 

in Canada w hich focused on regional disparities 

and the difficulty of finding common 

ground for policy. While recognizing 

that the problem was partly caused by the 

federal system of government, he goes on 

to stress the importance of finding that 

common ground. 

[ ... ) There can be no other foundation for 

national unity 11 

Aga i n, rather than stress the metaphor 

between nation building and the 

construction of buildings, Pearson exhorted 

architects to embrace the reality of 

the political within their own institution. 

National unity has to be created in a real 

sense within the nation's institutionsincluding 

architecture- before it could be 

represented in its buildings. 

Architecture and government are two 

separate realms of expertise, which can 

and should, however, act together in the 

pursuit of a single goal-for Pearson, the 

goal of national unity. 

After praising t he RAIC for being an 

"exampl e of useful collaboration [ .. .] 

between our English - spea k ing and 

French-spea ki ng citizens" and pointing out 

that "architecture itself is an important 

If you are to make your art's maximumand 

rightful-contribution to our national 

development, to our national insight, and to 

our national pride; if you are to remind us 

of our limitations and enshrine the richness 

and diversity of our future existence in cities 

which will have balance and even beauty, you 

have a r ight to enjoy the highest national 

standards and to be concerned over any 

barrier to your achievement of them. 

The responsibility for achieving this is yours 

[ ... ] This means, among other things, equal 

opportunities for all our people and provinces 

AN EMPTY LANDSCAPE: TWO 

CENTENNIAL PROJECTS 

Such an overt program of national identity I 

construction should, arguably, make itself 

evident in the form of the buildings constructed 

under the aegis of the Centennial 

Commission. In order to test that hypothesis, 

we propose to take a somew hat closer 

look at t w o project s already mentioned : 

40 



The two squares, the two portions of the 

design, the historical monument, and the 

shrine to cement the future unity, have 

an odd relationship to each other. Not 

only are the two portions kept on their 

separate squares, but the new project only 

addresses the existing building laterally. It 

is striking that, in contemporary photos of 

the project, the existing Provincial Building 

rarely shows up (fig. 2). Furthermore, 

to quote Walter P. de Silva's review of the 

building in The Canadian Architect, "the 

important view of the Provincial Building 

from the inner part of Memorial Hall is 

only partial."" 

FIG . 4. FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDIN G, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH, 1960. 

ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIM AKO UPOULOS, LEBEN SOLD, AND SISE. 

the Fathers of Confederation Memorial 

Building, in Charlottetown and the Na 

tional Arts Centre, in Ottawa. These two 

projects have been chosen for a number 

of reasons. First of all, they are among the 

most significant projects in terms of scale 

to come out of the Centennial programs. 

Second, they are probably the most 

widely published of the Centennial 

Projects. Third, they "bookend" the program, 

with the Fathers of Confederation 

Memorial Building being the first major 

Centennial Project completed, and the 

National Arts Centre among the last. 

Fourth, as mentioned above, they share 

an architect. Finally, they are both built on 

or around sites that are national in significance-the 

Provincial Building in Charlottetown 

and the National Capital, Ottawa. 

Formally, the Fathers of Confederation 

Memorial Building is made up of a set of 

cubic volumes disposed on the rectangular 

site in some relationship to the Provincial 

Building. The model of the project shows 

a complex of four buildings: a library, a 

theatre, an art gallery, and a museum. 

These are grouped around a fifth space, 

which functions as an entry: the Memorial 

Hall (fig. 1 ). In the competition entry, 

that Memorial Hall was literally an exterior 

plaza, although provided with a glass 

roof. In the final scheme, the roof remains, 

but the hall has become an interior space, 

although sunken to a level lower than the 

plaza. On the other side of the site from 

this assembly of volumes sits the original 

artefact, the Provincial Building, surrounded 

by a plaza. The plan thus shows two 

distinct sides of the site, as though mirrored 

in a line drawn down the middle: 

where one is an empty space with a solid 

building at its centre, the other is a filled 

space with an empty hall at its centre. 

If the relationship between the past and 

the present is ambiguous and uncertain, 

even more tenuous is the relationship 

between the local and the national in 

the project. Even rarer than images of 

the Provincial Building are images of 

the surrounding context, of the City of 

Charlottetown. When such images do 

appear, the shops on the street behind are 

just glimpsed through slits between the 

cubic forms of the project. Thus, although 

Architectural Record in its review praised 

the project for maintaining the "modest 

scale" of the town" or, let us say mirroring 

that scale, Norbert Schoenauer, the urban 

design consultant, pointed out that the 

uniform height of the building-arguably 

one of the elements which gives it its 

modest scale-was designed to contrast 

the project with foreseen future unregulated 

development. 14 The ambiguity of 

that relationship was already evident in 

the competition brief, which made clear 

that the building was to be conceived as a 

"national shrine to which Canadians will 

forever pay homage as the birthplace of 

their nation." A third relationship which 

is not really developed in the project, 

between the rather static form of the 

building and the required flexibility of 

programming, was noted already in his 

1964 appraisal by Douglas Shadbolt.' 5 41 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005

COLIN R IPLEY > ESSAI I ESSAY 

Caught within this web of conflicting 

agendas-past I present, local I national, 

formal I programmatic-within what we 

might call, taking some liberties, a web 

of reflected identities, and protected by its 

surrounded layer of representations and 

performances (that is, galleries, museums, 

theatres), is the Memorial Hall itself. surely 

the symbolic as well as physical centre of 

the project, and the one place in which 

identity, if it is anywhere, must be seen 

to reside. And that symbolic centre, that 

locus of identity, is, of course, empty. 

Looking back at the model photographs 

from the competition entry, one can easily 

be struck by the fact that this entry-again, 

the symbolic heart of the project-is in 

a sense explicitly a void, sunk as it is to 

the a level lower than the surrounding 

plaza (fig. 3). Indeed, on looking again at 

contemporary published photographs of 

the project, one might come to the conclusion 

that emptiness is in fact a core 

concept for the project as a whole. 

Although it is not uncommon for architectural 

photographs to show empty buildings, 

it is uncommon for the photographs 

to be shot on a grey, rainy day, as the 

first published photos of the Fathers of 

Confederation Memorial Building were, 

with the emptiness made more tangible 

by the inclusion in the photos a solitary 

figure-a young child in a raincoat and 

galoshes (fig. 4)-or a group of figures 

huddled on the floor in the centre of the 

otherwise empty Memorial Hall (fig. 5) . 

Perhaps the story told by the project is just 

that Canadian national identity is in itself 

empty, a constitutive void, made up solely 

of the representations we make around 

it-the stories we tell, the images we make, 

perhaps even the buildings we build, a 

void that is delicate and in need of nurturing 

and protection, not so much caught 

in its conflicts as made up of them. 

FIG . 5. FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION MEMORIAL BUILDING, INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING MEMORIAL 

HALL, 1960. ARCHITECTS : AFFLECK , DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SI SE. 

In the summer of 1964, as the Fathers 

of Confederation Building was finishing 

construction, as Prime Minister Pearson 

was delivering his address to the RAIC, 

design work was underway for the new 

National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The search 

for a symbolic centre, a locus of identity, 

at the National Art Centre in Ottawa is not 

so straightforward. This project on first 

analysis presents a similar type of site 

planning to the new portion of the Fathers 

of Confederation Memorial project, with 

the cubic volumes in Charlottetown replaced 

by hexagonal ones (perhaps in 

deference to the diagonal positioning 

of the Parliament Buildings, which could 

be understood to take the position in 

the overall scheme that the Provincial 

Building played in Charlottetown). A case 

could be made for the Salon, a relatively 

small room intended for receptions and 

chamber recitals, as the symbolic centre 

42 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N" 1 > 2005


shows the project as an "outcropping." 

The inclusion in the photo of the Parliament 

Buildings does not serve here to 

connect the two buildings-the formal 

variance is just too great-, but rather to 

connect the Arts Centre to the rise of trees 

in the middle distance and, perhaps, to 

the formation of Parliament Hill . The view 

of the project from the city side, on the 

other hand, clearly articulates the Centre 

as an extension of a foregrounded green 

landscape. Unlike the Charlottetown 

photographs, this photo is far from empty, 

showing a large number of people using 

both the foregrounded landscape and the 

terrace of the Arts Centre for recreational 

purposes (fig. 7) . 

FIG . 6. NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH OF BUILDING AND CANAL, CA. 1970. 

ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIM AKOUPD ULD S, LEBEN SOLD, AND SISE. 

of the project, but while that room does 

project upward through the terrace above 

in the form of a skylight, echoing the 

Memorial Hall, it remains too small in scale 

in relation to the rest of the project to 

really command the centre. Nor does that 

room act as an entry to the complex, nor 

does it face an important precedent. 

