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<strong>15</strong> $<br />
<strong>15</strong> $<br />
<strong>VOL.34</strong> > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
The Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada is a learned society<br />
devoted to the examination of the role of the built environment in Canadian society. Its membership includes<br />
structural and landscape architects, architectural historians and planners, sociologists, ethnologists, and<br />
specialists in such fields as heritage conservation and landscape history. Founded in 1974, the Society is currently<br />
the sole national society whose focus of interest is Canada’s built environment in all of its manifestations.<br />
The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, published twice a year, is a refereed journal.<br />
Membership fees, including subscription to the Journal, are payable at the following rates: Student, $30;<br />
Individual,$50; Organization | Corporation, $75; Patron, $20 (plus a donation of not less than $100).<br />
Institutional subscription: $75. Individuel subscription: $40.<br />
There is a surcharge of $5 for all foreign memberships. Contributions over and above membership fees are welcome,<br />
and are tax-deductible. Please make your cheque or money order payable to the:<br />
SSAC > Box 2302, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W5<br />
La Société pour l’étude de l’architecture au Canada est une société savante qui se<br />
consacre à l’étude du rôle de l’environnement bâti dans la société canadienne. Ses membres sont architectes,<br />
architectes paysagistes, historiens de l’architecture et de l’urbanisme, urbanistes, sociologues, ethnologues<br />
ou spécialistes du patrimoine et de l’histoire du paysage. Fondée en 1974, la Société est présentement la seule<br />
association nationale préoccupée par l’environnement bâti du Canada sous toutes ses formes.<br />
Le Journal de la Société pour l’étude de l’architecture au Canada, publié deux fois par année, est une revue dont les<br />
articles sont évalués par un comité de lecture.<br />
La cotisation annuelle, qui comprend l’abonnement au Journal, est la suivante : étudiant, 30 $; individuel, 50 $;<br />
organisation | société, 75 $; bienfaiteur, 20 $ (plus un don d’au moins 100 $).<br />
Abonnement institutionnel : 75 $. Abonnement individuel : 40 $<br />
Un supplément de 5 $ est demandé pour les abonnements étrangers. Les contributions dépassant l’abonnement<br />
annuel sont bienvenues et déductibles d’impôt. Veuillez s.v.p. envoyer un chèque ou un mandat postal à la :<br />
SÉAC > Case postale 2302, succursale D, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W5<br />
www.canada-architecture.org<br />
The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada is produced<br />
with the assistance of the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage and the<br />
Institut du patrimoine, UQAM. This issue was also produced with the financial<br />
assistance of the Canadian Forum for Public Research on Heritage.<br />
Le Journal de la Société pour l’étude de l’architecture au Canada est publié<br />
avec l’aide de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain et<br />
de l’Institut du patrimoine, UQAM. Ce numéro a aussi bénéficié de l’apport<br />
financier du Forum canadien de recherche publique sur le patrimoine.<br />
Publication Mail 40739147 > PAP Registration <strong>No</strong>. 10709<br />
We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Government of Canada,<br />
through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs.<br />
ISSN 1486-0872<br />
(supersedes | remplace ISSN 0228-0744)<br />
Editing, proofreading, translation | Révision linguistique, traduction<br />
Micheline Giroux-Aubin<br />
graphic design | conception graphique<br />
Marike Paradis<br />
Page make-up | Mise en Pages<br />
B Graphistes<br />
Printing | Impression<br />
Marquis imprimeur inc., Montmagny (Qc)<br />
Cover | CouverturE<br />
Instructions and four pages of cut-outs. “How to Assemble the ‘Help-less’ House,”<br />
CH&G, February 1945, p. 20, 22-24.<br />
Journal Editor | Rédacteur du Journal<br />
Luc <strong>No</strong>ppen<br />
Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain<br />
Institut du patrimoine<br />
Université du Québec à Montréal<br />
CP 8888, succ. centre-ville<br />
Montréal, QC H3C 3P8<br />
(514) 987-3000 x 2562 | f : (514) 987-6881<br />
e : noppen.luc@uqam.ca<br />
Assistant Editor | Adjoint à la rédaction<br />
MARTIN DROUIN<br />
e : drouin.martin@uqam.ca<br />
Assistant Editor | Adjoint à la rédaction<br />
Peter Coffman<br />
e : peter@petercoffman.com<br />
Web site | site web<br />
Lana Stewart<br />
Parks Canada<br />
5 th Floor, 25 Eddy Street<br />
Gatineau, QC K1A 0M5<br />
(819) 997-6098<br />
e : lana.stewart@pc.gc.ca<br />
Editor of News & Views |<br />
Rédactrice de <strong>No</strong>uvelles et Coups d’œil<br />
Heather Bretz<br />
Stantec Architecture Ltd.<br />
200-325 25 th Street SE<br />
Calgary, AB T2A 7H8<br />
(403) 716-7901 / f : (403) 716-8019<br />
e : heather.bretz@stantec.com<br />
President | Président<br />
Andrew Waldron<br />
Architectural Historian, National Historic Sites Directorate<br />
Parks Canada<br />
5 th Floor, 25 Eddy Street<br />
Gatineau, QC K1A 0M5<br />
(819) 953-5587 / f : (819) 953-4909<br />
e : andrew.waldron@pc.gc.ca<br />
Vice-presidents | Vice-président(E)s<br />
Peter Coffman<br />
6313 <strong>No</strong>rwood Street<br />
Halifax, NS B3H 2K9<br />
e : peter@petercoffman.com<br />
Lucie K. Morisset<br />
Études urbaines et touristiques<br />
École des sciences de la gestion<br />
Université du Québec à Montréal<br />
CP 8888, succ. Centre-ville<br />
Montréal, QC H3C 3P8<br />
(514) 987-3000 x 4585 / f : (514) 987-6881<br />
e : morisset.lucie@uqam.ca<br />
Treasurer | TrésoriER<br />
Barry Magrill<br />
8080 Dalemore Road<br />
Richmond, BC V7C 2A6<br />
barrymagrill@shaw.ca<br />
Secretary | Secrétaire<br />
Vacant<br />
Provincial Representatives |<br />
Représentant(E)s DES PROVINCES<br />
George Chalker<br />
Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador<br />
P.O. Box 5171<br />
St. John’s, NF A1C 5V5<br />
(709) 739-1892 / f : (709) 739-5413<br />
e : george@heritagefoundation.ca<br />
Ann Howatt<br />
PO Box 2311<br />
Charlottetown, PEI C1A 8C1<br />
(902) 626-8076<br />
e: ahowatt@upei.ca<br />
Terrence Smith Lamothe<br />
1935 Vernon<br />
Halifax, NS B3H 3N8<br />
(902) 425-0101<br />
Tom Urbaniak<br />
Cape Breton University<br />
1250 Grand Lake Road<br />
Sydney, NS B1P 6L2<br />
(902) 563-1226<br />
e : tom_urbaniak@cbu.ca<br />
Thomas Horrocks<br />
ADI Limited<br />
300-1133 Regent Street<br />
Fredericton, NB E3B 3Z2<br />
(506) 452-9000 / f : (906) 452-7303<br />
e : thd@adi.ca / horto@reg2.health.nb.ca<br />
Mathieu Pomerleau<br />
379, rue de Liège<br />
Montréal, QC H2P 1J6<br />
e : mathieu.pomerleau@umontreal.ca<br />
Sharon Vattay<br />
322-11 Elm Avenue<br />
Toronto, ON M4W 1N2<br />
(416) 964-7235<br />
svattay@chass.utoronto.ca<br />
Bernard Flaman<br />
201-1800 11 th Avenue<br />
Regina, SK S4P 0H8<br />
(306) 780 3280 / f : (306) 780 7242<br />
e : bernard.flaman@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca<br />
Heather Bretz<br />
Stantec Inc.<br />
500-404 6 th Avenue SW<br />
Calgary, AB T2P 0R9<br />
(403) 262-5511 / f : (403) 262-5519<br />
e : heather.bretz@stantec.com<br />
Daniel Millette<br />
511-55 Water Street<br />
Vancouver, BC V6B 1A1<br />
t / f : (604) 687-4907<br />
e : lucubratio@yahoo.com<br />
Kayhan Nadji<br />
126 Niven Drive<br />
Yellowknife, NT X1A 3W8<br />
t / f : (867) 920-6331<br />
e : kayen@nadji_architects.ca
contents | table des matières<br />
essaYs | e s s a I s<br />
analyses | analyses<br />
Research <strong>No</strong>tes<br />
<strong>No</strong>tes de recherche<br />
Report | Rapport<br />
> Jo n at h a n Cha<br />
« La ville est hockey ».<br />
De la hockeyisation de la ville<br />
à la représentation architecturale :<br />
une quête urbaine<br />
> Malcolm Thurlby<br />
‘Parisian Gothic’: Interpretations of Gothic<br />
in three Victorian Buildings in Paris, Ontario<br />
> G eorge Th o m a s<br />
Kapelos<br />
The Small House in Print<br />
Promoting the Modern Home<br />
to Post-war Canadians through Pattern<br />
Books, Journals, and Magazines<br />
> Y ona Jébrak et<br />
Barbara Julien<br />
Hydrostone’s Heritagization:<br />
Garden City of War<br />
> Marie-José Fortier<br />
Deux exemples de jardins civils à Montréal<br />
au dix-huitième siècle<br />
> R hona Goodspeed<br />
National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario<br />
3<br />
19<br />
33<br />
61<br />
67<br />
75<br />
<strong>VOL.34</strong> > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
essay | essai<br />
« La ville est hockey ». De la hockeyisation<br />
de la ville à la représentation<br />
architecturale : une quête urbaine<br />
Jonathan Cha est architecte paysagiste et<br />
doctorant en études urbaines à l’Université du<br />
>Jo n at h a n Ch a<br />
Québec à Montréal, en cotutelle avec l’Institut<br />
d’urbanisme de Paris. Il est jeune chercheur à<br />
la Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine<br />
urbain et rattaché au Centre interuniversitaire<br />
d’études sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions<br />
(CELAT).<br />
Le hockey est depuis plus d’un siècle<br />
une marque de l’identité canadienne.<br />
La plus ancienne formation, Les Canadiens<br />
de Montréal, fête son 100 e anniversaire<br />
en <strong>2009</strong>. Les célébrations du centenaire,<br />
déjà bien entamées, représentent l’événement<br />
symbolique le plus important de<br />
la ville depuis le 350 e anniversaire de la<br />
fondation de Montréal en 1992. Dans le<br />
dessein de susciter un intérêt « métropolitain<br />
», la direction marketing du Club de<br />
hockey Canadien désirait hisser le Tricolore<br />
au titre de « fait culturel » premier à<br />
Montréal en répandant, voire en propageant<br />
« la bonne nouvelle » : le hockey<br />
est de retour et Montréal vit au rythme<br />
du hockey.<br />
Dans le contexte post-lockout des difficultés<br />
de la Ligue nationale de hockey<br />
(LNH) et pour relancer le sport, le Club<br />
de hockey Canadien lançait en 2006 une<br />
campagne publicitaire associant directement<br />
l’image du hockey à celle de la<br />
ville. Baptisée « La ville est hockey », elle<br />
associait l’équipe de hockey à des références<br />
architecturales montréalaises. La ville<br />
agirait ainsi comme support à l’image des<br />
Canadiens et le hockey ne serait plus simplement<br />
un sport, mais une marque de<br />
l’identité culturelle évoluant au cœur et<br />
à l’échelle de la ville.<br />
ill. 1. Médaillés d’or Shane Doan et Rick Nash de l’Équipe Canada au Championnat mondial de l’International<br />
Ice Hockey Federation. | IIHF, 2007.<br />
Les recherches nous ont permis de constater<br />
que cette publicité s’inscrivait dans<br />
un courant bien répandu, à Montréal<br />
comme dans le reste du Canada, d’un<br />
vouloir entrepreneurial (équipes de hockey),<br />
populaire (partisans) et administratif<br />
(villes) de lier ville et hockey. Il y aurait<br />
une véritable « conquête » partisane qui<br />
se serait engagée dans l’espace public.<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong> > 3-18<br />
3
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
Tableau 1<br />
Les processus de la quête du label « ville de hockey »<br />
IDENTITÉ NATIONALE<br />
PHÉNOMÈNE SOCIAL<br />
APPROPRIATION<br />
REPRÉSENTATION<br />
HOCKEYITÉ<br />
HOCKEYVILLE<br />
Afin de bien saisir le contexte dans lequel<br />
s’insère la campagne publicitaire « La ville<br />
est hockey » et l’ancrage des Canadiens<br />
au centre-ville, l’article se divisera en trois<br />
axes principaux : l’entrée du hockey dans<br />
l’espace public urbain ou la hockeyisation<br />
de la ville au Canada, les attributs et le<br />
vouloir d’appropriation du titre de « ville<br />
de hockey » et la représentation de la<br />
ville dans la mise en marché du hockey<br />
à Montréal 1 .<br />
HOCKEY :<br />
SPORT<br />
HOCKEYNATION :<br />
IDENTITÉ<br />
PROCESSUS<br />
HOCKEYTOWN<br />
VILLE DE HOCKEY :<br />
QUÊTE<br />
LA VILLE :<br />
SUPPORT<br />
HOCKEYISATION<br />
IDENTITÉ URBAINE<br />
PHÉNOMÈNE URBAIN<br />
ESPACE PUBLIC URBAIN<br />
ARCHITECTURE<br />
ARCHITECTURE<br />
<strong>No</strong>us mettrons de l’avant la quête identitaire,<br />
socioculturelle mais surtout<br />
urbaine, pour laquelle le hockey devient<br />
un prétexte et la ville un support dans<br />
l’affirmation des « villes de hockey ».<br />
Le système de la « ville de hockey », de<br />
l’anglais hockeytown, qui ne représente<br />
rien de moins qu’une quête d’une identité<br />
urbaine, est déterminé par quatre<br />
processus/concepts : la hockeyisation (le<br />
transfert du hockey dans l’espace urbain),<br />
la « ville est hockey » (campagne publicitaire<br />
montréalaise), hockeyville (concours<br />
canadien visant à déterminer la ville la<br />
plus partisane au Canada) et la hockeyité 2<br />
(passion pour le sport) (tableau 1). <strong>No</strong>us<br />
aborderons les interrelations entre la pratique<br />
du hockey et l’espace urbain, les<br />
échanges entre la pratique du hockey et<br />
les représentations de la ville et enfin les<br />
interrelations entre les représentations de<br />
la ville et les représentations du hockey.<br />
Hockeynation : entre<br />
identité nationale et<br />
identité urbaine. Le hockey<br />
au cœur de la société<br />
canadienne et montréalaise<br />
Le hockey : « consolidateur » de<br />
l’identité canadienne<br />
Depuis la pratique généralisée du hockey<br />
sur glace remontant au début du vingtième<br />
siècle au Canada, le hockey est<br />
devenu le sport national, une identité<br />
partagée d’un océan à l’autre (ill. 1). La<br />
grande majorité des coupes Stanley ont été<br />
remportées par des équipes canadiennes<br />
et, malgré l’internationalisation de la LNH<br />
aujourd’hui, plus de la moitié des joueurs<br />
qui y évoluent sont d’origine canadienne.<br />
Dans un document portant sur l’avenir<br />
des équipes de la LNH au Canada réalisé<br />
conjointement par Industrie Canada, les<br />
provinces, les municipalités et les équipes,<br />
le Forum des politiques publiques confirmait<br />
l’impact et le rôle important joué<br />
par le hockey dans la société canadienne 3 .<br />
Il statuait d’ailleurs sur l’importance historique<br />
et culturelle du hockey : « Toutes<br />
les parties ont admis que le hockey<br />
– et le hockey professionnel – a joué un<br />
grand rôle dans l’histoire du Canada. 4 »<br />
Pour le Forum des politiques publiques, il<br />
est indubitable que le hockey occupe une<br />
place spéciale dans la vie au Canada et<br />
dans la mythologie intérieure de sa population,<br />
comme son sport d’hiver national 5 .<br />
Pour la LNH, « Canada is and always has<br />
been the heart of NHL hockey » 6 . Les victoires<br />
répétées d’Équipe Canada aux Jeux<br />
olympiques, aux Championnats du monde<br />
et à la Coupe du monde de hockey depuis<br />
l’an 2000, au même titre que l’atteinte des<br />
finales de la coupe Stanley en 2004, en<br />
2006 et en 2007 par Calgary, Edmonton<br />
et Ottawa respectivement, ont généré<br />
un engouement et une fierté du sport<br />
national partout au Canada 7 . Le hockey<br />
serait au cœur de l’« identité nationale »<br />
canadienne.<br />
Selon un sondage national mené en mars<br />
1999 par Decima Research, soixantedouze<br />
pour cent des Canadiens étaient<br />
d’avis que le hockey contribue à leur<br />
identité comme nation et les définit<br />
comme Canadiens. De même, dans une<br />
enquête nationale du magazine MacLean<br />
leur demandant quelles sont les « choses<br />
qui [les] lient ensemble », le hockey<br />
arrivait au deuxième rang, précédé seulement<br />
par le système national de soins<br />
de santé. Alors que le blogue le plus<br />
important sur le hockey au pays porte<br />
le titre évocateur de Hockeynation, le<br />
réseau CBC a capté toute l’importance<br />
du hockey dans la société canadienne<br />
en créant le concours Hockeyville. Ce<br />
concours, notable par l’engagement et<br />
l’esprit communautaires qu’il génère,<br />
consiste en l’élection de la meilleure<br />
ville de hockey au pays. Les collectivités<br />
4 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
Tableau 2<br />
La hockeyisation de la ville<br />
PHÉNOMÈNE URBAIN<br />
PHÉNOMÈNE SOCIAL<br />
IDENTITÉ URBAINE<br />
HOCKEY<br />
La HOCKEYISATION<br />
VILLE<br />
ESPACE PUBLIC<br />
ARÉNA<br />
RUE<br />
PLACE<br />
ILL. 2. Publicité d’Air Canada, Magazine Les Canadiens,<br />
2002, vol. 17, no 6, p. 45.<br />
à travers le Canada rivalisent entre elles<br />
afin de démontrer leur passion pour le<br />
hockey. Lors de l’année inaugurale en<br />
2006, quatre cent cinquante municipalités<br />
ont participé au concours 8 , prouvant<br />
de facto tout l’intérêt pour le hockey à<br />
l’extérieur des grands centres urbains<br />
et confirmant son inscription dans la<br />
société canadienne. Chaque année, la<br />
ville gagnante reçoit cent mille dollars<br />
pour la rénovation de ses installations<br />
sportives, en plus d’accueillir un match<br />
avant-saison de la LNH. Roberval a profité<br />
de sa victoire à Hockeyville en 2008<br />
pour remettre à neuf son aréna et réaménager<br />
son Village sur glace, qui représente<br />
désormais l’une des principales<br />
attractions hivernales de la ville.<br />
Le hockey : un phénomène urbain<br />
L’histoire nous rappelle que le hockey est<br />
avant tout un phénomène urbain. À Montréal,<br />
les différents arénas utilisés par les<br />
équipes professionnelles, répartis d’est en<br />
ouest dans la ville, démontrent l’emprise<br />
urbaine du hockey. De la première patinoire<br />
aménagée en 1862 et couverte en<br />
1875, située au sud de la rue Sainte-Catherine<br />
entre les rues Drummond et Stanley<br />
(Victoria Skating Rink), jusqu’au Centre<br />
Bell situé sur la rue de la Gauchetière<br />
entre les rues de la Montagne et Stanley,<br />
la localisation aura toujours joué un rôle<br />
majeur dans leur implantation 9 .<br />
L’Association des athlètes amateurs<br />
(AAA), le National, le Montagnard, les<br />
Victorias, les Shamrocks, les Wanderers,<br />
les Maroons puis les Canadiens étaient<br />
des équipes de hockey montréalaises et<br />
leur rayonnement ne dépassait pas les<br />
limites de la ville. Jusqu’au début des<br />
années 1940, le hockey des Canadiens<br />
demeure un phénomène essentiellement<br />
urbain. « Il faut toutefois rappeler qu’à<br />
cette époque, même si on joue au hockey<br />
jusque dans les coins les plus reculés du<br />
Québec rural, le phénomène du hockey<br />
professionnel de la LNH est principalement<br />
urbain, pour ne pas dire métropolitain<br />
et plus précisément montréalais 10 . »<br />
C’est avec la disparition graduelle de<br />
ces équipes au début du vingtième<br />
siècle, mais surtout celle des Maroons<br />
en 1938, que les Canadiens, désormais<br />
seule équipe montréalaise, deviendront<br />
un phénomène provincial : « Dès lors,<br />
le Canadien amorce un nouveau virage<br />
dans son existence. Autrefois équipe des<br />
Canadiens français, il sera dorénavant<br />
l’équipe de l’ensemble des Montréalais,<br />
puis celle de tout le Québec 11 . » (ill. 2)<br />
La hockeyisation de la ville<br />
au Canada : l’ancrage du<br />
hockey dans l’espace urbain<br />
d’un océan à l’autre<br />
Autrefois limités à l’enceinte de l’aréna,<br />
le hockey et ses rituels ont graduellement<br />
pénétré l’espace urbain par des mécanismes<br />
incitatifs de différents acteurs de la<br />
sphère du hockey (tableau 2). Les villes<br />
de l’Ouest canadien sont les premières à<br />
avoir amorcé officieusement cette hockeyisation<br />
de la ville. Ce phénomène, qui<br />
n’était qu’anecdotique il y a quelques<br />
années encore, est depuis devenu un<br />
outil de promotion et d’identification<br />
et un véritable enjeu d’aménagement. Il<br />
y a un partage d’appropriations : le hockey<br />
s’est dans un premier temps appuyé<br />
sur la ville et la ville s’appuie maintenant<br />
sur le hockey. Observons comment le<br />
hockey s’est progressivement introduit<br />
dans la ville 12 .<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong> 5
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
The Red Mile de Calgary : le hockey<br />
comme promoteur urbain ?<br />
Le hockey dans l’Ouest canadien a conquis<br />
l’espace urbain en 1985 et tout porte à<br />
croire que le processus de hockeyisation<br />
de la ville est un phénomène en croissance<br />
(ill. 3-8). À l’occasion de la série opposant<br />
son équipe aux Jets de Winnipeg, l’organisation<br />
des Flames de Calgary invita<br />
ses partisans à se vêtir du maillot rouge<br />
ILL. 3. Sea of Red à l’intérieur du Pengrowth<br />
Saddledome de Calgary. | Chad Persley, Calgary Flames<br />
Ltd. Partnership, 2004.<br />
de l’équipe décoré de son logo (le « C »)<br />
comme marque d’encouragement. C’est<br />
alors que s’amorça le « C » / Sea of Red,<br />
aujourd’hui une composante majeure de<br />
l’identité urbaine de Calgary. Après les<br />
parties des Flames, les partisans, dont le<br />
nombre atteignait régulièrement cent<br />
mille personnes, envahissaient la 11 th Avenue<br />
SW, connue alors comme l’« Electric<br />
Avenue ». Ce phénomène de la marée<br />
rouge se transporta sur la 17 th Avenue SW<br />
ILL. 6. Rassemblement partisan sur l’Olympic Plaza de<br />
Calgary. | Chad Persley, Calgary Flames Ltd. Partnership, 2004.<br />
lors de la quête de la coupe Stanley en<br />
2004. Désormais surnommée le « Mille<br />
rouge » 13 , l’avenue est aujourd’hui indissociable<br />
de l’image du hockey à Calgary<br />
et est un symbole de la ville 14 . Les images<br />
de cet espace public hockeyisé ont été<br />
diffusées à l’échelle mondiale dans les<br />
divers médias.<br />
L’appropriation de cette voie publique au<br />
centre de la ville a eu un impact important<br />
sur le renouvellement identitaire<br />
de l’espace urbain de Calgary. La hockeyisation<br />
de la 17 th Avenue a en effet<br />
amorcé un processus de patrimonialisation<br />
de cette artère centrale, au point où<br />
The Red Mile TM est depuis cinq ans une<br />
marque déposée. À l’image du boulevard<br />
Saint-Laurent à Montréal, désigné lieu<br />
historique national par le gouvernement<br />
du Canada, la 17 th Avenue est désormais<br />
une entité connue puisant son image<br />
de marque principalement dans l’intangible.<br />
Aujourd’hui, elle est devenue un<br />
monument de l’identité de Calgary et une<br />
attraction de l’industrie touristique. La<br />
société The Red Mile TM fait la promotion<br />
de l’avenue :<br />
You’ve heard about it on TV, you’ve read<br />
about it in the papers, and you’ve seen it on<br />
the internet. NOW, come and visit it <strong>15</strong> !<br />
ILL. 4. Sea of Red à l’intérieur du Pengrowth<br />
Saddledome de Calgary, 2004. | [www.theredmile.ca].<br />
ILL. 7. Sea of Red à l’extérieur sur la 17 th Avenue de<br />
Calgary, 2004. | [www.webshots.com].<br />
With hundreds of local area merchants,<br />
our world famous Calgary hospitality, and a<br />
unique mix of historic and modern buildings,<br />
The Red Mile TM is a must-see shopping and<br />
tourism destination! […] the area continues<br />
to remain vibrant as a tourism and shopping<br />
destination so come see what else the mile<br />
has to offer 16 .<br />
ILL. 5. Le maire de Calgary, Dave Bronconier, et l’enseigne<br />
de rue du Red Mile, 2004. | [www.theredmile.ca].<br />
ILL. 8. Sea of Red à l’extérieur sur la 17 th Avenue de<br />
Calgary, 2004. | [www.webshots.com].<br />
Dans les orientations urbaines de The Red<br />
Mile TM , la société propose l’installation de<br />
webcaméras dans le but de diffuser en<br />
direct en tout temps le bouillonnement<br />
de la 17 th Avenue et d’en faire un lieu<br />
de convergence des fans de hockey afin<br />
6 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
d’encourager et de célébrer leur équipe<br />
sportive. Si elle s’appuie sur la hockeyisation<br />
pour poursuivre le sens attribué à<br />
cette avenue, elle veut également en tirer<br />
profit pour attirer l’Autre et les autres,<br />
ceux qui ne sont pas des adeptes de hockey<br />
: « For those who have visited the<br />
mile, you know that we aren’t just about<br />
hockey; we are THE place to see and been<br />
seen. » The Red Mile TM se consacre à la<br />
promotion du quartier des affaires de la<br />
17 th Avenue.<br />
Dans la foulée de la vaste enquête (2005-<br />
2006) intitulée « Imagine Calgary », visant<br />
à savoir « What makes Calgary a good<br />
place to live and what could make it better<br />
in the future », le quotidien Calgary<br />
Herald se demandait si « the Red Mile [has]<br />
any relevance to urban design issues » 17 .<br />
La réponse est certes oui, surtout lorsqu’il<br />
est question de considérations d’assemblées<br />
publiques, de citoyenneté, de civilité,<br />
de célébration, de responsabilité, de<br />
spontanéité et d’ambiance.<br />
Mile, écrivait le quotidien 20 . Les journaux<br />
ont largement valorisé l’appellation Red<br />
Mile depuis quatre ans, au point où l’appellation<br />
a été mentionnée des centaines<br />