In fact, unlike Charlottetown where the 

entrance faces the Provincial Building, the 

entrance to the NAC is from the side of 

the Rideau Canal-away from the Parliament 

Buildings, and arguably away from 

the city, on the side of a (albeit artificial) 

river. We would like to suggest that this 

positioning of the entrance in fact repeats 

the situation in Charlottetown, in which 

the entrance faces the symbolically most 

important existing component, except 

that now, that most important feature is 

not an existing building, but an existing 

landscape. In a September 1964 preconstruction 

review of the project, The 

Canadian Architect magazine commented 

that the "buildings for this project have 

been conceived as a series of terraces" 

with the main performance rooms " protruding 

almost as great stones."" A review 

in Architecture Canada 1970-1971 states 

that the "architectural concept envisages 

the total site as a focal outdoor area." " 

Macy Dubois, in his July 1969 review in 

Canadian Architect, referred to the project 

as "a very skilfully massed series of 

forms in which it is a pleasure to move 

through and around,"'" praising the connection 

to the river, but noting the cost 

to the city-side elevations. Putting all the 

various comments together amounts to a 

description which could almost be that of 

a natural landscape: a building which is a 

grouping of large rocks along the banks 

of a river, perhaps somewhere in the 

Canadian Shield (fig. 6) . 

We believe that such reading of the building 

is strengthened by the first published 

photos of the project. The view of the Arts 

Centre from the river, for example, clearly 

That idea of Architecture as landscape was 

certainly in the air in the summer of 1964. 

Looking back at Pearson's address to the 

RAIC, we see that before moving on to his 

own announcement of what must already 

have been well known to his audience, the 

Centennial Programs, Pearson reiterates 

Montesquieu's dictum that national character 

derives first of all from climate and 

geography. However, Pearson remindes 

his listeners that "today, as our population 

moves more and more to urban centres, 

it is buildings which make up our 

geography."' 9 ln other words, in the modern 

world, architecture plays the role of 

geography and climate, becoming responsible 

not simply for representing, but for 

creating, forming, a national identity. 

It is almost as though that project, which 

would have been in the throes of design 

at the time of Pearson's speech to the 

RAIC, takes Pearson's link literally, but 

in a sense turns the schema around: if 

buildings are to be our total environment, 

our urban landscape, this project builds 

that urban landscape as an image, a 

reflection, or perhaps a memory of the 

natural landscape. The symbolic centre 

of the project, then, is located not within 

the NAC (unless perhaps it is the central 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

43


FIG. 7. NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE, EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH OF BUILDING IN LANDSCAPE, CA. 1970. ARCHITECTS: AFFLECK, DESBARATS, DIMAKOUPOULOS, LEBENSOLD, AND SISE. 

terrace), but rather is external to it, in the 

natural landscape of Canada. The implication, 

of course, is that Montesquieu's 

comment still holds: the kernel, the centre, of 

Canadian identity is simply located in 

the Canadian landscape. 

Which, of course, is just another kind of 

empty centre. 

EPILOGUE: DRESSING UP 

The July 1964 issue of the RAIC Journal 

contains a transcript of the speech that 

Prime Minister Pearson made to the RAIC 

Assembly-the speech which, as we have 

seen, linked national identity to architecture, 

reinforced the importance of the 

unity visible in that identity, tied national 

identity to architecture, and probably, in 

a direct manner, influenced the design of 

the National Arts Centre. 

Two pages previous to that transcript are 

images from another event held at that 

same assembly: the receiving line. The 

first photo of the receiving line shows 

the wives of some of the architects at the 

convention, posing like movie stars for the 

camera. The second photo shows, in the 

same glamorous poses, their husbands-in 

drag. 20 Of course, the drag show is just for 

fun, a spoof, a stunt. Still, seeing these two 

images side by side-the drag show, and 

Pearson at his speech-makes us wonder if 

there is not something deeper connecting 

the two images, if the very idea of selfconsciously 

constructing an identity 

through architecture is not, in a way, like 

dressing up, like wearing a costume to 

the big party that was 1967. And it makes 

us wonder, too, what happens when the 

fancy dress comes off. 

On October 15, 1970, having been informed 

that the City of Montreal had requested 

the army sent in to restore order, Pearson's 

successor, Prime Minister Trudeau, went 

off to spend the evening at the National 

Arts Centre, at the debut gala of the NAC 

Orchestra, before returning home to invoke 

the war measures act... 

NOTES 

1. The author w ishes to acknowledge the assistance 

of the following individuals: ian Chodikoff 

of the Canadian Architect magazine, 

Anna MacDonald of the Confederation Centre 

for the Arts, Gerry Grace of the National Arts 

Centre, and his research assistant, Kevin James. 

This research was co nducted with support from 

Ryerson Universit y and the Ontario Ministry of 

Education and Training. 

44 JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N 1 > 2005


2. Aykroyd, Peter H., 1992, The Anniversary Com 

pulsion: Canada's Centennial Celebra t ions, a 

Model Mega-Anniversary, Toronto, Dundurn 

Pre ss, p. 43. 

3. Aykroyd : 62. 

4. Ayk royd : 82- 83 . 

18. Dubois, M acy, 1969, « Critique>>, Th e Canadian 

Architect, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 44. 

19. Ibid. 

20. Bow ker, Walter B. (ed.), 1964, « The 57" Assem 

bl y>>, RAIC/L'IRAC, serial number 466, vol. 41, 

no. 7, p. 34, author of article not credited. 

5. Di et enbaker, John, 1960, « A Tas k tor the Profession 

», Journal RAIC, serial numbe r 418, 

vol . 37, no. 7, p. 286 -2 88. 

6. Diet enbaker : 286. 

7. Ibid. 

8. Dietenbaker: 287. 

9. Pearson, Lester B., 1964, « The Prime Minister's 

Speech at the A ss embly », RAICIL'IRAC, serial 

number 466, vol. 41 no. 7, p. 37-38. 

10. Pearson : 37. 

11 . Ibid. 

12. d e Sil va , Walter P., 1964, >, The 

Canadian Architect, vol. 9, no. 11, p . 50 -51 . 

13. Go ble, Emerson (ed .), 1965, « Monumental 

Ci vic Architecture, Modest in Scale », Architectural 

Record, April 1965, p. 161, author of 

article not credited . 

14. Schoenauer, Norbert, 1964, « Design Considerations 

>>, The Canadian Architect, vol. 9, no. 11 , 

p. 42. 

15. Shadbolt, Douglas, 1964, « Confederation 

Centre- An Apprai sal >>, RAIC/L'IRAC, seria l 

number 471, vol. 41, no. 12, p. 25 . 

16. Murray, James A . (ed .), 1964, « Project: Canadian 

Centre tor the Performing Arts, Ottawa >>, 

The Canadian Architect, vol. 9, no. 9, p. 64-65, 

author of article not credited. 

17. Slaight, Annabel, Patrick Hailstone, Ron Butler, 

Janeva Van Buren, and Michael de Pen sier 

(editorial board), 1970, « Massey Medals tor 

Architecture>>, Architecture Canada New s 

magazine, October 12, serial number 545, vol. 

47, p. 13 (author of article not credited). 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

45

ESSAI I ESSAY 

LORSQUE LES ARTISTES EXPOSENT DANS LES EGLISES 

LES CAS DE CARL BOUCHARD ET 

DE LAURA VICKERSON 1 

MELANIE BOUCHER poursuit des etudes de 

doctorat a I'UQAM. Elle est responsable de 

>MELANIE BOUCHER 

l'ed1t1on et de Ia recherche a EXPRESSION. 

Centre d 'expos1tion de Sa1nt-Hyacmthe. Elle 

a ete aSSIStante a Ia programmation et a Ia 

coordmat1on pour Ia Manifestation 1nternat1onale 

d'art de Quebec. en 2000, et est directr1ce 

de publication de ORANGE. L'evenement d'art 

actuel de Sa1nt-Hyacinthe. 

' 

Al'occasion du Symposium international 

de Montreal en 1964, douze artistes 

ont realise et present€ des sculptures sur 

le site du Mont-Royal, ce qui constituait 

a l'epoque un mode de diffusion inedit. 

Depuis, au Quebec, on compte un nombre 

important de projets artistiques qui n'ont 

pas ete proposes a l'interieur de galeries 

ou de musees, mais plut6t dans d'autres 

espaces publics comme des pares, des batiments 

inoccupes ou des eglises 2 • II va sans 

dire que cette integration d' N 1 > 2005 > 4 7-52 

47

M ELANIE B ouCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY 

entrent en resonance avec les ceuvres et 

les gens. Comme l'a souligne Ia sociologue 

Andree Fortin, 

Evoquer l'esprit des lieux , c'est renvoyer aux 

lieux geogr aphiques, a leurs caracteristiques 

phys iques, ecologiques et sociales, avec 

lesq ue ls une per sonne, une ceuvre, un 

evenement peut entrer en resonance. 