de fois. En 2008, on a installé une<br />
immense sculpture de la coupe Stanley au<br />
centre-ville.<br />
Le Winnipeg White Out : le blizzard<br />
manitobain<br />
En réaction au « C » of Red, l’organisation<br />
des Jets de Winnipeg de l’époque avait<br />
répliqué en créant le Winnipeg White Out<br />
et en appelant la population à ne porter<br />
que des vêtements blancs lors des matchs<br />
à domicile (ill. 9-10). L’effet était saisissant<br />
: « Winnipeg White-Out, literally a<br />
sea of <strong>15</strong>,000 fans draped often in white<br />
sheets, white towels and white body<br />
paint, and always, in unrelenting pride.<br />
If nothing more, the franchise attracted<br />
hockey fans with co-ordination unmatched<br />
by any other NHL city 21 . » Ce geste<br />
signifiait l’appui et la solidarité par rapport<br />
à l’équipe. La renommée des hivers<br />
blancs à Winnipeg joua certes un rôle<br />
dans le choix de la couleur. Cette tradition<br />
amorcée en avril 1985 dépassa largement<br />
les limites du Winnipeg Arena :<br />
The tradition evolved and fans were no longer<br />
simply wearing white at home games. When<br />
the team was on the road, fans gathered<br />
at various establishments, all wearing white<br />
[…] It had struck a chord with the city and<br />
camaraderie amongst all fans and the team<br />
had been built 22 .<br />
Pendant les séries éliminatoires, le cœur<br />
de Winnipeg devenait le réceptacle de<br />
cette foule blanche qui se réunissait à<br />
l’angle de Portage Avenue et Main Street.<br />
Cette tradition prit fin au moment du<br />
déménagement de l’équipe à Phoenix.<br />
Lors de la finale de la coupe Stanley en<br />
2004, Tampa Bay créa une pâle copie du<br />
Winnipeg White Out qui ne dura qu’une<br />
seule saison 23 . Finalement, en 2008, les<br />
Penguins de Pittsburgh, qui jouent au<br />
Le conseil administratif de la Ville de<br />
Calgary a d’ailleurs tenté de développer<br />
une stratégie visant « [to strike] a<br />
balance between residential livability,<br />
public safety and the impact of bars along<br />
streets such as 17 th Avenue and 1 st Street<br />
S.W. » 18 . En 2005, la conseillère Madeleine<br />
King a même créé « The 17 th Avenue Urban<br />
Design » en rassemblant des architectes et<br />
des paysagistes. Après des consultations<br />
populaires, un aménagement du Red<br />
Mile caractérisé par « a tree-lined boulevard<br />
with street cafes and low-rise buildings<br />
that combine condominiums and<br />
retail shops, bordering a series of urban<br />
parks » 19 fut proposé.<br />
ILL. 9. White-Out à l’intérieur du Winnipeg<br />
Arena. | Ken Giglioti, The Winnipeg Free Press.<br />
ILL. 11. Célébrations partisanes sur le Blue Mile, la<br />
Whyte Avenue à Edmonton. | Lyndon Gotmorewhiskey,<br />
[Bluemile.ca], 2006.<br />
Lors des célébrations entourant le centenaire<br />
de l’Alberta, le Calgary Herald<br />
présenta cent de ses pages couvertures<br />
historiques. L’année 2004 est celle où Calgary<br />
est devenue célèbre pour son Red<br />
ILL. 10. White-Out à l’intérieur du Winnipeg<br />
Arena. | Ken Giglioti, The Winnipeg Free Press.<br />
ILL. 12. Célébrations partisanes à Edmonton. |<br />
Andy Devlin et Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club, 2006.<br />
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Mellon Arena, communément surnommé<br />
« l’igloo » en raison de sa forme et de sa<br />
couleur, ont redonné vie à cette tradition<br />
winnipegoise le 25 avril 2008, le temps<br />
d’un match les opposant aux Rangers de<br />
New York 24 . Ces trois exemples éphémères<br />
sont des événements qui ont animé l’espace<br />
urbain sans en affecter la forme ou<br />
la dénomination. Ils représentent le stade<br />
primitif de la hockeyisation.<br />
The Blue Mile d’Edmonton : de l’espace<br />
virtuel à l’espace public<br />
ILL. 13. Lieu de rassemblement et drapeau à l’effigie<br />
des Sénateurs sur la façade de l’hôtel de ville<br />
à Ottawa. | Jonathan Cha, 2007.<br />
ILL. 14. Enseigne de rue Sens Mile<br />
à Ottawa.| Jonathan Cha, 2007.<br />
Les Oilers d’Edmonton, dans leur course<br />
pour la coupe Stanley en 2006, amorcèrent<br />
un mouvement similaire à celui de<br />
Calgary et de Winnipeg en promouvant<br />
le port de gilets bleus lors des matchs<br />
à domicile (ill. 11-12). Les médias d’Edmonton<br />
surnommèrent la Whyte Avenue<br />
« The Blue Mile », afin de témoigner<br />
des rassemblements de partisans et de<br />
l’appropriation d’une artère symboliquement<br />
rattachée aux Oilers d’Edmonton<br />
: « Thousands of fans marched up<br />
and down the so-called ‘Blue Mile’ 25 . »<br />
« Whyte Avenue is to become Edmonton’s<br />
Blue Mile version of Calgary’s Red<br />
Mile 26 . » Cette avenue est rapidement<br />
devenue un lieu de rassemblement privilégié<br />
dans la ville 27 . Plus qu’un site de<br />
célébration du hockey, le Blue Mile est<br />
désormais un lieu de festivités aux rituels<br />
très particuliers ayant pour scène l’espace<br />
public au cœur d’Edmonton 28 . L’effort<br />
médiatique et le recours au Web 29 auront<br />
contribué à cette nouvelle appropriation<br />
de la Whyte Avenue d’Edmonton 30 .<br />
Le Sens Mile d’Ottawa : l’effet domino<br />
et la magie de Facebook<br />
Le hockey gagna également la rue dans<br />
la capitale nationale par la présence des<br />
Sénateurs d’Ottawa en finale de la coupe<br />
Stanley en 2007 (ill. 13-14). Critiquant le<br />
manque d’enthousiasme et de manifestations<br />
populaires dans la ville, Shane Currey,<br />
un Ottavien de dix-neuf ans, lança sur<br />
le site Facebook un appel à prendre la rue.<br />
Un fan y affirmait : « Calgary did it in the<br />
streets. Edmonton did it in the streets. We<br />
want the nation to know we support our<br />
team 31 . » Selon lui, Ottawa devait naturellement<br />
prendre cette voie. Le groupe<br />
Facebook « I Am an Ottawa Senators<br />
Fan », qui comptait à ce moment plus de<br />
quinze mille membres, fut une rampe de<br />
lancement inouïe pour la création d’un<br />
Sens Mile. Celui-ci est donc né virtuellement<br />
le <strong>15</strong> mai 2007 grâce à l’initiative<br />
d’une personne de rassembler la population<br />
sur Elgin Street, à l’angle de McLaren<br />
Street. Le 16 mai, l’information était<br />
reprise dans les quotidiens d’Ottawa et de<br />
Montréal et le processus de hockeyisation<br />
s’entamait 32 . Deux jours plus tard, le sujet<br />
gagna la mairie d’Ottawa. The Ottawa<br />
Citizen rapportait que le maire Larry<br />
O’Brien « might give the OK for a section<br />
of Elgin Street to be designated the ‘Sens<br />
Mile’ if the team were to advance to the<br />
Stanley Cup final » 33 . La première grande<br />
appropriation de la rue eut lieu le 19 mai<br />
lorsque Ottawa élimina Buffalo : « Sens<br />
Mile—an Elgin Street fan zone similar to<br />
Calgary’s Red Mile and Edmonton’s Whyte<br />
Avenue—was baptized yesterday 34 . » Le<br />
28 mai, premier jour de la finale, la Ville<br />
s’affairait à poser de nouvelles enseignes<br />
de rue portant le nom Sens Mile sur Elgin<br />
Street. En l’espace d’une semaine, le Sens<br />
Mile était né et bien ancré dans la ville et<br />
dans la conscience collective 35 .<br />
Montréal et la vague<br />
bleu-blanc-rouge<br />
Un nouveau rituel est né en 2008 à Montréal<br />
: le port du fanion sur les véhicules<br />
(ill. <strong>15</strong>). Déjà bien ancrée à Toronto, cette<br />
coutume se propagea comme une traînée<br />
de poudre durant les séries éliminatoires ;<br />
cinq mille petits drapeaux étaient ainsi<br />
vendus chaque jour pour un total de près<br />
de deux cent mille. La région métropolitaine<br />
se trouvait décorée de ce symbole<br />
ambulant. À Montréal, la hockeyisation<br />
ne se concentra pas en un seul lieu. Elle<br />
se répandit à tout le centre-ville. Les rues<br />
Crescent, de la Montagne, Drummond et<br />
Sainte-Catherine affichaient leurs couleurs,<br />
bleu-blanc-rouge, dans les vitrines<br />
de boutiques de vêtements, les terrasses<br />
de restaurants, les halls d’entrée et les<br />
façades d’édifices, sur les lampadaires<br />
et même sur les portes des casernes de<br />
pompiers (ill. 16-22). Une vague tricolore<br />
déferlait sur le centre-ville les jours<br />
de match et se déversait sur la rue de<br />
Lagauchetière, la rue Sainte-Catherine et<br />
le boulevard René-Lévesque lors de victoires.<br />
Au square Victoria, Guillaume Pharand<br />
et Jean-Luc Lavallée, deux partisans<br />
au talent de couturier, confectionnèrent<br />
8 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
ILL. <strong>15</strong>. Fanion des Canadiens de Montréal sur une<br />
voiture. | Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
ILL. 22. Page couverture du magazine Les Canadiens,<br />
2002, vol. 16, no 1.<br />
ILL. 16. Drapeaux des Canadiens de Montréal sur<br />
un restaurant-terrasse de la rue de la<br />
Montagne. | Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
ILL. 19. Décoration aux couleurs des Canadiens de<br />
Montréal sur des lampadaires de la rue<br />
Crescent. | Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
un énorme chandail rouge des Canadiens<br />
et en revêtirent la statue de l’artiste Ju<br />
Ming. Intitulée Taichi Single Whip, la<br />
statue est devenue, le temps des séries<br />
éliminatoires, un symbole du hockey, en<br />
évoquant le flegme du gardien de but des<br />
Canadiens.<br />
Hockeytown, la défense du<br />
titre de capitale du hockey<br />
Les attributs d’une « ville de hockey »<br />
ILL. 17. Façade du centre Eaton aux couleurs des<br />
Canadiens de Montréal. | Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
ILL. 18. Façade de la place Montréal Trust aux couleurs<br />
des Canadiens de Montréal. | Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
ILL. 20. Façade peinte aux couleurs des Canadiens<br />
de Montréal de la caserne de pompiers n o 25<br />
de la rue Drummond. | Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
ILL. 21. Statue « Taichi Single Whip » hockeyisée en<br />
gardien de but aux couleurs des Canadiens<br />
de Montréal. | Robert Mailloux, La Presse, 29 avril 2008.<br />
La question de ce que serait une « ville de<br />
hockey » est débattue depuis des années<br />
sans qu’un réel consensus existe. Le journaliste<br />
Terry Frei tentait en 2006 de définir<br />
les attributs d’une « ville de hockey » 36 .<br />
Pour lui, il s’agit principalement de l’engouement<br />
par la population dans la pratique<br />
du sport (exprimé par la présence<br />
de nombreuses patinoires dans la ville),<br />
dans la connaissance et dans la diffusion<br />
d’informations concernant le hockey 37 .<br />
Mais les véritables « villes de hockey »<br />
doivent susciter un intérêt généralisé dans<br />
la population et cela se mesure principalement<br />
par l’assistance aux matchs et par la<br />
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Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
fidélité des partisans. Le hockey doit être<br />
au cœur des préoccupations de la ville et<br />
celle-ci, les séries éliminatoires venues,<br />
doit se transformer, se hockeyiser aux couleurs<br />
de l’équipe et laisser place à une succession<br />
de rituels citoyens connue comme<br />
« la fièvre des séries ». À ces attributs,<br />
nous proposons d’en ajouter trois autres.<br />
Dans une perspective historique, les équipes<br />
doivent avoir une histoire parsemée<br />
de périodes victorieuses ; l’engouement<br />
et l’intérêt pour le hockey ne doivent pas<br />
être un phénomène éphémère, mais doivent<br />
perdurer d’année en année ; et à la<br />
lecture du processus de hockeyisation de<br />
la ville, une rue ou une place publique<br />
doit être aménagée ou désignée pour<br />
recevoir les manifestations diverses associées<br />
au hockey.<br />
Hockeytown, New York<br />
Alors que l’espace urbain se transforme<br />
aux couleurs des Flames à Calgary et<br />
des Oilers à Edmonton, Montréal désire<br />
également s’affirmer comme « LA ville<br />
du hockey » et ainsi être en compétition<br />
avec les villes s’étant approprié ce label<br />
ou aspirant à le détenir. Par exemple, le<br />
Minnesota, dont l’équipe du Wild évolue<br />
à Saint-Paul, se proclame le State of Hockey<br />
38 , pendant que The New York Times<br />
élève la ville de Buffalo au titre de « ville<br />
de hockey » en proposant qu’elle soit<br />
« another hockeytown » 39 . Le ESPN The<br />
Magazine qualifie quant à lui les Sabres<br />
de Buffalo de « ultimate sports franchise,<br />
ahead of even the Red Wings—standardbearers<br />
for hockey success in the United<br />
States » 40 .<br />
in the Plaza » (rassemblement et visionnement<br />