Par ticiper a l'e sprit des li eux, c'est se gr effer 

a un lieu et a sa specificite et, en r etour, 

contribuer a sa definition en r e n for~;a n t ou 

en inflechissant ses specifici t es. Processus 

de retroaction, processus (( dialectique ». 

S'a ncrer dans un lieu et da ns sa specifi cite 

cont ribue a marquer enc ore dava ntage 

cette specificite, a Ia renforcer, a Ia limite, 

« !'inve nter » 4 . 

L'esprit des lieux de culte peut generer des 

resonances particulieres. Les eglises et les 

autres batiments voues a Ia celebration du 

culte catholique ont Ia capacite d'etablir 

un dialogue fecond avec les ceuvres et les 

individus. lis marient, pour Ia majorite 

d'entre eux, une forte symbolique a une 

architecture ornementee et imposante. 

Les plafonds hauts et voutes, les dorures 

scintillantes, Ia lumiere filtree par les 

vitraux et l'odeur distinctive des eglises 

n'ont de cesse de transporter l'esprit, de 

faire voyager l'imaginaire et Ia pensee 

dans un etat de recueillement auquel nous 

ne pouvons guere acceder dans d'autres 

espaces publics. 

C'est pourquoi il est necessaire de considerer 

l'esprit des lieux lorsqu'il s'agit d'integrer 

des ceuvres d'art contemporain dans 

des espaces voues au culte. La charge des 

eglises, des chapelles et des cathedrales 

est si grande que les ceuvres ne peuvent 

s'y tailler une place sans en tenir compte. 

L'ignorer, c'est mettre en peril le projet ; 

c'est risquer de le mettre a plat, de le 

banaliser. En tenir compte, c'est miser sur 

des integrations reussies. 

Deux projets exemplaires ont ete presentes 

dans le cadre de Ia premiere edition de 

Ia Manifestation internationale d'art de 

Quebec, en 2000 5 • Ces projets de Laura 

Vickerson, artiste de Calgary (Alberta), et 

de Carl Bouchard, artiste de Chicoutimi, 

etaient respectivement exposes a l'eglise 

Saint-Roch et a l'eglise Notre-Dame-de 

Jacques-Cartier. 

Ceux et celles qui sont familiers avec le 

patrimoine religieux de Ia vieille capitale 

connaissent Ia disparite qui existe entre 

les deux eglises. La premiere, l'eglise 

Saint-Roch, construite pendant Ia periode 

1914-1923, est un vaisseau amiral de 

notre patrimoine religieux, pour citer le 

cure Mario Dufour• qui, a l'epoque, etait 

en charge des deux eglises investies. Elle 

est un carrefour cultuel, culture! et communautaire 

ou se tient depuis 1997 le 

Festival des musiques sacrees de Quebec 

et ou se croisent bien des gens dont plusieurs 

ne sont pas des paroissiens. Situee 

au cceur de Ia revitalisation du quartier 

Saint-Roch, entamee il y a de cela une 

quinzaine d'annees, elle est Ia plus grande 

eglise de Quebec'. 

La deuxieme, l'eglise Notre-Dame-de 

Jacques-Cartier, date de 1851". Selon 

Mario Dufour, elle est une petite eglise 

de quartier qui se compare a une eglise de 

campagne, Ia messe en semaine y reunissant 

une vingtaine d'individus, essentiellement 

des personnes agees. Elle constitue 

un lieu de culte en peril, contrairement a 

l'eglise Saint-Roch qui ne risque pas dans 

les prochaines annees de voir ses portes se 

fermer au public. 

LAURA VICKERSON 

OFFERING A L'EGLISE SAINT-ROCH 

L'eglise Saint-Roch accueillait Offering 

(2000) (ill. 1), une installation in situ de 

Laura Vickerson constituee de longs tissus 

d'organdi sur lesquels des milliers 

de petales de roses etaient juxtaposes, 

individuellement epingles. De l'organdi, 

ce tissu fin qui est utilise pour les voiles 

de mariees, etait enroule sur les colonnes 

du chceur, deferlant aussi sur l'autel et le 

sol. Le procede de fabrication d'Offering 

revelait un travail repetitif de collecte et 

d'epinglage, traditionnellement associe a 

l'univers de Ia femme- que l'on pense a 

Ia broderie, au tissage ou au tricot, par 

exemple. 

Pero:;u a distance, Offering apparaissait 

tels d'immenses et somptueux drapes de 

velours rouge chatoyant. Les variations de 

teintes entre les petales generaient des 

modulations de couleurs qui n'etaient pas 

sans rappeler l'esthetique des courtepointes. 

De pres, les petales fixes a l'organdi 

ne procuraient cependant plus l'effet du 

velours. Les epingles etablissaient toujours 

un lien avec le travail de couture, 

mais elles faisaient egalement songer a Ia 

souffrance ; a celle de se fa ire transpercer 

par le metal, d'etre meurtri, cloue Ia . Les 

petales de roses ainsi intriquees incitaient 

a une reflexion sur l'amour et Ia douleur, 

Ia rose rouge etant le symbole de l'amour, 

alors que les petales evoquaient des gouttes 

de sang et les epingles Ia violence ou 

l'agression. Les petales juxtaposes faisaient 

aussi penser a des ecailles, brillantes 

et imbriquees les unes dans les autres. 

II n'est pas necessaire d'interpreter davantage 

Offering pour saisir sa polysemie et 

de ce fait Ia diversite des angles d'approche 

a partir desquels les visiteurs pouvaient Ia 

com prendre et se l'approprier. Bien sur, le 

lieu d'exposition encourageait une lecture 

de l'ceuvre dans laquelle le domaine religieux 

eta it mis a contribution. L'ensemble 

impressionnait, le travail associe a l'intrication 

des petales etant colossal et le resultat 

des plus magnifiques. A l'immensite 

et a !'opulence de l'eglise, qui impose le 

respect et Ia contemplation, se couplait 

pour un temps Offering, ceuvre in situ 

qui demandait, elle aussi, Ia consideration 

et le regard admiratif que l'on porte aux 

grandes ceuvres. 

4 8 


MELANIE B oUCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY 

Pour reprendre les mots de Jean-Marc 

Poinsot, 

En fait, l'rnuvre in situ preleve dans le reel qui 

l'environne des elements aussi divers que le 

cadre architectural et nature! ou les traces 

et marques d'evenements et d'activites. 

Une des manifestations de Ia maniere dont 

opere l'rnuvre in situ sur le reel apparait avec 

l'effet particulier que l'rnuvre ou Ia prestation 

produit en retour sur le reel dont elle a 

preleve un element. Elle etend son registre 

esthetique a !'ensemble de ce reel et ne le 

rend visible desor mais que de ce seul point 

de vue, ou integre les autres points de vue 

anterieurs [discours architectural, marques 

d'une occupation specifique, etc.] dans le 

nouveau discours instaure•. 

L'reuvre in situ preleve l'esprit des lieux 

pour diriger ou enrichir sa portee ainsi que 

celle de l'espace qu'elle habite. 

Le prelevement qui fut opere avec 

Offering est d'ordre architectural. Laura 

Vickerson considera les composantes baties 

de l'eglise dans Ia mise en exposition 

de son reuvre, sans reorienter sa demarche 

en fonction des caracteristiques historiques, 

sociales, culturelles ou cultuelles de 

l'eglise et de son environnement. Ni les 

petales epingles sur l'organdi, ni le caractere 

majestueux de !'ensemble n'etaient, 

avec Offering, exploites pour Ia premiere 

fois par Laura Vickerson . Cinq ans avant 

Ia creation de cette reuvre, !'artiste avait 

d'ailleurs presente Fragile Heart, a Ia Walter 

Phillips Gallery (Banff, Alberta, 1995), 

et Velvet, a !'Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Cal 

gary, Alberta, 1995), deux installations si 

milaires a Ia premiere, de grand format 

et elles aussi constituees de milliers de 

petales de rose. 

CARL BOUCHARD 

LES PLEUREUSES [OUBLIER PAR 

DON) A lJ~ GLISE NOTRE-DAME-DE 

JACQUES-CARTIER 

L'installation in situ Les Pleureuses (Oublier 

par don) (2000) de Carl Bouchard jouait 

sur d'autres registres que celle de Laura 

Vickerson. Disseminee a l'interieur de 

l'eg lise Notre-Dame-de-Jacques-Cartier, 

elle se constituait d'interventions distinctes 

les unes des autres, qui faisaient sens 

lorsqu'elles etaient mises en relation. 