des matchs) sur la HSBC Plaza<br />
(à l’angle des rues Perry et Illinois) aux<br />
couleurs jaune et bleu semble s’inspirer<br />
du modèle canadien. Cet événement<br />
ressemble cependant plus aux fêtes<br />
d’avant-match (tailgate parties) typiques<br />
au football américain, qui se déroulent<br />
sur le stationnement d’un stade, qu’à une<br />
appropriation d’une portion de la ville,<br />
telle que celle de la 17 th ou de la Whyte<br />
Avenue.<br />
Hockeytown, Michigan<br />
Actuellement, une seule ville en Amérique<br />
du <strong>No</strong>rd porte l’appellation de « ville<br />
de hockey », soit Détroit (ill. 23). Les Red<br />
Wings de Détroit forment la meilleure<br />
équipe de tous les temps aux États-Unis<br />
en ayant remporté à onze reprises la<br />
coupe Stanley. En 1996, Détroit enregistra<br />
Hockeytown, comme surnom donné<br />
au Joe Louis Arena et à la franchise 42 .<br />
Détroit est ainsi reconnue comme « LA<br />
ville du hockey » : « There are a lot of<br />
things Detroit is known for… but The<br />
trademark of Hockeytown USA was<br />
registered in ’96. Detroit is Hockeytown<br />
USA—home of the Detroit Red Wings—<br />
winners of 10 Stanley Cups 43 . » Le vouloir<br />
de dénomination de « Hockeytown » peut<br />
s’expliquer par l’atteinte des demi-finales<br />
en 1987 et l’arrivée d’excellents joueurs<br />
(Russian Five) au début des années 1990<br />
qui relancèrent le club.<br />
Cependant, malgré toute l’importance de<br />
Détroit comme ville ambassadrice du hockey<br />
aux États-Unis, cette nomination de<br />
hockeytown peut en surprendre plus d’un.<br />
Détroit est reconnue comme une ville de<br />
sports et la ville de l’automobile. Si l’appellation<br />
Motown lui est toute désignée, les<br />
critiques fusent de toutes parts quant à sa<br />
prétention d’être LA hockeytown. Autant<br />
les joueurs que les médias nord-américains<br />
remettent en question cette « autoproclamation<br />
». De plus, depuis quelques années,<br />
des centaines de billets n’arrivent pas à<br />
trouver preneur lors des séries éliminatoires.<br />
Le célèbre journaliste de The Gazette,<br />
Red Fischer, écrivait à ce sujet : « We’re not<br />
talking New Jersey here, where empty<br />
seats have become a rule, rather than an<br />
exception. We’re talking about Hockeytown,<br />
U.S.A. The Detroit Red Wings, for<br />
heaven’s sakes 44 ! » Les titres dans les journaux<br />
sont évocateurs à cet égard : « Cup<br />
Generates Very Little Buzz 45 », « Bye, Bye<br />
Hockeytown? 46 », « A Central U.S. City That<br />
Has the Unself-conscious Temerity To Label<br />
Itself Hockeytown 47 ». Comme le souligne<br />
Larry Wigge du Sporting News, « Where<br />
is Hockeytown? Detroit isn’t the only city<br />
that makes a strong claim to being the cen-<br />
Le quotidien Buffalo News confirme la<br />
« propagation d’une fièvre des séries »<br />
en n’hésitant pas non plus à qualifier<br />
Buffalo de vraie hockeytown 41 . L’emprise<br />
urbaine du hockey à Buffalo ne peut se<br />
comparer avec celle des villes de l’Ouest<br />
canadien, mais l’organisation de « Party<br />
ILL. 23. Logo Hockeytown, Détroit. | Detroit Red Wings.<br />
10 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
ter of the ice universe—NHL 48 . » Le hockey<br />
est aujourd’hui une marque de commerce<br />
qui apporte de la notoriété. Les villes et<br />
les partisans de hockey cherchent à se<br />
démarquer et à se créer des rituels et des<br />
appellations reconnus dans la ville afin de<br />
marquer leur identité urbaine.<br />
Hockeytown (province de Québec) :<br />
Montréal, « LA ville de hockey »<br />
En mars 1996, le musée McCord inaugurait<br />
officiellement son exposition Montréal,<br />
tout est hockey, racontant l’histoire<br />
de ce sport hivernal qui comptait cette<br />
année-là cent vingt ans d’histoire. Dans<br />
un sondage populaire réalisé par la chaîne<br />
TSN cherchant à savoir « Which is Hockeytown<br />
of Canada? », Montréal se classa en<br />
tête de peloton. Dans un autre sondage<br />
réalisé cette fois auprès des joueurs des<br />
trente équipes de la ligue pour le magazine<br />
Sports Illustrated, les Montréalais ont<br />
été déclarés, avec une confortable avance,<br />
« les meilleurs fans de la LNH » (tableau 3)<br />
(ill. 24). Ce sondage confirme également<br />
la ferveur partisane des équipes canadiennes,<br />
particulièrement dans l’ouest<br />
du pays : cinq des six premiers rangs sont<br />
occupés par des équipes canadiennes.<br />
Tableau 3<br />
Quelle équipe de la LNH possède les<br />
meilleurs fans ?<br />
1 Canadiens de Montréal 35 %<br />
2 Wild du Minnesota 13 %<br />
3 Flames de Calgary 11 %<br />
4 Canucks de Vancouver 6 %<br />
5 Oilers d’Edmonton 6 %<br />
6 Maple Leafs de Toronto 5 %<br />
7 Sharks de San Jose 5 %<br />
8 Rangers de New York 4 %<br />
9 Flyers de Philadelphie 4 %<br />
10 Red Wings de Détroit 4 %<br />
Source : Sports Illustrated, mars 2008.<br />
Pour l’ancien joueur des Canadiens Guy<br />
Lafleur, « Montréal est l’une des villes de<br />
hockey les plus remarquables du monde.<br />
ILL. 24. Page couverture « Complètement fans ! ». |<br />
La Presse, 7 mars 2008.<br />
ILL. 25. Le Cours Windsor, une nouvelle place publique<br />
aménagée parallèlement à l’édification<br />
du Centre Bell par Élaine Beauregard, architecte<br />
paysagiste au sein de la firme Arbour,<br />
Berthiaume et Beauregard. | Lepore, Gino (dir.)<br />
(1996), Le magazine Centre Molson : Match inaugural, Édition<br />
spéciale, p. 42.<br />
Peut-être la plus exceptionnelle, en réalité.<br />
Les partisans encouragent leur équipe<br />
comme nulle part ailleurs et ils aident à<br />
mousser la réputation de la ville partout<br />
en Amérique du <strong>No</strong>rd 49 . » Montréal serait<br />
la ville qui répond le plus aux attributs<br />
pouvant mener à la désignation de « ville<br />
de hockey ». C’est à Montréal que ce sport<br />
a été inventé dans la seconde moitié du<br />
dix-neuvième siècle et où « la première<br />
véritable partie de hockey aurait eu lieu<br />
le 3 mars 1875 au Victoria Skating Rink de<br />
Montréal » 50 . C’est également à Montréal,<br />
à l’hôtel Windsor, qu’est née la Ligue<br />
nationale de Hockey le 26 novembre 1917.<br />
Le Club de hockey Canadien est l’équipe<br />
qui a remporté le plus de championnats<br />
et de coupes Stanley (24). Elle est « la plus<br />
grande équipe que l’histoire du hockey<br />
ait connue 51 », elle est « la capitale mondiale<br />
de hockey, […] la plus grande dynastie<br />
52 ». Montréal compte sur le plus grand<br />
amphithéâtre de toute la LNH. Au cours<br />
des quatre dernières années de hockey,<br />
près de deux cents parties ont été disputées<br />
à guichet fermé. Les succès récents<br />
et projetés de l’équipe rappellent son<br />
passé glorieux et permettent à Montréal,<br />
la Mecque du hockey professionnel 53 , de<br />
s’approprier pleinement l’image de marque<br />
de « ville de hockey ».<br />
Le hockey a besoin d’une rue ou d’une<br />
place pour se « manifester », un espace<br />
urbain propre destiné à être hockeyisé.<br />
À Montréal, la rue Sainte-Catherine,<br />
de l’époque de l’aréna Westmount, de<br />
l’aréna de Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, du<br />
Forum ou maintenant du Centre Bell, est<br />
toujours demeurée l’artère principale<br />
des manifestations spontanées. Lors du<br />
déménagement du Forum, le Club de hockey<br />
Canadien a créé une nouvelle place<br />
semi-publique, le Cours Windsor, prête à<br />
accueillir des milliers de partisans, et proposé<br />
une structure architecturale pouvant<br />
servir d’écran géant pour la diffusion des<br />
matchs à l’extérieur (ill. 25). C’est toutefois<br />
et principalement l’étroite et peu<br />
passante rue de Lagauchetière, agissant<br />
comme parvis au Centre Bell, qui est le<br />
théâtre des rassemblements partisans<br />
après les victoires des Canadiens. Le chroniqueur<br />
Bertrand Raymond du Journal de<br />
Montréal suggérait même de modifier le<br />
nom de cette rue en « place Maurice-Richard<br />
» 54 . En octobre 2008, une nouvelle<br />
place semi-publique attenante au Centre<br />
Bell fut inaugurée, la place du Centenaire<br />
(ill. 26). Commémorant les cent ans de<br />
l’histoire du Club de hockey Canadien, elle<br />
comprend quatre monuments à la gloire<br />
d’anciens joueurs, quinze stèles commémorant<br />
les joueurs dont le chandail fut<br />
retiré et cent plaques au sol rappelant les<br />
plus grands moments de l’histoire du club.<br />
Le logo des Canadiens est omniprésent<br />
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ILL. 28. Piget, André (1996), Piget, Les grandes finales,<br />
Laval, Éditions Mille-Îles, p. 7.<br />
En 1993, à l’occasion des séries éliminatoires,<br />
le quotidien La Presse engage le<br />
caricaturiste André Piget pour représenter<br />
la quête de la coupe Stanley des<br />
Canadiens. Dès la première série opposant<br />
les Canadiens aux <strong>No</strong>rdiques, Piget<br />
évoque le symbole architectural dans le<br />
duel Montréal-Québec (ill. 28-29). Ainsi, le<br />
Stade olympique combat le château Frontenac,<br />
les deux édifices revêtant le chandail<br />
de leur équipe respective. Le stade<br />
olympique deviendra un thème récurrent<br />
de ses œuvres agissant comme symbole<br />
de Montréal. Dans sa série contre New<br />
York, les édifices phares de Manhattan<br />
se mesureront aux joueurs des Canadiens.<br />
Pour Piget, il est évident que le hockey<br />
est plus qu’un sport ; il est l’expression de<br />
sociétés urbaines rivalisant les unes avec<br />
les autres.<br />
ILL. 26. Brochure promotionnelle de la place<br />
du centenaire distribuée au Centre Bell. |<br />
Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
ILL. 27. Magazine Les Canadiens, vol. 8, no 1, 1993.<br />
ILL. 29. Piget, André (1996), Piget, Les grandes finales,<br />
Laval, Éditions Mille-Îles, p. 22.<br />
dans l’aménagement. Avant le projet,<br />
cette place était le lieu de célébrations<br />
d’avant-match des Canadiens, le Fan Jam.<br />
Des milliers de partisans arborant les couleurs<br />
bleu-blanc-rouge s’y rassemblent<br />
lors des séries éliminatoires dans une<br />
ambiance pour le moins survoltée.<br />
Hockey et ville :<br />
l’association du centre-ville<br />
de Montréal au Club de<br />
hockey Canadien<br />
Diverses associations ville/hockey<br />
Les débuts de la représentation de la ville<br />
dans la mise en marché du hockey à Montréal<br />
s’amorcent timidement à la fin des<br />
années 1980 dans la revue officielle du<br />
club de hockey montréalais intitulée Les<br />
Canadiens 55 . Plusieurs joueurs de l’équipe<br />
sont photographiés devant des édifices et<br />
des paysages urbains évocateurs 56 (ill. 27).<br />
Concernant la diffusion télévisuelle des<br />
matchs de hockey, il est d’usage, peu<br />
importe le réseau, de présenter des images<br />
du skyline du centre-ville de la ville<br />
hôtesse de la partie. Les présentations<br />
récentes des matchs de hockey des Canadiens<br />
du Réseau des sports (RDS) proposent<br />
un montage visuel où la rondelle<br />
traverse le centre-ville en se faufilant entre<br />
les gratte-ciel pour finalement pénétrer la<br />
ville par le toit du 1000, de la Gauchetière<br />
et rejoindre la glace du Centre Bell. Ces<br />
manifestations diverses renvoient des images<br />
symboliques et le centre-ville, par ses<br />
gratte-ciel, apparaît comme une marque<br />
urbaine distinctive liée au hockey. C’est<br />
ainsi que s’est orchestrée l’arrivée de la<br />
ville comme support des représentations<br />
du hockey à Montréal.<br />
Le déménagement du Forum et l’avènement<br />
du Centre Molson (1993-1996)<br />
Le processus d’association entre ville (centre-ville<br />
et architecture) et hockey est<br />
entré dans une phase décisive en 1993<br />
alors que s’amorçait la construction du<br />
12 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
Cherchant à se rapprocher des fans à la<br />
suite du lockout de la saison 2004-2005,<br />
le Club de hockey Canadien a voulu développer<br />
une relation plus directe avec ses<br />
partisans tout en élargissant son public<br />
cible. Le hockey allait surpasser l’image<br />
sportive et désormais être représenté<br />
comme une marque de l’identité monnouveau<br />
forum. La première pelletée de<br />
terre a eu lieu le 23 juin 1993 et l’inauguration<br />
du Centre Molson le 16 mars<br />
1996 57 . Il s’agit d’un projet majeur de revitalisation<br />
urbaine au cœur du centre-ville.<br />
Dès les premières esquisses, il importait<br />
d’« intégrer cette structure de loisirs à la<br />
trame urbaine » 58 .<br />