L'artiste avait applique du vinyle troue de 

differentes couleurs sur des fenetres de 

l'eglise, suggerant l'effet des vitraux et 

rappelant les suintements d 'eau sur les 

vitres ou les pleurs sur les joues. L'eglise 

en larmes, les souffrances du Christ ou les 

malheurs d'autrui, pouvait-on etre amene 

a penser. II avait investi deux confessionnaux 

qui n'etaient plus employes de sa cs 

d'epicerie, d'un necessaire pour nettoyer 

les planchers, de quenouilles pansees de 

diachylons et d'un dispositif comprenant 

differents elements dont un siege, un 

tue-mouches et une voix enregistree qui 

confessait ses peches. Les expressions la 

ver ses ptkhes, panser ses plaies et purger 

sa peine revenaient en memoire a Ia vue 

de ces confessionnaux, comme s' ils les 

exemplifiaient. 

Sur deux des trois tableaux surplombant 

l'autel, des photographies etaient superposees 

(ill. 2) . Sur Ia premiere, un individu 

- l'artiste - effectuant un signe de benediction 

etait presque totalement cache 

sous des pierres sur lesquelles des serrures 

etaient esquissees. La deuxieme photographie 

revelait un assemblage de porte-clefs 

suspendu a son bras. Comme si l'on avait 

jete des pierres au prophete et que, dans 

l'abondance, on ne pouvait trouver Ia clef 

du paradis ou celui qui detient Ia clef du 

Mystere. 

Carl Bouchard avait egalement superpose 

a un tableau de Ia Sainte Trinite un autoportrait 

(ill. 3), perce, dans lequel il contemplait 

son squelette, sa pro pre mort. Du 

vinyle rouge et troue recouvrait aussi une 

sculpture de Ia derniere Cene et le parement 

d'autel. Sur celui-ci , une main soutenant 

un distributeur a gelules etait pose. 

La croyance est-elle un narcotique a nos 

malheurs ? semblait interroger l'artiste. 

Une horloge situee au milieu de l'allee cen 

trale eta it masquee par un miroir de forme 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

4 9

M ELANIE B OUCHE R > ESSAI I ESSAY 

convexe, de maniere a refleter le portrait 

de celui qui chercherait a savoir l'heure. 

Regardons-nous, nous qui celebrons 

tout en comptant le temps qui passe, 

presses que nous sommes a retourner a 

nos obligations. 

Enfin, sur le sol de !'entree, avec des 

feuilles d'or, !'artiste avait inscrit le mot 

moi, com me le font ceux qui pratiquent le 

graffiti dans l'illegalite. Se centrer au cceur 

d'une pratique artistique ou religieuse, se 

pencher ego·lstement sur soi-meme alors 

que l'on nous enseigne a donner, voila a 

quoi referait surement ce mot imposant en 

feuilles d'or, sur lequelles fideles devaient 

marcher pour se rendre a leur bane. 

Dans Ia publication de Ia Manifestation 

internationale d'art de Quebec, Ia commissaire 

Andree Daigle ecrit au sujet du 

travail de Carl Bouchard : 

L'amour, qui implique un don de soi et Ia 

reception de ce don, ainsi que Ia notion du 

temps , celui de l'attente, du desir, de Ia 

creation et des vi ci ssitudes de !'existence, 

impregnent les installations de Carl Bouchard. 

Ses ceuvres se composent de materiaux et 

ob1ets de toutes sortes, utilises pour leur 

aspect esthetique et pour Ia symboli que qu 'il 

est possible d'extraire de leur cote utilitaire 

au des qualites de leurs matieres. Bouchard 

les t r anspose dans des dispositifs installatifs 

d'ou emergent des images subtiles chargees 

d'affects qui portent un regar d lucide sur Ia 

qualite de notre presence dans le monde, les 

motifs de nos actes et les patterns de nos 

comportements sociaux ' 0 

Ainsi, l'installation Les Pleureuses 

(Oublier par don) ne se situe pas en 

marge de Ia pratique de Carl Bouchard. 

Elle s'inscrit, au contraire, au cceur de 

sa pratique. 

Les deux ceuvres in situ presentees dans 

ce texte ont ete elaborees en lien avec les 

composantes architecturales des eglises 

qui les accueillaient. Le tissu recouvert 

de petales de roses d'Offering s'enroulait 

sur les colonnes du chceur ou deferlait 

sur l'autel et le sol , faisant corps avec Ia 

structure en place. Les differentes interventions 

des Pleureuses (Oublier par don) 

se deployaient a partir des elements ba 

tis de l'eglise - fenetres, confessionnaux, 

tableau x, horloge, sculpture, autel et 

sol d'entree -, de maniere a ce que 

!'ensemble devienne inoperant s'il etait 

transpose dans un autre espace. 

II s'agit Ia d 'une difference significative 

entre les deux ceuvres. Bien qu'elle etait 

impregnee d 'un sen s insuffle par l'eglise, 

Offering aura it pu etre montree dans une 

galerie ou un musee tout en con servant 

son efficacite. En 

le Heart et Velvet. 

A !'inverse, il aurait 

ete impossible de 

presenter Les Pleureuse 

(Oublier par 

don) a un autre endroit 

qu'en l'eglise 

Notre - Dame-de 

Jacques-Cartier, 

sans que !'ensemble 

perde son sens. 

Quelle signification 

prendrait en effet 

le miroir, s' il n'etait 

pas superpo se a 

l'horloge de l'eglise 

- une horloge 

que connaissent 

et qu'utilisent les 

pratiquants de !'en 

droit? Comment 

interpreterait- on 

les v inyles troues 

s' ils etaient, par 

exemple, appliques 

sur des fenetres 

d'un musee I Alors 

qu 'Offering etait 

con N' 1 > 2005

MELAN IE B OUCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY 

Le travail de Laura Vickerson possedait des 

affinites naturelles avec l'eglise Saint-Roch 

-que l'on songe a son caractere imposant 

ou a l'etat de meditation qu' il inspire. 

Quant a Carl Bouchard, il demontrait sa 

capacite a developper un projet d'apres 

les specificites d'une realite donnee. Ses 

CEuvres, critiques et poetiques, savent 

amener le visiteur a accomplir un exercice 

introspectif. 

II etait astucieux de jouer sur Ia magnificence 

a l'eglise Saint-Roch, puisqu'elle est 

un batiment patrimonial hors du commun 

qui accueille une diversite d'individus. II 

eta it aussi judicieux de miser sur Ia remise 

en question a l'eglise Notre-Dame-de 

Jacques-Cartier, cet espace etant un 

lieu de culte en peril frequente par une 

poignee de gens qui y sont encore tres 

attaches. Avoir inverse le choix, c'est-a-dire 

avoir presente I'CEuvre de Laura Vickerson 

en l'eglise Notre-Dame-de-Jacques-Cartier 

et avoir demande a Carl Bouchard d'investir 

l'eglise Saint-Roch, n'aurait probablement 

pas donne des resultats aussi 

convaincants. 

II va de soi que Ia reussite des deux integrations 

a ete possible grace a l'ouverture 

d'esprit temoignee par Mario Dufour. 

Conscient des changements qu'a subis et 

que vivra dans le futur I'Eglise catholique, 

le cure des deux paroisses a ouvert les portes 

des eglises a des projets novateurs. II 

a lui-meme mis sur pied des initiatives 

qui debordent de Ia celebration du culte 

catholique et rejoignent d'autres visees, 

de nature artistique ou communautaire. 

Elargir les fonctions des lieux de culte a 

une epoque ou ceux-ci sont delaisses par Ia 

communaute constitue un moyen efficace 

de les maintenir ouverts et de favoriser 

leur integration dans les nouvelles dynamiques 

des cites. Revoir leurs fonctions en 

lien avec les besoins de Ia collectivite aide 

a prevenir !'appropriation du patrimoine 

commun par une minorite d'individus qui 

ont des interets prives. 

La majorite des CEuvres contemporaines 

s'integreraient difficilement dans un lieu 

de culte. Elles n'entreraient pas en reso 

nance avec l'espace d'accueil. Comme nous 

avons tente de le demontrer, une insertion 

reussie de l'art dans l'eglise force a 

se questionner sur les specificites de !'endroit 

choisi, sur les artistes qui ont le profil 

pour l'habiter et sur les visees recherchees. 

Cela demande aussi une ouverture d'esprit 

de Ia part des differentes parties en 

cause ainsi qu'une capacite d'adaptation, 

puisqu'il est question de mettre en place 

des CEuvres dans des lieux dont Ia fonction 

d'origine n'est pas d'exposer. Qui plus est, 

Ia majorite de ces lieux sont patrimoniaux, 

complexifiant d'autant Ia tache. 