Au défi initial s’ajoute celui d’intégrer le<br />
nouveau temple des glorieux au centreville.<br />
C’est un pôle d’attraction autour duquel<br />
graviteront une foule d’activités, et d’autres<br />
éléments vont s’y greffer 59 .<br />
La revalorisation de l’un des plus prestigieux<br />
îlots du centre-ville comprenant une gare<br />
ferroviaire d’intérêt patrimonial. Outre la<br />
construction d’un nouvel amphithéâtre de<br />
21 500 sièges et la rénovation de la gare<br />
historique, le projet comprend le raccord à<br />
deux stations de métro, la création d’une<br />
place publique, « Le Cours Windsor », un<br />
terminus de trains de banlieue et un réseau<br />
sophistiqué de communication 60 .<br />
La centralité du site, le « centre du centre-ville<br />
» 61 , la facilité d’accès, la création<br />
d’un pôle d’attraction de la ville et le<br />
rôle dans le développement urbain sont<br />
les motifs, outre les besoins afférents au<br />
Club de hockey, qui ont orienté les choix<br />
conceptuels (ill. 30). La ville est donc plus<br />
que jamais associée au hockey. « Situé au<br />
cœur de la ville, à l’ouest du quadrilatère<br />
délimité par les rues de la Gauchetière,<br />
Saint-Antoine, Peel et de la Montagne, le<br />
nouveau forum sera rapidement accessible<br />
par l’autoroute Ville-Marie ou par les<br />
grandes artères urbaines 62 . Bref, « tous les<br />
chemins mènent au Centre Molson » 63 .<br />
Pour le président des Compagnies Molson,<br />
ce projet était considéré « comme<br />
la pierre angulaire de la revitalisation<br />
du centre-ville de Montréal, aux côtés<br />
d’édifices récemment complétés et de<br />
tours à bureaux qui se dresseront quand<br />
ILL. 30. Lepore, Gino (dir.) (1996), Le magazine Centre<br />
Molson : Match inaugural, Édition spéciale, p. 45.<br />
le complexe aura été parachevé » 64 . Dans<br />
ses documents publicitaires, la direction<br />
du Canadien allie tradition et modernité<br />
en parlant du nouveau temple du hockey.<br />
« Se dressant entre les tours modernes du<br />
centre-ville et l’historique gare Windsor,<br />
le nouveau forum s’imposera rapidement<br />
comme le point de mire de Montréal,<br />
comme le reflet de notre juste fierté. Ce<br />
chef-d’œuvre d’architecture urbaine […]<br />
avec sa conception dynamique et contemporaine<br />
[…] se marie à l’environnement et<br />
au milieu urbain 65 » (ill. 31).<br />
« La ville est hockey » :<br />
représentation<br />
architecturale de Montréal<br />
dans la mise en marché<br />
du hockey 66<br />
ILL. 31. Le magazine Centre Molson : Match inaugural,<br />
édition spéciale, 1996.<br />
tréalaise. La ville et l’urbain allaient devenir<br />
des outils de promotion du hockey et<br />
des éléments de référence connus participant<br />
à la relance du hockey (ill. 32). Après<br />
la campagne publicitaire du « Partisan<br />
heureux » en 2003-2004 et du « Tricolore<br />
jusqu’au bout » en 2005-2006, la direction<br />
marketing du Club de hockey Canadien<br />
cherchait un slogan à la fois simple<br />
et fort, tel « Quand c’est ok, c’est coke »<br />
de Coca-Cola, qui allierait deux facettes<br />
de Montréal, son cadre urbain et le hockey.<br />
Elle était convaincue que l’identité<br />
montréalaise allait de pair avec celle du<br />
hockey. Redonner une image gagnante et<br />
vibrante aux Canadiens allait se répercuter<br />
directement sur la ville. Considérant Montréal<br />
comme le seul marché francophone<br />
de la LNH et le hockey comme valeur de<br />
divertissement numéro un à Montréal et<br />
au Québec, il importait pour la direction<br />
marketing « de mettre de l’avant notre<br />
culture, notre patrimoine ». Les objectifs<br />
étaient de montrer que le hockey reprenait<br />
sa place dans la ville, de faire ressortir<br />
la passion pour le hockey et pour<br />
les joueurs et de donner une publicité<br />
de look trendy, jeune, dynamique, pour<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong> 13
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ILL. 32. Campagne publicitaire « La ville est hockey »,<br />
2006-2007. | Le Club de hockey Canadien, inc.<br />
ILL. 33. Panneau publicitaire « La ville<br />
est hockey ». | Jonathan Cha, 2008.<br />
ILL. 34. Campagne publicitaire « La ville est hockey »,<br />
2006-2007. | Le Club de hockey Canadien, inc.<br />
ILL. 34. Campagne publicitaire « La ville est hockey »,<br />
2006-2007. | Le Club de hockey Canadien, inc.<br />
sélectionnés par le directeur artistique<br />
de l’équipe marketing. L’objectif ultime<br />
de « La ville est hockey 68 » était d’affirmer<br />
que « Le hockey c’est nous, Montréal,<br />
c’est nous le Québec 69 ». La campagne fut<br />
un réel succès : « La ville est hockey » est<br />
devenue une expression largement répandue<br />
dans le langage commun, les logos<br />
des Canadiens, sous forme de maillots,<br />
d’affiches, de drapeaux ou de produits<br />
dérivés, se retrouvent partout dans la<br />
ville et à l’extérieur de la ville. De nombreux<br />
restaurants, boutiques, bâtiments<br />
et même casernes de pompiers s’affichent<br />
aux couleurs des Canadiens. En référence<br />
aux appellations Hockeytown, Red Mile,<br />
Blue Mile et Sens Mile, « La ville est hockey<br />
» s’inscrit dans la recherche d’un qualificatif<br />
qui serait propre à Montréal et<br />
participe à désigner le phénomène de<br />
hockeyisation en cours à Montréal.<br />
« convertir » les jeunes en fans du Tricolore.<br />
Les paroles de la publicité télévisuelle<br />
étaient les suivantes :<br />
Comme une onde de choc qui relie toute<br />
la ville<br />
Tous se préparent maintenant à vivre au<br />
même rythme<br />
L’équipe est fin prête<br />
Le 7 e joueur est partout<br />
La ville est hockey<br />
Ce message publicitaire évoquait une<br />
sensation se manifestant brusquement,<br />
la fièvre du hockey, se propageant à<br />
partir d’un point précis, le Centre Bell,<br />
et générant une vibration à l’échelle de<br />
la ville. Le hockey se présentait comme<br />
un fait rassembleur et unificateur de la<br />
ville et de sa population en élargissant<br />
les frontières urbaines. Cette publicité,<br />
largement diffusée, proposait des images<br />
fortes fusionnant ville et hockey 67 . La campagne<br />
publicitaire a été présentée avant<br />
chacun des matchs sur le tableau d’affichage<br />
électronique (écran géant) et projetée<br />
à même la surface glacée, en plus<br />
d’être diffusée en début de saison sur les<br />
réseaux de télévision RDS et TVA, sur les<br />
panneaux publicitaires de la compagnie<br />
Astral placés en bordure des rues et des<br />
autoroutes, sur les colonnes publicitaires<br />
au centre-ville, dans les quotidiens Le<br />
Journal de Montréal, The Gazette, Journal<br />
du Métro, de même que dans les restaurants<br />
La Cage aux Sports.<br />
Les orientations de la campagne étaient<br />
claires : peu importe le contexte, la fièvre<br />
du hockey devait gagner toute la ville.<br />
Ville et hockey allaient donc s’allier dans<br />
cette promotion métropolitaine (ill. 33).<br />
La publicité, graphiquement très expressive,<br />
proposait des images de joueurs sur<br />
fond de ville. Les joueurs en maillot rouge<br />
apportaient mouvement et dynamisme<br />
alors que les édifices en tons pâles se<br />
détachaient d’un ciel bleu. Cette campagne<br />
publicitaire visait à redonner du lustre<br />
à l’organisation du Canadien en se servant<br />
de symboles puissants, des édifices « marquants<br />
» de Montréal minutieusement<br />
Les représentations architecturales publicitaires<br />
de la ville (ill. 34-35) se divisent<br />
en trois catégories, les images de marque<br />
de la métropole, les gratte-ciel du centreville<br />
et le temple du hockey (tableau 4).<br />
Les images de marque<br />
Les images de marque se définissent par<br />
le marché Bonsecours (1847), la porte<br />
Roddick de l’Université McGill (1925), le<br />
pont Jacques-Cartier (1930), le pavillon<br />
central de l’Université de Montréal<br />
(1943) et l’ancien pavillon américain, la<br />
Biosphère (1967). Il s’agit de landmarks<br />
qui caractérisent la société montréalaise.<br />
Ils sont éloquents de la situation géographique<br />
et territoriale montréalaise, alors<br />
qu’ils se situent dans le Vieux-Montréal,<br />
au centre-ville, sur le fleuve Saint-Laurent,<br />
sur le mont Royal et sur l’île Sainte-Hélène<br />
respectivement. Ils sont des symboles<br />
localisés au centre de l’île de Montréal<br />
qui se démarquent par leur détachement<br />
dans le ciel ou leur isolement en raison<br />
de leur emplacement. Les édifices choisis<br />
14 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
Tableau 4<br />
Les représentations à Montréal de l’image « la ville est hockey »<br />
HOCKEY<br />
IMAGES DE MARQUE<br />
expriment la diversité architecturale de la<br />
ville en proposant notamment les styles<br />
néo-classique, Art déco et moderne. Le<br />
marché Bonsecours avec sa coupole, qui<br />
représente certes le caractère ancien de<br />
la métropole, n’en demeure pas moins<br />
l’« ancêtre des grands immeubles multifonctionnels<br />
montréalais » 70 . L’ancien<br />
pavillon des États-Unis affirme pour sa<br />
part le progrès et l’innovation techniques<br />
propres à l’Exposition universelle Terre des<br />
Hommes. À la manière de l’Expo 67, les<br />
images de marque de Montréal incarnent<br />
l’ouverture au monde, l’exportation des<br />
modèles, le savoir-faire québécois, le dialogue<br />
entre francophones et anglophones<br />
et même le lien avec la banlieue.<br />
Les gratte-ciel du centre-ville<br />
Les huit gratte-ciel apparaissent comme<br />
l’élément principal identifiant la ville, et<br />
ce, dans un périmètre très restreint. Les<br />
édifices représentés sont Place Ville-Marie<br />
(1962), la tour BNP Paribas (1981), la tour<br />
de la Banque Laurentienne (1984), la tour<br />
KPMG (Maison des Coopérants / Place de<br />
la Cathédrale) (1988), le <strong>15</strong>01, McGill College<br />
(1992), le 1000, de la Gauchetière<br />
(1992), le 1250, boulevard René-Lévesque<br />
REPRÉSENTATION DE L’IMAGE<br />
IDENTITÉ URBAINE<br />
LA VILLE<br />
EST HOCKEY<br />
ARCHITECTURE<br />
GRATTE-CIEL<br />
VILLE<br />
TEMPLE DU HOCKEY<br />
(IBM-Marathon) (1993) et la Cité du commerce<br />
électronique (2003). La hauteur est<br />
une composante majeure dans le choix<br />
des édifices puisque quatre des plus hauts<br />
gratte-ciel de la métropole s’y trouvent.<br />
Place Ville-Marie y figure à titre de plus<br />
haut point de la ville (dû à la topographie<br />
ascendante du centre-ville, du fleuve<br />
à la montagne), aux côtés des deux édifices<br />
avec l’élévation la plus importante,<br />
le 1000, de la Gauchetière (205 mètres)<br />
et le 1250, René-Lévesque (199 mètres)<br />
(ill. 36-37).<br />
La localisation des gratte-ciel sélectionnés<br />
pour la publicité suit deux axes principaux<br />
évoquant bien la trame urbaine montréalaise.<br />
L’axe est-ouest René-Lévesque–de<br />
la Gauchetière et l’axe nord-sud McGill<br />
College–University se partagent les objets<br />
architecturaux en comptant chacun quatre<br />
bâtiments. L’axe est-ouest exprime le<br />
contexte immédiat du Centre Bell, le cœur<br />
du hockey à Montréal. Quant au 1000, de<br />
la Gauchetière, sa position sur la même<br />
rue que le Centre Bell, sa patinoire intérieure<br />
et son altitude en font le bâtimentvedette<br />
associé au temple du hockey aux<br />
côtés du 1250, René-Lévesque, qui, en<br />
plus de son élégance romantique rappelant<br />
le Chrysler Building, ouvre sa plaza<br />
urbaine sur le Cours Windsor. Les parois<br />
vitrées des gratte-ciel encadrent le Centre<br />
Bell et lui confèrent une notoriété, tout<br />
en évoquant un sentiment de pouvoir et<br />
de puissance. L’axe nord-sud représente le<br />
cœur symbolique du centre-ville montréalais<br />
et sa voie institutionnelle de prestige.<br />
Place Ville-Marie est le « symbole de la<br />
ville moderne […] sa galerie marchande<br />
[…] a été le point de départ du réseau<br />
piétonnier souterrain de Montréal » 71 .<br />
Le <strong>15</strong>01, McGill College et la tour KPMG<br />
sont des édifices phares du centre-ville<br />
montréalais par leur forme insolite (couronnement<br />
en « pyramide » et en « tête<br />
de chat »), leur coloration, leur mise en<br />
lumière et leur position centrale. Les gratte-ciel<br />
évoquent donc les axes dominants<br />
de la grille viaire, la centralité, l’entrée<br />
dans la modernité de la ville, le pouvoir<br />
institutionnel et la quête des sommets.<br />
Fait encore plus important, la localisation<br />
des édifices génère deux pôles majeurs<br />
au centre-ville : le pôle central de la ville<br />