Malgre les exigences et les obstacles, 

!'exposition d'CEuvres d'art contemporain 

dans des eglises demeure un moyen efficace 

de se reapproprier ces dernieres et 

de revoir leur fonction en ne detruisant 

pas, mais en affirmant l'esprit du lieu qui 

y est preserve. L'exposition est de plus une 

fa~on de renouveler le discours artistique, 

de voir sous un nouvel angle certaines pratiques 

et d'offrir aux artistes des occasions 

uniques d'exercer leur creativite. II s'agit 

certainement Ia de raisons pour lesquelles 

de nombreux artistes, commissaires et 

organismes ont deja choisi d'investir des 

lieux de culte, dans differents pays en 

Amerique et en Europe. 

NOTES 

1. Cet article est issu d'une conference presentee 

le 9 fevrier 2005 dans le cadre de Ia table 

ronde Qu'advient-il du patrimoine religieux ? 

qui s'est deroulee a Expression, Centre d'exposition 

de Saint-Hyacinthe. L'auteure remercie 

Marcel Blouin, directeur d'Expression, de 

l'avoir invitee a participer et d'avoir partage 

avec elle ses reflexions sur !'integration d'reuvres 

d'art contemporain dans des lieux de cu lte. 

Des remerciements vont aussi a Laurier Lacroix 

et Maxi me Lacroix, pour leur lecture critique 

du texte. 

2 A titre d'exem ples revelateurs, notons Corridart 

qui, avant son demantelement precipite 

et imprevu, proposait, dans le cadre des Jeux 

Olympiques de 1976, un ensemble d'reuvres sur 

Ia rue Sherbrooke, a Montreal, ou encore le 

Symposium international de sculpture environnementa/e 

de Chicoutimi en 1980, sur le site de 

Ia Vieille Pulperie. Mentionnons aussi Aurora 

Borealis, !'exposition des premiers Cent jours 

d'a rt contemporain de Montreal du Centre international 

d'art contemporain, presentee en 

1985 a Ia Place du Pare eta Ia Place Ville-Marie, 

ainsi que Territoires d'artistes. Paysages verticaux, 

un projet du Musee national des beauxarts 

du Quebec qui s'est deroule en 1989 en 

differents endroits de Ia vieille capitale. Par 

ailleurs, il y a eu Artifice'96 et Artifice'98, deux 

projets du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman 

proposes dans des locaux commerciaux desaffectes, 

au centre-ville de Montreal, ainsi que 

Sur /'experience de Ia ville, une initiative d'Optica 

egalement presentee a Montreal, en 1997. 

Plu s pres de nous, so ngeons aux deux premieres 

editions de Ia Manifestation internationale 

d'art de Quebec en 2000 et 2003, proposees a 

differents endroits du quartier Saint-Roch et 

de sa peripherie, a Artcite, une exposition hors 

les murs du Musee d'a rt co ntemporain deMontreal, 

eta Orange, L'evenement d'art actuel de 

Saint-Hyacinthe, qui s'est deroule a l'exterieur 

com me a l'interieur dans Ia ville de Saint-Hyacinthe. 

La premiere edition de cet evenement, 

dont l'auteure etait l'une des commissaires, a 

ete presentee en 2003 par Expression, Centre 

d'exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe. 

3. Dans son ouvrage Inside the White Cube: The 

Ideology of the Gallery Space, Santa Monica, 

Lapis Press, 1986. 

4. Andree Fortin, Nouveaux territoires de /'art. 

Regions, reseaux, place publique, Quebec, 

Nota Bene, 2000, p. 20 -21. 

5. Produite par le centre d'artistes I' N' 1 > 2005 

51

MELANIE B OUCHER > ESSAI I ESSAY 

les cachots de l'ancienne prison de Quebec qui, 

depuis des travaux d'agrandissement effectues 

de 1989 a 1991, constitue l'un des trois 

pavilions du Musee national des beaux-arts du 

Quebec. 

6. Entretien de l'auteure avec le cure Mario Dufour, 

automne 2000. 

7. Voir le site Internet de Ia Corporation du pa 

trimoine et du tourisme religieux de Quebec: 

[http://www.patrimoine-religieux.com/ ]. 

8. Ibid. 

9. Jean-Marc Poinsot,

RAPPORT I REPORT 

HANGAR NO. 1 NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, 

BRANDON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, 

BRANDON, MANITOBA 

KATE MACFARLANE is an architectural historian 

with Parks Canada. She has a B.A. from the 

>KATE MACFARLANE 

University of Winn1peg and a M.A. from York 

Un1vers1ty in Toronto. 

INTRODUCTION 

In 2001, the former British Commonwealth 

Air Training Plan (BCATP) Hangar No. 1 

in Brandon, Manitoba, 1 was designated a 

National Historic Site. The building is significant 

as an "excellent and exceptionally 

well-preserved representative example of 

a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 

hangar," one which remains in its original 

location and in a functioning airport 

environment. Furthermore, as the home 

of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan 

Museum, it retains a direct link with the 

program responsible for its design and 

construction .> 

Hangar No. 1 is located at the Brandon 

Municipal Airport, which is the site of 

the former No. 12 Service Flying Training 

School (SFTS) of the BCATP. It is a standard 

BCATP double hangar, measuring 112 x 160 

feet, with a flat roof, shingle cladding, and 

single-storey lean-tos on the east and west 

sides. There are sliding hangar doors on 

the north elevation and large, multi-paned 

windows at the upper levels on the 

west and south elevations provide natural 

light to the interior. Inside, but for a 

relatively small area of display space, the 

hangar continues to provide a large open 

space in which period aircraft and vehicles 

are housed. 

THE COMMONWEALTH AIR 

TRAINING PLAN MUSEUM INC. 

FIG . 1. BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, WEST AND SOUTH ELEVATIONS. 

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum 

Inc. is the only museum in Canada 

dedicated solely to preserving the history 

and artefacts of the BCATP. Incorporated 

in 1981, its stated Mission is to "commemorate 

the British Commonwealth Air Training 

Plan by telling its story, preserving its 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N• 1 > 2005 > 53-60 53

KATE M ACFARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT 

FIG. 2. BRANDON, MANITOBA. SERVICE FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL (SFTS) 12, N.D. 

artefacts, and paying tribute to the over 

18,000 Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 

personnel who gave their lives during 

World War 11." 3 The museum is home to 

over 15,000 artefacts consisting of photographs, 

uniforms and clothing, personal 

papers, logbooks, station magazines, 

tools, equipment, trade badges, medals, 

and so forth. Thirteen aircraft are on display 

and four (The Harvard, Tiger Moth, 

Cornell, and Stinson HW-75) are airworthy 

and flown occasionally. The museum has 

nine other RCAF wartime vehicles on display, 

including: a staff car, six wheel drive 

crash tender, half-ton truck, Ford airfield 

tractor, Jeep, panel truck, stake flat deck 

truck, FWD snowblower, and aircraft re 

fuelling tanker. These aircraft and vehicles 

(as well as other displays) are housed in 

the museum's most significant artefact, 

Hangar No. 1, one of five (two of which 

remain) built at No. 12 SFTS and originally 

used to hangar the Cessna Crane aircraft 

that served for pilot training. 

The museum also contains a chapel featuring 

the Memorial Book,• They Shall Grow 

Not Old and private memorials placed by 

the families of airmen and airwomen lost 

in training and operations. That reflects 

the mission statement, which emphasizes 

paying tribute to the personnel who 

died. On June 4, 1984, the museum was 

officially dedicated as memorial to all 

of Canada 's airmen and women killed in 

training and operations during the Second 

World War. 

FIG . 3. BRANDON, MANITOBA. THREE PI LOTS, SFTS 12, N.D. 

Museum membership is broadly based 

with over 900 members from across 

Canada, the United States, England, 

Australia, and other parts of the world. 

The facility is open year-round and places 

special emphasis on getting its message 

out to young people (school groups, 

4-H clubs, churches, Scouts and Girl Guides) 

through conducted tours. The museum 

also participates at anniversary celebrations 

54 



and province-wide fairs and air shows, 

having four flying aircraft available. 

Within the broader community of military 

and aviation history scholars and enthusiasts, 

the museum plays a significant role 

in the protection, study, and dissemination 

of military history (particularly that of the 

BCATP), through its ongoing research and 

preservation activities. The museum also 

publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled 

Contact. 

THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH 

AIR TRAINING PLAN 

One of Canada's most important contributions 

to the Allied effort during the 

Second World War was the training of over 

130,000 Commonwealth airmen at Canadian 

air bases constructed for the BCATP 

between 1940 and 1943 . The agreement, 

signed December 17, 1939, reflected Canada's 

political commitment to the war 

effort, its role in training Royal Air Force 

personnel during the Second World War, 

its sensitivity to national sovereignty, its 

ideal climatic conditions for flying, and its 

geographical location, beyond the threat 

of enemy attack but close to American 

industry, and to Britain, via the North 

Atlantic shipping lanes. 

FIG . 5. BRANDON, MANITOBA. MAIN GATE, SFTS 12, N.D. 

FIG. 4. "BRANDON 3 MILES," N.D. 

At the outbreak of war, the Royal Canadian 

Air Force had only five airports of its 

own with six more under construction.' Its 

total strength was approximately 4,000 

personnel and its activities confined mainly 

to two stations organized under one 

Air Training Command.• Rapid expansion 

was necessary to meet the requirements 

of the plan and that was done through 

the cooperative effort of the RCAF and 

the Department of Transport (DOT) . The 

former designed and erected buildings 

while the latter selected and developed 

airfields after RCAF's approval. 7 Eighteen 

airports were chosen for immediate use 

by the BCATP, because they needed little 

development other than additional buildings 

and 75 other sites were chosen for 

development, including Brandon. 

The training plan was divided into several 

units: initial training schools, elementary 

flying training schools, service flying training 

schools (SFTSs, as at Brandon), air 

observer schools, air navigation schools, 

wireless schools, bombing and gunnery 

schools, and operational training units. It 

was at SFTSs that pilots and gunners were 

trained. The first two SFTSs were at Camp 

Borden and Trenton in Ontario, • Brandon 

was No. 12. At the plan's peak, there were 

29 SFTSs in operation, each of which had 

facilities for 240 students at a time. Courses 

emphasized cross-country navigational 

flights, instrument flying, night flying, and 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

55


During the first four and one half years 

over 8,300 buildings were constructed, 

701 of which were hangars or hangar type 

construction. This work not only involved a 

multiplicity of designs for the various types 

of buildings but in order to comply with the 

opinions of the heads of other branches and 

finally receive ministerial approval a complete 

design or layout might have to be done 

over several times before final decisions 

and approval [was] received. Likewise the 

specifications would have to be completely 

changed and in many instances these would 

have to be altered several times after the 

contracts were awarded due to the inability 

of manufacturers to supply the quantity of 

type of materials concerned. During the 

period 1939-44 over one and three quarter 

million blue prints were made and issued as 

well as thirty three thousand finally approved 

drawings-" 

reconnaissance missions, and many were 

associated with bombing ranges. Many 

SFTSs were located on the prairies because 

of the ideal practice areas and clear weather. 

Thirty-five thousand pupils received 

their wings at western schools.• 

Each SFTS had a main aerodrome with 

three to six hard-surfaced runways laid out 

in a triangular form. There were two relief 

fields built a few miles away for emergency 

landing and practice. Each base required 

dozens of buildings to accommodate servicemen, 

teachers, and ground crew, as well 

as to provide technical airport services. 

The buildings were grouped according to 

their use- administrative, technical and/or 

training- and were arranged as follows: 

Buildings were, as far as possible, concentrated 

in one area, preferably convenient 

to t he landing strip in t he direction of the 

prevailing wind to reduce the amount of 

taxiing to the minimum and good entrance 

roads. Hangars were set back on a zoned 

line parallel to this strip with provision for a 

150' taxi strip and a 200' apron in front of 

the hangar entrance so that aircraft could 

stand out for refuelling and running up, and, 

awaiting their turn, use the field without 

interference with flying operations. Clearing 

rights on adjacent properties were obtained 

where necessary and buildings, trees, power 

lines and other obstructions were removed 

to the required locations.' 0 

The construction challenges faced by 

the RCAF were enormous. According 

to the RCAF's History of Construction 

Engineering, 

The chief purpose of those 701 hangars, 

"the airline's equivalent to the railroad 

engine house," was to provide exten 

sive enclosed interior space without 

intermediate supports.' 2 Besides providing 

areas of clear space, hangars met the main 

design needs for aircraft servicing and 

safety, these being adequate lighting, 

heating, and fire protection. Most BCATP 

hangars were constructed to a standard 

plan and hangar size varied according to 

the type of school or unit concerned and 

the type of aircraft and operational work 

56 


K ATE M ACF ARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT 

involved . Some standard sizes were as 

follows: single (112' x 126'), double (112 ' x 

160') and double/double (224' x 320'). The 

bulk were built of wood, due to wartime 

shortages of steel, and their frameworks 

consisted of heavy wooden trusses 

with bolted joints and supported by rigidly 

braced wooden timber columns." 

The design and construction of wooden 

trusses for the length of span were challenging 

jobs. The timbers were all of Douglas 

fir and all connections were bolted 

with TECO connection rings used between 

all timbers, which resulted in a stronger, 

more rigid joint. Those flat wooden 

roof trusses were not designed for any 

interior suspended load but merely for 

the actual dead load plus a snow load of 

up to 40 pounds per square foot, and a 

horizontal wind load of 35 pounds per 

square foot. 

FIG . 8. BRANDON, MANI TOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, NORTH ELEVATI ON I STEPHEN HAYTER. 1999 

Hangar roofs were covered with two layers 

of tarred felt, covered in fibreboard, then 

tarred and gravelled. Hangar doors were 

either the lifting or the horizontally folding 

type. 14 In order to provide access 

for personnel without having to open 

the large doors, pilot or wicket doors were 

installed in the large doors, one at each 

side of the hangar. 

The most common siding material used was 

cedar sh ingles over diagonal sheeting." 

Significant natural lighting was provided 

by large windows placed at a height of 

approxi mately 18 feet above floor level on 

the sides and six feet above the floor on 

the closed end of the building. 

Hangar floors were of concrete, pou 

red in sections to a depth of five inches. 

Reinforcing steel (either rods or mesh) was 

used during 1940 and early 1941, but it 

was later discontinued due to shortages. 

By late 1943, however, steel reinforcing 

of concrete was once again generally 

allowed. 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

57


and heated, but also dealt successfully 

with wartime constraints and requirements 

such as material shortages and the 

need to erect enormous numbers of such 

buildings in a very short time. 

HANGAR NO.1 

FIG . 10. BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, SOUTH AND WEST ELEVATIONS I STEPHEN HAYTER,1999 

FIG . 11 . BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, VIEW OF SEVERAL REPAIRED TIMBER WARREN TRUSSES, SHOWING 

THAT REPAIRS ARE UNOBTRUSIVE AND DO NOT ALTER THE HERITAGE CHARACTER 

Single or, in some cases, double hangar 

used for offices were covered with hardlean-tos 

were built on either one or both 

sides of the hangars. These were divided 

up into offices, equipment stores, 

washrooms, heating plants, and so forth. 

Lean-to floors were constructed of three 

inch concrete and sections that were 

wood. Washrooms and toilet rooms were 

surfaced with a mastic floor. 

The standard plan hangar developed by 

the RCAF met not only the functional 

requirements of a large, open space for 

the servicing of aircraft, adequately lit 

Hangar No. 1 is a standard BCATP "double 

landplane hangar" designed by the 

Construction Engineering Branch, RCAF. 

It was built in 1940-1941, under the British 

Commonwealth Air Training Plan, 

for the training of aircrews from Canada 

and Commonwealth countries for service 

during World War II. It is rectangular in 

configuration, measuring 112' x 160', with 

a two-storey high elevation, green shingle 

cladding, and a single storey lean-to on 

the east and west sides. There are sliding 

hangar doors on the north elevation and 

large, multi-paned windows at the upper 

levels on the west and south elevations 

provide natural light to the interior. 

The hangar has a flat roof of 112' clear 

span, supported on heavy timber Warren 

trusses of Douglas fir with bolted joints 

and TECO split ring connectors-a standard 

connection ring, developed in the 1930s. 

The split ring connectors provide a strong 

and rigid joint, permitting an increase in 

span lengths. The Warren truss is a patented 

(1848) bridge and roof truss, which 

consists of parallel upper and lower chords 

with web members inclined throughout 

to form a continuous series of equilateral 

triangles. The roof trusses are strengthened 

and interconnected, with sway and 

cross bracing at right angles to better resist 

wind loads, and are supported on rigidly 

braced wood columns. The chords and 

columns are of select structural Douglas 

fir, and the truss diagonals and end verticals 

are of common grades. When erected, 

the truss timbers were treated with 

either creosote or zinc chloride. The roof 

covering was specially designed to withs- 

58 


K ATE M AC FARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT 

COMPARATIVE CONTEXT 

FIG. 12. BRANDON, MANITOBA. HANGAR NO. 1, WEST (FRONT) ELEVATION I STEPHEN HAYTER. 1999 

tand the suction lift of high velocity winds notable changes to the building include 

passing over the hangar, as well as to resist 

ruptures by preventing any ballooning side, the replacement of random panels of 

the filling in of large windows on the east 

effect caused by interior air pressure generated 

by high winds blowing through tion of museum related signage. 

lost window glass by wood, and the addi 

open doors and penetrating through gaps 

In the 1990s, truss failure became a concern 

and sympathetic repair was an issue. 

in the roof sheeting. 