orienté autour de Place Ville-Marie et le<br />
pôle central du hockey orienté autour du<br />
Centre Bell.<br />
Le temple du hockey<br />
La troisième catégorie ne compte qu’un<br />
seul bâtiment, soit le nouveau forum,<br />
le Centre Bell (1996). Une telle présence<br />
vise sans conteste à asseoir la notoriété<br />
de l’édifice, treize ans après son déménagement<br />
du Forum. Les « fantômes »<br />
du Forum n’ont pas encore trouvé leur<br />
niche au Centre Bell et la population ne<br />
lui accorde pas une valeur symbolique. La<br />
publicisation de l’image du Centre Bell,<br />
la nouvelle Mecque du hockey se posant<br />
comme édifice incarnant ce sport et le<br />
Canadien, contribue à alimenter l’imaginaire<br />
à son égard. Le hockey traverse la<br />
ville, mais il se joue au Centre Bell. Avec<br />
le pont Jacques-Cartier, la Biosphère et<br />
Place Ville-Marie, le Centre Bell est le bâti-<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong> <strong>15</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
ILL. 36. Campagne publicitaire « La ville est hockey »,<br />
2006-2007. | Le Club de hockey Canadien, inc.<br />
ILL. 37. Campagne publicitaire « La ville est hockey »,<br />
2006-2007. | Le Club de hockey Canadien, inc.<br />
ment le plus représenté dans les publicités<br />
du Club de hockey Canadien. Le pont, le<br />
dôme géodésique et la tour cruciforme<br />
composent les symboles les plus puissants<br />
de l’identité urbaine montréalaise et<br />
affirment aux côtés des autres éléments<br />
composant la publicité, au même titre<br />
que le hockey, la centralité, le dynamisme<br />
urbain, la richesse de la culture et la fierté<br />
métropolitaine.<br />
La ville vit au rythme du hockey et l’image<br />
du hockey est désormais indissociable de<br />
celle de la ville (ill. 38). Si l’histoire caractérise<br />
le Club de hockey Canadien, c’est<br />
plutôt la modernité architecturale qui<br />
soutient la mission d’investir la ville. « La<br />
ville est hockey », tout en s’appuyant<br />
sur le cadre architectural du centre-ville<br />
montréalais et en situant le cadre urbain<br />
comme dominance de l’identité des Canadiens,<br />
poursuit une quête plus profonde,<br />
ILL. 38. Campagne publicitaire « La ville est hockey »,<br />
2006-2007. | Le Club de hockey Canadien, inc.<br />
ILL. 39. Le hockey à Montréal, symbole d’identité, de<br />
fierté et de patriotisme. | Source et montage<br />
Serge Chapleau, La Presse, 22 avril 2008.<br />
celle du prestige, de la réussite et de la<br />
performance (ill. 39). De Calgary à Montréal,<br />
le hockey a pénétré l’espace urbain<br />
et la sphère de l’aménagement. De l’appropriation<br />
d’une rue ou d’une place<br />
publique à sa dénomination distincte<br />
(Red Mile, Blue Mile, Sens Mile), la hockeyisation<br />
transforme la ville et associe<br />
le hockey à un espace défini. À Montréal,<br />
l’appellation « La ville est hockey » consacre<br />
la liaison entre la ville et le hockey et<br />
désigne la quête identitaire de singularisation<br />
urbaine.<br />
<strong>No</strong>tes<br />
1. La recherche menant à l’association hockey<br />
et ville a été réalisée entre 2004 et 2008. Des<br />
journaux canadiens et étatsuniens provenant<br />
d’une quinzaine de villes et de la documentation<br />
publicitaire de la direction marketing du<br />
Club de hockey Canadien constituent les principales<br />
sources documentaires. Se sont ajoutées<br />
des analyses de quelques sources Web,<br />
notamment les systèmes « wiki » (Web 2.0),<br />
les blogues et surtout les plateformes émergentes<br />
de partage comme Facebook, sachant<br />
qu’ils représentent le forum public majeur des<br />
amateurs de hockey en Amérique du <strong>No</strong>rd.<br />
2. Tire son origine du mot hockeyite, désignant<br />
autrefois à la fois le sport et le joueur de hockey.<br />
3. Forum des politiques publiques, 1999, La Ligue<br />
nationale de hockey au Canada, octobre,<br />
Ottawa, publications gouvernementales.<br />
4. Id., p. 6.<br />
5. Id., p. 26.<br />
6. Id., p. 35.<br />
7. Médaille d’or aux Jeux Olympiques (1998 et<br />
2002) ; médaille d’or à la Coupe du monde<br />
(2004) ; médaille d’or au Championnat du<br />
monde de hockey (2003, 2004 et 2007) ;<br />
médaille d’or au Championnat du monde<br />
de hockey junior (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 et<br />
<strong>2009</strong>) après avoir remporté les trois années<br />
précédentes la médaille d’argent (2002, 2003,<br />
2004) ; médaille d’or au Championnat du<br />
monde de hockey des moins de 18 ans (2003<br />
et 2008) ; médaille d’or aux Jeux olympiques<br />
pour l’équipe féminine (2002 et 2006) ; et médaille<br />
d’or au Championnat du monde pour<br />
l’équipe féminine (de 1990 à 2004 et 2007).<br />
8. Les municipalités gagnantes furent Salmon River,<br />
<strong>No</strong>uvelle-Écosse (2006), <strong>No</strong>rth Bay, Ontario<br />
(2007), Roberval, Québec (2008) et Terrace,<br />
Colombie-Britannique (<strong>2009</strong>).<br />
9. Les arénas utilisés par les Canadiens sont les<br />
suivants :<br />
1909-1910 : Jubilee Arena (Sainte-Catherine<br />
/ gare Moreau),<br />
1910-1918 : Westmount Arena (Sainte-<br />
Catherine / Wood),<br />
1918-1919 : Jubilee Arena (Sainte-Catherine<br />
/ gare Moreau),<br />
1919-1926 : Aréna Mont-Royal (Mont-<br />
Royal / Saint-Urbain),<br />
1926-1996 : Forum (Sainte-Catherine /<br />
Atwater),<br />
1996-aujourd’hui : Centre Bell (de Lagauchetière<br />
/ de la Montagne).<br />
10. Black, François, 1997, Habitants et glorieux. Les<br />
Canadiens de 1909 à 1960, Laval, Les Éditions<br />
Mille-Îles, p. 57.<br />
11. Id., p. 79.<br />
16 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
12. Ce phénomène, au-delà des considérations<br />
sportives et partisanes, soulève de nombreuses<br />
questions en termes d’urbanisme, dont<br />
la gestion du bruit, la sécurité urbaine, l’accessibilité<br />
aux sites publics, l’impact sur le<br />
transport, les aménagements touristiques et<br />
les installations pour les rassemblements. Le<br />
hockey est devenu un enjeu d’identité urbaine<br />
et d’aménagement.<br />
13. Par le maire de Calgary le 30 mai 2004. (Eckler,<br />
Rebecca, 2004, « A Whole Lotta Love on<br />
Calgary’s Red Mile », National Post, 31 mai,<br />
p. A1.)<br />
14. « À 13 h, sur la grande place du party, la désormais<br />
mythique 17 e Avenue, celle des bars, des<br />
restos et des terrasses, la foule commençait<br />
à s’amener. La rue est fermée à la circulation<br />
sur 1 mille après les matchs, et on a baptisé<br />
l’endroit le Red Mile. » (Boisvert, Yves, 2004,<br />
« La Coupe revient à Calgary… puis repart »,<br />
La Presse, dimanche 6 juin, p. A1.)<br />
<strong>15</strong>. Voir [www.theredmile.ca].<br />
16. Id.<br />
17. « Eighteen thousand people have provided<br />
input to key questions. Apparently, one of<br />
the common themes that has been expressed<br />
is that ‘people want more community events<br />
and festivals and recognize these types of activities<br />
as being critical to creating community<br />
vibrancy and vitality.’ » (Burgener, Peter, 2006,<br />
« Red Mile Opportunity for Community », Calgary<br />
Herald, 4 mai, p. B4.)<br />
18. Derworiz, Colette, 2005, « Council Seeks Balance<br />
on Red Mile: Aldermen Will Debate<br />
Proposal for 17 th Avenue », Calgary Herald,<br />
29 novembre, p. B7.<br />
19. Myers, Sean, 2006, « Planners Share Vision of<br />
‘people’s’ Red Mile », Calgary Herald, 11 janvier,<br />
p. B5.<br />
20. Marr, <strong>No</strong>rma et Wendy Spivak, 2005, « 100<br />
Years of History », Calgary Herald, 1 er septembre,<br />
p. A<strong>15</strong>.<br />
21. Leipsic, Barry J., 2004, « Go Jets, go! », The<br />
National Post, 31 mars, p. A19.<br />
22. Maniago, Stephanie, 2007, « A Call to Action<br />
– Believe in Blue », [Canucks.com], 28 avril.<br />
23. Taylor, Scott, 2004, « Tampa’s ‘White Out’ Pales<br />
Next to Original », Winnipeg Free Press,<br />
4 juin, p. C3.<br />
24. Cette initiative de l’organisation, qui reprend<br />
l’appellation « White Out », a été lancée par<br />
une capsule vidéo sur Facebook et sur le site<br />
Web de l’équipe le 24 avril 2008. L’organisation<br />
a fourni un T-shirt et une serviette à tous<br />
les spectateurs.<br />
25. The Canadian Press, 2006, « Sixth News<br />
Watch », 11 juin.<br />
26. Macafee, Michelle, 2006, « Game 1 Loss Leads<br />
to Quiet Night on Edmonton’s Trendy Whyte<br />
Avenue », The Canadian Press, 6 juin.<br />
27. La création de la toile [Bluemile.ca] a participé<br />
à la formation de cette identité par la diffusion<br />
d’images explicites des activités ayant<br />
cours sur la Whyte Avenue.<br />
28. Une journaliste de Calgary a même remis en<br />
cause l’authenticité du Blue Mile d’Edmonton<br />
en comparaison du Red Mile de Calgary :<br />
« The Whyte Mile. The Blue Mile. The Oil Slick.<br />
The Copper Kilometre. Any way you slice it,<br />
though, it’s no Red Mile ». (Fortney, Valerie,<br />
2006, « Inside the Oil Slick: It May <strong>No</strong>t Be the<br />
Red Mile, but This Is the Place To Be », Calgary<br />
Herald, 12 mai, p. A3.)<br />
29. [BlueMile.ca].<br />
30. Le Red Mile de Calgary et le Blue Mile d’Edmonton<br />
ont maintenant leur entrée sur Wikipédia.<br />
31. Desaulniers, Darren, 2007, « ‘I’m so Fantastically,<br />
Unbelievably Happy’; Fist-pumping,<br />
Flag-waving Fans Pour into the Streets To Celebrate<br />
the Sens », The Ottawa Citizen, 20 mai,<br />
p. D6.<br />
32. Brodie, Rob, 2007, « Vivement la fête chez les<br />
amateurs. Un groupe désire organiser des rassemblements<br />
après les victoires », (The Ottawa<br />
Sun) Le Journal de Montréal, 16 juin, p. 133 ;<br />
et Brodie, Rob, 2007, « Shooting for Mile High.<br />
Fans Invited to Elgin St. Playoff Party Zone »,<br />
The Ottawa Sun, 16 juin.<br />
33. Desaulniers, op. cit.<br />
34. Deachman, Bruce, 2007, « Welcome to ‘Hockey<br />
Town’; Moments after the Senators Won<br />
a Berth in the Stanley Cup Final, Thousands<br />
of Ottawa Fans Spilled Out into the Streets<br />
To Baptize Sens Mile », The Ottawa Citizen,<br />
20 mai, p. A3.<br />
35. Sadava, Mike, 2007, « Sens Fever Brings Back<br />
Memories of Oilers Run; but so Far Capital<br />
Crowds Are Having Peaceful Fun », The Edmonton<br />
Journal, 26 mai, p. B3.<br />
36. Frei, Terry, 2006, « Qu’est-ce qu’une ville de<br />
hockey ? », vendredi 1 er septembre, [RDS.ca/<br />
hockey], consulté le 7 mai 2007.<br />
37. Les amateurs doivent avoir des connaissances<br />
de l’histoire des joueurs de l’équipe et des espoirs<br />
de l’organisation, suivre les activités de<br />
l’ensemble des équipes de la LNH, connaître la<br />
nationalité des joueurs et avoir également une<br />
connaissance approfondie des règlements.<br />
38. « After all, Minnesota does call itself the State<br />
of Hockey. » (Menendez, Jenn, 2007, « Whitehead’s<br />
Mother-in-law Dies in Car Crash »,<br />
Portland Press Herald, 6 avril, p. D7.) « The<br />
self-proclaimed State of Hockey. » (Lopez,<br />
Aaron, 2007, « Sauer <strong>No</strong>t Griping About Big<br />
Workload », Rocky Mountain News, 10 mars,<br />
p. 6.)<br />
39. Higgins, Matt, 2007, « Another Hockeytown »,<br />
The New York Times Late Edition, 4 mai,<br />
p. 6.<br />
40. Cité dans ibid.<br />
41. Herrmann, Mark, 2007, « Hockey Fever Breaks<br />
Out All Over Buffalo », Buffalo News, 29 avril,<br />
p. B6.<br />
42. [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockeytown],<br />
consulté le 7 mai 2007 ; et Greenland, Paul,<br />
1996, The Detroit Red Wings: Hockeytown,<br />
Sagamore Pub Llc.<br />
43. [http://www.usacitiesonline.com/micountydetroit.htm],<br />
consulté le 7 mai 2007.<br />
44. Fischer, Red, 2007, « Thousands of Empty<br />
Seats in Hockeytown a Direct Result of Overpriced<br />
Playoff Tickets », The Gazette, samedi<br />
28 avril.<br />
45. Houston, William, 2007, « Cup Generates Very<br />
Little Buzz », The Globe and Mail, 25 mai,<br />
p. S1.<br />
46. Sharp, Drew, 2006, « Bye, Bye Hockeytown?:<br />
With the Detroit Red Wings Going Through a<br />
Rebuilding Period, Fan Enthusiasm Is Waning<br />
and the Playoffs Are <strong>No</strong> Longer a Sure Thing »,<br />
(Detroit Free Press), The National Post, 7 octobre,<br />
p. FW9.<br />
47. MacKinnon, John, 2007, « Senators Can Be Canada’s<br />
Team, Too; A Transplanted Easterner<br />
Tells Western Canadians the National Capital<br />
Has its Fair Share of Hockey Culture, Too »,<br />
(The Edmonton Journal), The Ottawa Citizen,<br />
22 mai, p. B2.<br />
48. Wigge, Larry, 2002, « Where is Hockeytown?<br />
Detroit Isn’t the Only City That Makes a Strong<br />
Claim To Being the Center of the Ice Universe<br />
– NHL », NHL Sporting News, 7 janvier,<br />
[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/<br />
is_01_226/ai_81790628], consulté le 7 mai<br />
2007.<br />
49. Lafleur, Guy, 2008, « Une victoire entachée »,<br />
Le Journal de Montréal, 26 avril, p. 106.<br />
50. Black, p. 19.<br />
51. Id.<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong> 17
Jon at h a n Cha > essaY | essaI<br />
52. « Montréal était devenue la ‘capitale mondiale<br />
du hockey’. » (Fischler, Stan et Maurice<br />
Richard, 1971, Les Canadiens sont là ! La plus<br />
grande dynastie du hockey, Scarborough,<br />
Prentice-Hall of Canada Ltd., p. 3.)<br />
53. Pierre Bourque, cité dans Lepore, Gino (dir.)<br />
(1996), Le magazine Centre Molson : Match<br />
inaugural, Édition spéciale, p. 7.<br />
54. Raymond, Bertand, 2006, « La rue Maurice-Richard<br />
? Si le Rocket revenait au Centre Bell… »,<br />
Le Journal de Montréal, 7 décembre.<br />
55. Publiée à raison de cinq à sept exemplaires<br />
par année depuis la saison 1985-1986, la revue<br />
porte désormais le nom Canadiens.<br />
56. En 1988, Stéphane Richer est photographié<br />
au centre-ville devant la sculpture La foule illuminée<br />
sur l’avenue McGill College. L’année<br />
suivante, Russ Courtnall est photographié<br />
en divers endroits dans le Vieux-Montréal,<br />
notamment devant la Tour de l’Horloge. En<br />
1991, Mathieu Schneider est présenté sur un<br />
panneau « arrêt stop », une particularité bien<br />
montréalaise, de même que devant un gratte-ciel.<br />
Puis en 1992, c’est au tour de Vincent<br />
Damphousse d’être photographié avec les enseignes<br />
de l’avenue Atwater et de la rue Sainte-Catherine,<br />
de même que sur le belvédère<br />
du mont Royal avec vue sur les gratte-ciel du<br />
centre-ville.<br />
Un remerciement particulier à Jonathan Prunier<br />
et à Mathieu Lapointe.<br />
67. Elle s’est poursuivie dans les saisons 2007-2008<br />
et 2008-<strong>2009</strong>.<br />
68. L’expression et la dénomination « La ville est<br />
hockey », deux ans et demie après le lancement<br />
de la campagne publicitaire, sont désormais<br />
bien ancrées dans l’identité montréalaise.<br />
L’appellation est constamment reprise dans<br />
les médias, et pas seulement ceux traitant de<br />
sports. Une émission spéciale ayant débuté en<br />
avril 2008 sur la chaîne spécialisée RIS s’intitulait<br />
d’ailleurs La ville est hockey.<br />
69. Une portion de l’information recueillie sur la<br />
campagne « La ville est hockey » a été obtenue<br />
lors d’une rencontre téléphonique avec<br />
Jonathan Prunier de la direction marketing du<br />
Club de hockey Canadien le 12 janvier 2007.<br />
70. Gauthier, Raymonde et Pierre-Richard Bisson,<br />
1990, L’architecture de Montréal, Montréal,<br />
Libre Expression, p. 149.<br />
71. Id., p. 144.<br />
57. Le projet a été conçu par le Consortium Daniel<br />
Arbour & Associés/IBI et l’architecture signée<br />
Lemay & associés et LeMoyne, Lapointe, Magne.<br />
58. Lepore, p. 45.<br />
59. Id., p. 22.<br />
60. Id., p. 37.<br />
61. Id., p. 45.<br />
62. Document publicitaire pour les détenteurs de<br />
billet de saison intitulé Forum (Club de hockey<br />
Canadien, 1996, p. 2).<br />
63. Lepore, p. 45.<br />
64. Eric Molson, président du Conseil des Compagnies<br />
Molson, cité dans Goyens, Chrystian,<br />
Allan Turowetz et Jean-Luc Duguay, 1996, Le<br />
Forum de Montréal. La fierté pour toujours.<br />
1924-1996, Westmount, Les éditions Effix inc.,<br />
p. 210.<br />
65. Document publicitaire pour les détenteurs de<br />
billet de saison intitulé Forum (Club de hockey<br />
Canadien, 1996, p. 1.)<br />
66. Cette portion de la recherche a été rendue<br />
possible grâce à la collaboration de la direction<br />
marketing du Club de hockey Canadien.<br />
18 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
essay | essai<br />
‘Parisian Gothic’:<br />
Interpretations of Gothic in three Victorian<br />
Buildings in Paris, Ontario<br />
Professor Malcolm Thurlby teaches medieval<br />
art, architecture, and Canadian architecture in<br />
>Ma l c o l m Th u r l b y<br />
the Department of Visual Arts, York University.<br />
His latest book, Romanesque Architecture and<br />
Sculpture in Wales, was published by Logaston<br />
Press, Almeley (Herefordshire), in June 2006.<br />
He is currently finishing a book entitled<br />
Romanesque Gloucestershire: Architecture,<br />
Sculpture and Painting.<br />
FIG. 1. Paris (ON), St. James’s Anglican Church, exterior from SE, nave 1839, chancel 1863-1865. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
In the history of architecture in Canada,<br />
Paris, Ontario, is known chiefly for its<br />
nineteenth-century cobblestone buildings<br />
and the truly monumental Richardsonian<br />
Romanesque First Presbyterian Church<br />
(1893) designed by the Chatham-based<br />
architect T.J. Rutley. 2 Yet Paris is also remarkable<br />
for three Victorian Gothic buildings<br />
which are the focus of this paper. The<br />
nave of St. James’s Anglican Church (1839)<br />
is a fine example of the early phase of the<br />
Gothic Revival in which pointed arches<br />
pierce the walls of a rectangular box of the<br />
eighteenth-century classicising tradition<br />
established by the English architect James<br />
Gibbs (1682-1754). The chancel of St. James’s<br />
Anglican (1863-1865) bears witness to the<br />
revolution in Gothic church design brought<br />
about by the Cambridge Camden Society—<br />
Ecclesiological Society after 1846—and The<br />
Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of<br />
Gothic Architecture. Most unusually and<br />
spectacularly, there is the civic Gothic of<br />
the Town Hall (1853-1854), which boasts a<br />
magnificent six-bay open-timber roof on<br />
the second-floor Assembly Room, at a time<br />
when civic Gothic architecture was in its infancy<br />
in England. The Town Hall is the work<br />
of the little-known local architect John<br />
Maxwell (1803-1889), who also designed<br />
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in<br />
the town (1857). Financial constraints at<br />
the time meant that Maxwell’s church<br />
was left unfinished until 1880-1881, when<br />
additions and modifications were made by<br />
the Brantford architect, John Turner (1806-<br />
1887). Turner’s work deviates significantly<br />
from Maxwell’s prescription and therefore<br />
the church is a fascinating barometer of<br />
the impact and modification of the True<br />
Principles of Medieval Gothic advocated by<br />
Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852).<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong> > 19-32<br />
19
Malcolm Thurlby > essaY | essaI<br />
FIG. 2. Paris (ON), St. James’s Anglican Church, interior to E. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 3. Paris (ON), St. James’s Anglican Church, interior from chancel. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
St. James’s Anglican Church<br />
The church stands at the junction of<br />
Grand River Street South and Burwell<br />
Street, on land given by Hiram “King”<br />
Capron (1796-1872), founder of Paris<br />
(1829), and his wife. The nave was built<br />
in 1839 by Levi Boughton, a mason who<br />
moved to Paris in 1838 from <strong>No</strong>rmandale,<br />
New York, and introduced the<br />
cobblestone-faced masonry technique<br />
to the village of Paris (fig. 1). Cobblestone<br />
buildings are extensive in upper<br />
New York State and the technique may<br />
be traced to the county of Sussex in<br />
southern England, as at St. Andrew’s,<br />
Hove, Brighton (1833). 3 The description<br />
of St. James’s church given in the 1883<br />
History of the County of Brant, Ontario<br />
is remarkably well informed in architectural<br />
terms:<br />
The roof is flat, the windows are of the<br />
kind designated by architectural experts<br />
“Carpenter’s Gothic,” and the west end is<br />
surmounted by one of those nondescript<br />
belfries, terminated by a tin-covered spirelet<br />
so often seen in country churches in Canada,<br />
and whose real origin is in the renaissance<br />
style imported into Lower Canada by the<br />
French in the eighteenth century.<br />
[The account continues] In 1865, at a cost<br />
of about $1,000, a chancel was added<br />
through the exertions of Dr. Townley,<br />
and by the beneficence of Mrs. Dickson<br />
of Paris. The chancel presents a marked<br />
contrast to the rest of the church, being<br />
a genuine Gothic of the “early English,” or<br />
“first pointed” style. The roof is of open<br />
work, of dark-stained timber. The east<br />
window is a triplet, each light bordered<br />
with stained glass, of which also there<br />
are four vesica-shaped medallions bearing<br />
the four Evangelistic symbols, and in the<br />
centre an Agnus Dei supporting a banner<br />
with the cross, “displayed.” 4<br />
It is also recorded that “In the basement<br />
a well attended Sunday school is held,<br />
numbering 100 pupils.” 5<br />
The description shows an acute awareness<br />
of the change in the character of<br />
ecclesiastical Gothic architecture in the<br />
quarter century that elapsed between<br />
the construction of the nave and chancel.<br />
The nave is a Gibbsian box with a<br />
low-pitched roof and a flat ceiling with<br />
a centrally-placed medallion adorned<br />
with rich acanthus foliage and a modified<br />
Vitruvian-scroll frame (figs. 2-3). 6<br />
Above the western bay of the nave<br />
there is a square tower, originally with<br />
single pointed arches on each side<br />
(fig. 4), which is surmounted by an octagonal<br />
belfry with a pointed opening<br />
on each side, and a spire (figs. 1 and<br />
4). A late nineteenth-century photograph<br />
shows a “widow’s walk” at the<br />
top of the tower (fig. 4), as in St. John’s<br />
Anglican Church, Ancaster (ON), 1824. 7<br />
While medieval architectural precedent<br />
may be found for the Y tracery of the<br />
windows, as in the southwest chapel of<br />
Lincoln Cathedral (circa 1220), the use<br />
of the pronounced wooden frame with<br />
Y tracery has rather more in common<br />
with the eighteenth-century Gothic<br />
tradition of Batty Langley (1696-1751). 8<br />
It is unlikely that the 1839 church had a<br />
separate chancel because in 1860, Reverend<br />
Townley started a Chancel and<br />
Sunday School Fund with the view to<br />
erecting these additions to the church. 9<br />
In 1863-1865 the present chancel was<br />
erected with the Sunday school in the<br />
basement and a vestry to the north and<br />
organ room to the south (figs. 1-4). The<br />
1863-1865 addition is a fine example<br />
of the impact of ecclesiology in Anglican<br />
church architecture in Ontario. On<br />
the nave and chancel, the Cambridge<br />
Camden Society stated that:<br />
20<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Malcolm Thurlby > essaY | essaI<br />
This division, essential in the interior, is not<br />
always to be traced in the exterior. It is far<br />
better indeed, generally speaking, that it<br />
should be marked in both; and to this end<br />
the breadth of the Chancel should be a little<br />
less than that of the Nave; a difference of<br />
four or five feet will be quite sufficient. The<br />
height of the Chancel is usually less, in the<br />
same proportion. […]<br />
The comparative size of Chancel and Nave<br />
is a point which, within certain limitations,<br />
must be left to taste. Yet, as a general<br />
rule, the Chancel should be not less than<br />
the third, or more than the half, of the whole<br />
length of the church. 10<br />
The new chancel is “correctly” constructed<br />
in local fieldstone with a steeply pitched,<br />
open timber roof and triple lancet windows<br />
in the east wall of the chancel to represent<br />
the Trinity: “[t]hree lancets are the<br />
most usually adopted; these, it need not<br />
be said, symbolise the HOLY TRINITY.” 11<br />
Moreover, the chancel is raised three steps<br />
above the floor of the nave—the Camden<br />
Society prescribed that the chancel “should<br />
be raised at least two steps at the Chancel<br />
arch” 12 —and the altar against the east<br />
wall of the chancel is elevated further two<br />
steps. 13 The Camden Society also recommended<br />
that the vestry “may be thrown<br />
out, as was often done, on the north or<br />
south side of the Chancel.” 14 Be that as it<br />
may, the inclusion of the Sunday school<br />
in the basement is not part of Camdenian<br />
doctrine. Instead, it is inherited from<br />
a non-conformist tradition in which it was<br />
common to include Sunday school rooms<br />