The wide-span, interior column-free space It was done through utilizing the new 

was necessary for housing the training aircraft 

which were stored and maintained in elsewhere for repairing and strengthening 

steel truss insertion approach developed 

the hangar, while the lean-tos along the timber hangar trusses. At Brandon, three 

sides of the hangar accommodated offices, failed trusses were repaired by building a 

workshops, and equipment storage areas, steel truss piecemeal within the existing 

washrooms, and heating plants.•• 

timber truss to form a composite truss capable 

of sustaining the roof design loads. 

INTEGRITY 

Elsewhere, a number of timber trusses 

showing less serious deterioration were 

Hangar No. 1 is remarkably unaltered and 

repaired through placing clamps and/or 

intact. It is typical in its framing, cladding, 

steel splice plates over weak joints, and 

arrangement of doors and windows, and 

through replacing failed web members 

single-storey side lean-tos. Most of the 

in kind with glue-laminated wood pieces 

original features and finishes remain. 

of the same dimensions. Although the laminated 

pieces are not a totally accurate 

The interior has been altered somewhat 

with the addition of some partitioning to 

replication of the solid wood pieces they 

create display and office space, but this 

replaced, they are of the same material 

is unobtrusive and reversible. The most 

and difficult to distinguish. 

It is difficult to determine how many of 

the 701 Second World War BCATP hangars 

constructed by the RCAF remain across 

Canada and to determine the condition 

of those that do. An original list of these 

hangars and their location may never have 

been compiled." In 2001, when Hangar 

No. 1 came before the Board, 41 BCATP 

hangars were identified' 8 and it was assumed 

there were others. Not surprising ly, 

many of the remaining hangars, now in 

private hands, have evolved as to function 

(or are vacant) and are in a deteriorated 

and/or altered condition. Those hangars, 

which continue in use and in much the 

same function (for example, those owned 

by flying clubs and the Department of National 

Defence-DND). tend to be in good 

condition but have often been much 

altered, most frequently by new cladding 

and new roofs. 

Perhaps the closest functional comparison 

to the Brandon hangar found to 

date is the Alberta Aviation Museum in 

Edmonton . Dedicated to the collection, 

preservation, restoration, research, and 

display of the history of aviation in Alberta 

and the city of Edmonton, the museum 

is housed in a double-wide, double-long 

BCATP hangar, said to be the only surviving 

hangar of its type. 

CONCLUSION 

Faced with the enormous chal lenge of 

constructing huge numbers of hangars in 

a limited time and hampered by wartime 

shortages of material, the RCAF perfected 

a standard plan, wood frame, Warren truss 

hangar, which was constructed by the 

hundreds across the country. Today, most 

of those buildings have been lost and 

many that remain are in poor condition 

and used for unrelated functions . 

Within the context provided by known 

survivors, Hangar No. 1 is exceptional for its 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 

59

KATE MACFARLANE > RAPPORT I REPORT 

cumulative merits. It is largely unaltered, 

in very good condition for its age, on its 

original site (which is still an airport), 

associated with other wartime structures 

at the site, and it retains both its 

functional integrity and an ongoing and 

close association with the BCATP due to its 

function as a museum. 

NOTES 

1. Brandon is in southwestern Manitoba, 197 kilometres 

west of Winnipeg. 

2. Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, 

Minutes, June 2001, p. 37-38. 

3. Quoted in Commonwealth Air Training Plan 

Museum, Background Material (n.d.), p. 6. 

4. The Memorial Book contains the name and 

short biography of each of the Canadian airmen 

and women lost in training and operations 

during World War II. Also included are 

the names of airmen from other countries who 

served and died with the RCAF. That book contains 

over 18,000 names and is displayed in the 

Museum's Chapel. The first edition published 

in 1992 sold out and the second edition was 

printed in 1996. 

5. Douglas, W.A.B., The Creation of a National Air 

Force: The Official History of the Royal Canadian 

Air Force, Vol. II, 1986, Toronto, University 

of Toronto Press, p. 220. 

6. Canada, National Defence, Directorate of History, 

1945, Final Report of the Chief of the Air 

Staff to the Members of the Supervisory Board 

BCATP, Aprill6, p. 7. 

7. Canada, National Archives of Canada, 1939- 

1940, RG24, vol. 4775, File HQ103-74/68, 

vol. I. 

8. Trenton is the eastern Canadian site of the 

HSMBC plaque to the BCATP. 

9. Hatch, F.J., 1983, Aerodrome of Democracy: 

Canada and the British Commonwealth Air 

Training Plan, 1939-45, Ottawa, Department 

of National Defence, p. 141 . 

10. Wilson, J.A., n.d., «Aerodrome Construction 

for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 

1940 >>, in Canada, Department of Transport, 

Development of Aviation in Canada, 1879-1948: 

Articles by J.A. Wilson, C. B. E., p. 32. 

11. Canada, National Defence, Directorate of History, 

n.p., N' 1 > 2005

COMPTE-RENDU I REVIEW 

DE LA RUFFINIERE DU PREY, PIERRE (CONS. INV.). 2004. 

AH WILDERNESS! RESORT ARCHITECTURE 

IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. 

YONA JEBRAK est candidate au doctorat en 

etudes urba1nes. dans le programme conjo1nt 

UQAM/INRS. Elle est associee a Ia Chaire 

de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urba1n 

et au Celat. 

Catalogue d'exposition (Kingston , Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 30 mai-29 

septembre 2004). Kingston : Agnes Etherington Art Centre. 128 p., 103 

reprod. caul. , ISBN [).88911-543-5, 29.90 $. 

> YDNA JEBRAK 

Pour le citadin, posseder une residence 

de villegiature repond a des besoins 

a Ia fois psychologiques et ideologiques. 

Au desir de quitter un monde urbain 

en pleine effervescence, s'ajoute celui 

de trouver- voire de creer si necessaire 

- un mode de vie propice au repos et au 

recueillement. Proche des centres industriels, 

et pourtant suffisamment difficile 

d'acces pour etre preservee d'un developpement 

urbain incontr61e, Ia region des 

Mille-lies a represente, pour les families 

fortunees du tournant du siecle dernier, 

cet ideal de calme, de beaute et de 

reclusion volontaire, propice a l'etablissement 

d'une residence d'ete. Mais quelles 

reponses architecturales une telle ideologie 

a-t-elle amenees? Tel est !'objet du catalogue 

Ah, Wilderness! Resort Architecture in 

the Thousand Island de Pierre de Ia Ruffiniere 

du Prey, professeur au departement 

d'art de I'Universite Queen's, et de ses collaborateurs, 

publie en 2004 dans le cadre 

de !'exposition du meme nom au Centre 

artistique Agnes Etherington a Kingston. 

Voyage tempore! et architectural dans Ia 

region des Mille-lies, !'exposition proposait 

de decouvrir le developpement d'une 

architecture de villegiature, a mi-chemin 

entre Ia villa urbaine et Ia residence balneaire. 

La combinaison d'objets usuels, 

de plans et de photographies permettait 

aux visiteurs de constater Ia multitude 

de chalets de tout genre, construits des 

annees 1870 a 1920, et de souligner leur 

denominateur commun ainsi que leurs 

differences esthetiques. Aboutissement 

d'un travail de recherche mene par Pierre 

du Prey et ses etudiants sur plus d'une 

dizaine d'annees, le catalogue d'exposition 

servait a Ia fois d'accompagnement 

a !'exposition et d'essai d'histoire de 

!'architecture de Ia region. 

JSSAC I JSEAC 30 > N' 1 > 2005 > 61 -62 

61

Y DNA J EBRAK > COMPTE-RENDU I REVIEW 

L'ouvrage propose une lecture en deux 

temps. La premiere partie s'interesse aux 

origines ideologiques et esthetiques de 

!'architecture des chalets presentes a !'exposition. 

Elaborant autour de Ia these de 

N' 1 > 2005

COLLOQUE INTERNATIONAL 

Quel avenir pour quelles eglises? 


19-22 octobre 2005 

UN COLLOQUE ORGANISE PAR LA CHAIRE DE RECHERCHE DU CANADA EN PATRIMOINE URBAIN DE L'UQAM, 

LE CONSEIL DU PATRIMOINE DE MONTREAL ET LA FONDATION DU PATRIMOINE RELIGIEUX DU QUEBEC, 

AVEC L'APPUI DE LA VILLE DE MONTREAL, LA VILLE DE QUEBEC, LE MINISTERE DE LA CULTURE ET 

DES COMMUNICATIONS DU QUEBEC, LE CENTRE INTERUNIVERSITAIRE D'ETUDES SUR LES LETTRES, 

LES ARTS ET LES TRADITIONS ET L'UNIVERSITE CONCORDIA. 

Des eglises de plus en plus nombreuses ferment, pour etre 

converties ou demolies. Ce probleme se pose partout en Occident; 

au Quebec, par exemple, pres de 3000 « lieux de culte », parmi 

lesquels se trouvent les hauts lieux de l'investissement collectif 

quebecois, de leur imaginaire et du paysage construit, sont 

menaces a plus ou moins breve echeance de disparition. Impossible, 

en effet, de trouver les moyens financiers qui soutiendraient Ia 

conservation de ce patrimoine. Dans le contexte plus large du big 

bang du patrimoine occidental qui requiert des Etats des fonds 

qu'ils n'ont pas, et dans celui de Ia desaffection massive des 

traditions religieuses historiques, ce colloque rassemblera des 

decideur~ et des professionnels quebecois de toutes les regions 

du Quebec, ainsi qu'une quarantaine de chercheurs de plus de 

dix provinces, Etats et pays de I'Europe et de !'Amerique du 

Nord, afin de ITiettre en commun les experiences occidentales 

en matiere de patrimonialisation des eglises. II s'agit, au bout 

du compte, d'identifier des solutions concretes et des moyens 

de mise en ceuvre de ces solutions par les autorites publiques, 

a Ia lumiere de trois grandes thematiques qui federent Ia 

problematique: les regimes de propriete des eglises, leurs valeurs 

d'usages et Ia planification urbaine de leur requalification au 

titre d'espaces communautaire, tant en termes de participation 

de Ia societe civile a Ia gouvernance que du point de vue du 

design urbain qui reiterera leur presence au XXI• siecle. 

Parmi les conferenciers, les participants inscrits pourront, entre 

autres, rencontrer: Yvon Abiven, maire de Saint-Thegonnec 

(France); Virginia Benson, Center for Sacred Landmarks, 

Cleveland State University (Ohio); Eric Breitkreutz, Historic 

Boston Incorporated/Boston Steeples Project (Massachusetts) ; 

Thomas Coomans, KADOC-Katholiek Documentatie en 

Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique); Kathleen Crowther, 

Cleveland Restoration Society (Ohio); Joel Duvignacq, Plan 

eglises, Ville de Paris; Ann-Isabel Friedman, Sacred Sites Program, 

New York Landmarks Conservancy (New York); Xavier Greffe, 

professeur d'economie des arts et des medias, Universite de 

Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne); Robert A. Jaeger, Partners for 

Sacred Places, Philadelphie (Pennsylvanie); Jean-Michel Leniaud, 

Ecole nationale des chartes et Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes 

(Paris); Wies van Leeuwen, Monumentenzorg Provincie Noord 

Brabant (Monuments et sites du Brabant septentrional, Pays 

Bas); Jan De Maeyer, KADOC-Katholiek Documentatie en 

Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique); Max Ingar M0rk, Church 

of Norway Employers' Association, Oslo (Norvege); Luc Noppen, 

Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain de I'UQAM 

(Montreal); Hermann Reidel, Commission pontificale pour les 

biens culturels de I'Eglise (AIIemagne); Oddbj0rn S0rmoen, 

Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Norvege); Yvon Tranvouez, 

Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique, Universite de Bretagne 

occidentale; Crispin Truman, Churches Conservation Trust 

(Royaume-Uni). 

Un service d'interpretation simultanee franc;ais/anglais sera offert tout au long du colloque. 

Les actes seront disponibles (Presses de I'Universite du Quebec) des fevrier 2006 et distribues gratuitement aux participants 

inscrits. Pour informations, suivi en ligne ou pour s'inscrire : www.avenireglises.ca ou www.churchesfuture.ca.

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM 

What Future for What Churches? 


October 19-22, 2005 

A SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZED BY UQAM'S CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR ON URBAN HERITAGE, THE MONTREAL 

HERITAGE COUNCIL, AND THE QUEBEC RELIGIOUS HERITAGE FOUNDATION 

WITH SUPPORT FROM THE CITY OF MONTREAL, THE CITY OF QUEBEC, MINISTERE DE LA CULTURE 

ET DES COMMUNICATIONS DU QUEBEC AND CELAT AND CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY. 

An increasing number of churches are closing their doors, 

either to be converted or demolished. This problem is pervasive 

throughout the Western world. In Quebec, for example, almost 

3,000 places of worship-some of which showcase Quebec's 

collective investments, creativity, and built landscape-are 

in danger of disappearing in the somewhat near future. The 

financial resources to preserve this heritage are nowhere to be 

found. In the broader context of the Western heritage big bang, 

which has required governments to provide funding they do not 

have, and in light of the sharply declining interest in historic 

religious traditions, this symposium will bring together decision 

makers and professionals from throughout Quebec, as well as 

some forty researchers from more than ten European and North 

American provinces, governments, and countries, in order to 

pool the Western experience in church "heritagization." In the 

end, the issue is one of identifying concrete solutions and ways 

for public authorities to implement these solutions in light of 

three main themes that govern the issue-church ownership, 

possible church uses, and urban planning to convert them into 

community spaces-both in terms of community involvement 

in running the properties as well as the new roles urban design 

will lead them to play in the 21st century. 

Amongst speakers, registered conference participants will meet: 

Yvon Abiven, mayor of Saint-Thegonnec (France); Virginia Benson, 

Center for Sacred Landmarks, Cleveland State University (Ohio); 

Eric Breitkreutz, Historic Boston Incorporated/Boston Steeples 

Project (Massachusetts); Thomas Coomans, KADOC-Katholiek 

Documentatie en Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique); 

Kathleen Crowther, Cleveland Restoration Society (Ohio); Joel 

Duvignacq, Plan eglises, City of Paris; Ann-Isabel Friedman, 

Sacred Sites Program, New York Landmarks Conservancy (New 

York); Xavier Greffe, professor in arts and medias economy, 

Universite de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne); Robert A . Jaeger, 

Partners for Sacred Places, Philadelphie (Pennsylvanie); 

Jean-Michel Leniaud, Ecole nationale des chartes et Ecole Pratique 

des Hautes Etudes (Paris); Wies van Leeuwen, Monumentenzorg 

Provincie Noord Brabant (Monuments et sites du Brabant 

septentrional, Pays-Bas); Jan De Maeyer, KADOC-Katholiek 

Documentatie en Onderzoekscentrum, Leuven (Belgique); 

Max Ingar M0rk, Church of Norway Employers' Association, 

Oslo (Norvege); Luc Noppen, Canada Research Cha ir on Urban 

Heritage, UQAM (Montreal); Hermann Reidel, Pontificatl 

Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church (AIIemagne); 

Oddbj0rn S0rmoen, Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Norvege) ; 

Yvon Tranvouez, Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique, 

Universite de Bretagne occidentale; Crispin Truman, Churches 

Conservation Trust (Royaume-Uni). 

A simultaneous French/English interpretation service will be available throughout the symposium. 

The proceedings, which will be available from Presses de I'Universite du Quebec in February 2006, will be distributed free of charge 

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 

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF I JOURNAL DE LA SOCIETE POUR lETUDE 0[ L 

ARCHITECTURE~~ 


EDITORIAL STATE MENT 

POLITIQUE EDITORIALE 

The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada is a bilingual 

refereed publication whose scope encompasses the entire spectrum of Canadian architecture 

from all historical periods and all cultural traditions. In addition to historical, 

cultural, and

Nouveautes 

Les eglises du Quebec 

Un patrimoine a reinventer 

Luc Noppen et Lucie K. Morisset 

2005 I 456 pages 

Bien plus qu'ailleurs,les eglises au Quebec ant profondement marque le developpement 

du paysage construit des villes et des villages et impregnent l'imaginaire collectif des 

habitants et de leurs visiteurs. C'est ce qu'on appelle un patrimoine. 

D'ici 2010, plus de Ia moitie des 3 000 eglises du Quebec seront vendues, converties ou 

demolies. En restera-t-il quelques-unes pour les generations futures? 

Le combat du patrimoine a Montreal 

(1973-2003) 

Martin Drouin 

2005 I 400 pages 

Visiteurs et residants s'accordent aujourd'hui pour affirmer que Montreal est 

une ville ou il fait bon vivre et que cela tient, entre autres, a son « caractere 

patrimonial ». 

Si plusieurs se souviennent, taus ne savent cependant pas qu'il a fallu plus de 

trente ans de luttes urbaines pour fonder cette image par laquelle Ia metropole 

se represente aujourd'hui. 

JJf Presses de l'Universite du Quebec 

Sans frais: "1 800 859.7474 

Commandez en ligne et economisez 

v.~v.~v.~. lJIJlil .ca

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