as part of a full basement. <strong>15</strong><br />
FIG. 4. Paris (ON), Town Hall and St. James’s Anglican Church. | Paris Museum and Archives<br />
Analogous additions of a “correct” chancel<br />
in Anglican churches in Ontario may<br />
be seen at St. Mary’s, Picton; 16 St. Mark’s,<br />
Barriefield; Holy Trinity, Hawkesbury; 17<br />
and Christ Church, Holland Landing,<br />
and a similar arrangement is recorded at<br />
St. John’s, Ancaster. 18<br />
FIG. 5. Paris Town Hall, exterior<br />
from NW. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 6. Paris Town Hall, exterior from NW (Paris Museum<br />
and Archives postcard). | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
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FIG. 7. Paris Town Hall, basement, interior to E. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 8. Paris Town Hall, interior, blocked E doorway. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 9. Paris Town Hall, ground floor, interior to E. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 10. Paris Town Hall, ground floor, interior to N. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
Town Hall and Market<br />
Located at 13 Burwell Street across the<br />
road and to the southwest of St. James’s<br />
Anglican Church, the Paris Town Hall is a<br />
building of great significance in the history<br />
of civic Gothic architecture (figs. 4-6).<br />
In sharp contrast to the eighteenth-century<br />
Gothic tradition of the Anglican<br />
church nave, the Town Hall incorporates<br />
details from original medieval exemplars,<br />
and shows that the architect, John Maxwell,<br />
was up to date with contemporary<br />
secular Gothic architecture in Britain.<br />
History<br />
A committee to report upon a suitable site<br />
for a Town Hall was formed on February 7,<br />
1853. 19 On February 21, it was announced<br />
that there was a proposal for a site suitable<br />
for the Town Hall and Market “from<br />
the proprietors of Lot <strong>No</strong>. 7 and half of<br />
<strong>No</strong>. 6.” 20 John Maxwell is recorded as the<br />
architect, 21 and Gardner and Strickland,<br />
contractors, tendered for £1957 “the<br />
building to be finished on the first January<br />
next.” 22 At the Council Meeting of June 23,<br />
1853, it was moved: “That By Law to raise<br />
by way of loan the sum of Two Thousand<br />
Five Hundred Pounds payable in Twelve<br />
years for the purpose of purchasing a site<br />
and erecting a Town Hall and Market and<br />
other Public buildings do now pass.” 23<br />
The motion was carried. On December 19,<br />
1853, a by-law was passed “to raise by way<br />
of Loan the sum of £900 for the purpose of<br />
finishing the Town Hall and Market and for<br />
the purchase of a fire engine.” 24 According<br />
to the Brant County Gazetteer and Directory,<br />
the cost of the building was about<br />
twelve thousand dollars. 25<br />
The Architect<br />
John Maxwell was born on May 24, 1803,<br />
at Kilmadock, Perth, Scotland. 26 In 1836<br />
he is recorded as a member of the first<br />
Brantford Fire Company. His residence<br />
(built 1837-1840) is located at 81 Albion<br />
Street, Brantford. 27 He appears in the first<br />
assessment roll of Brantford, September 4,<br />
1847, as a builder and overseer of streets<br />
and walks. 28 The designation “builder”<br />
does not seem to carry a negative connotation,<br />
because John Turner, the wellknown<br />
and prolific Brantford architect<br />
22<br />
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of the nineteenth-century, is also listed<br />
as a builder. The 1862 Business Directory<br />
lists John Maxwell under “Carpenters<br />
and Builders.” The 1869-1870 Brant<br />
County Gazetteer and Directory lists him<br />
as a joiner with a home on Albion. 29 He<br />
registers as a “Provincial Land Surveyor”<br />
on January 23, 1849, and later advertises<br />
himself as a “Surveyor & Architect,” in<br />
Hamilton (ON). 30 He is listed in the 1851<br />
Census of the Village of Paris as a civil<br />
engineer, born in Scotland, age 37, with<br />
a one-and-a-half storey frame office, and<br />
of Roman Catholic religion. Also listed are<br />
his wife, Canadian born, age thirty-four,<br />
and children, Robert age eleven, Francis<br />
age eight, May age six, and Joseph age<br />
four. 31 On October 24, 1851, John Maxwell<br />
places an advertisement in the Paris Star<br />
and Great Western Advocate as civil engineer,<br />
architect, provincial land surveyor,<br />
Upper Village Paris. 32 Research to date has<br />
revealed nothing of Maxwell’s training.<br />
FIG. 11. Paris Town Hall, Council Meeting with Andrew H. Baird, mayor 1877-1879 and 1896 (Paris Museum<br />
and Archives). | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
Description<br />
The Market House and Town Hall as it<br />
is described in the eighteen-page Specifications<br />
written by John Maxwell, has<br />
a rectangular plan on an east-west axis<br />
with north and south wings and a tower<br />
in the northwest angle for the north<br />
wing and the hall. 33 It has two-and-ahalf<br />
storeys with a partial basement in<br />
which the eastern two thirds are divided<br />
into six equal aisles by squared wooden<br />
columns (fig. 7). This area served as<br />
the “lower market” and was entered<br />
through a four-centred brick arch at the<br />
east end, which is now blocked (fig. 8).<br />
The western third of the basement included<br />
prisoners’ cells. The ground floor<br />
is divided longitudinally into three aisles<br />
with wooden columns which served as<br />
the market hall, with the council chamber<br />
and Magistrate’s and Treasurer’s offices<br />
at the west end (figs. 9-10). The archival<br />
photograph shows the original Gothic<br />
FIG. 12. Paris Town Hall, ground floor,<br />
vault. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
fenestration (fig. 11). The vault adjoined<br />
the Treasurer’s office immediately to the<br />
east of the doorway to the tower (figs. 10<br />
and 12). The stairs from the ground floor<br />
to the hall are located in the west wing.<br />
FIG. 13. Paris Town Hall, Assembly Room,<br />
interior to E. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
The upper story with its magnificent open<br />
timber roof served as the Assembly Room<br />
(fig. 13). The lower section of the basement<br />
walls are constructed in stone while<br />
the superstructure is of brick with stone<br />
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FIG. 14. Paris Town Hall, exterior facade,<br />
N wing. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. <strong>15</strong>. Paris Town Hall, exterior, W doorway, detail. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
dressings. On the ground floor the walls<br />
of the council room and offices were plastered<br />
but the brickwork of the market<br />
was left exposed. Moulded bricks articulate<br />
the doorways and windows, while<br />
wood is used for the tracery of the pointed<br />
windows of the four facades of the<br />
building. The corners of the building are<br />
articulated with stepped angle buttresses<br />
with stone pinnacles and weatherings.<br />
A late nineteenth-century photograph<br />
shows that the octagonal clasping buttresses<br />
of the wings were topped with<br />
crenellated turrets (fig. 4).<br />
The Architectural Context<br />
By the 1850s Gothic had become the<br />
preferred style for church architecture<br />
in Ontario, but this was certainly not the<br />
case with secular public architecture. In<br />
the civic realm, the classical tradition prevailed<br />
with ultimate reference to Ancient<br />
Greece and Rome, often filtered through<br />
Renaissance, Baroque and/or Neoclassical<br />
intermediaries. Examples abound: George<br />
Browne’s Kingston City Hall (1841-1844), 34<br />
the Dundas Town Hall and Market by<br />
Francis Hawkins (1848-1849), St. Catharines<br />
Town Hall by Kivas Tully (1848-1851), 35<br />
Guelph Town Hall by William Thomas, 36<br />
Napanee Town Hall and Market by Edward<br />
Horsey of Kingston (1856), 37 Bath<br />
Town Hall (1866, architect unknown), 38<br />
and Victoria Hall in Cobourg by Kivas Tully<br />
(1856-1860). 39 The unusual choice of the<br />
Gothic style for the Paris Town Hall is reported<br />
in an 1854 newspaper article:<br />
There is also a very substantial and excellent<br />
Market House and Town Hall, but the<br />
style is very remarkable being so strongly<br />
ecclesiastical that any stranger ill-informed<br />
to the contrary would at once pronounce<br />
it a church. It seems strange to find the<br />
tower of this costly edifice used perchance<br />
for hunters’ stalls, and its chancel devoted<br />
to the dispensing of beef and mutton.<br />
But tastes differ, and if the Parisians are<br />
satisfied, that is the main thing. 40<br />
Yet by 1859 Gothic was the chosen style<br />
for the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. 41<br />
While Gothic was never destined to supplant<br />
the classical tradition for monumental<br />
public buildings in Canada, it is<br />
clear that the Paris Town Hall marks a significant<br />
moment in the history of Gothic<br />
architecture in that country. Indeed, we<br />
shall see that John Maxwell was remarkably<br />
well informed on contemporary British<br />
practice and theory concerning Gothic<br />
architecture.<br />
Gothic was not without precedent for<br />
public buildings in Ontario. In the first<br />
place there is the Middlesex County Building,<br />
London (ON) (1827-1831), built to the<br />
design of John Ewart, with additions. 42<br />
Something similar is seen in Thomas<br />
Young’s Wellington District Courthouse,<br />
Guelph (1837-1844 with additions). 43 Both<br />
buildings belong to an eighteenth-century<br />
Castellated Gothic tradition, which<br />
paid little or no attention to the study<br />
of Medieval Gothic architecture. John<br />
24<br />
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Maxwell’s approach to the design of the<br />
Paris Town Hall was quite different. He<br />
abandoned romantic eighteenth-century<br />
Gothicism in favour of precise reference to<br />
medieval architectural precedent through<br />
the medium of illustrations of details in<br />
the architectural press.<br />
The choice of the Gothic style for the<br />
Paris Town Hall has been seen as a way of<br />
distinguishing it from the Greek Revival<br />
mansions of the town’s mill owners. 44<br />
This may have been a factor and it also<br />
sets apart the Paris Town Hall from earlier<br />
and near-contemporary town and<br />
city halls in Ontario and government<br />
buildings elsewhere in Canada. Gothic<br />
may also have been perceived as quintessentially<br />
English. Hiram Capron, founder<br />
of Paris, was born in Leicester, Vermont,<br />
but renounced his American citizenship<br />
in 1823 and swore allegiance to the<br />
Crown. 45 There was also a strong desire<br />
amongst the “upper crust” of Paris to<br />
adopt the etiquette of British society. 46<br />
In light of this it seems appropriate to<br />
seek British associations for the Paris<br />
Town Hall and what better precedent<br />
could there be for a Gothic public building<br />
than the Houses of Parliament in<br />
London? In 1834 fire gutted the Houses<br />
of Parliament. Rebuilding started in 1840<br />
with Sir Charles Barry as the architect<br />
and Augustus Welby Pugin providing the<br />
Gothic detailing. 47 Surprisingly this did<br />
not give rise to a glut of Gothic government<br />
architecture. In Remarks On Secular<br />
And Domestic Architecture: Present And<br />
Future published in 1857, George Gilbert<br />
Scott wrote:<br />
Few things surprise me more than the<br />
neglect which pointed architecture has<br />
met with among the builders of town-halls.<br />
Next to churches, the finest of medieval<br />
structures existing are, perhaps, some<br />
of the town-halls of Flanders, Germany,<br />
France, and some of the free cities of Italy;<br />
FIG. 16. Oxford, Merton College, doorway, after<br />
John Henry Parker. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 18. Adderbury (Oxfordshire), St. Mary,<br />
nave roof, after Matthew Holbeche<br />
Bloxam. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
yet scarcely an attempt has been made to<br />
revive these noble buildings in England, and<br />
town-halls are continually being erected in<br />
our provincial towns in styles as thoroughly<br />
unsuitable as can be conceived, and at a<br />
cost which would, in good hands and in a<br />
right style, have enabled them to vie with<br />
the glories of Brussels, Louvain or Ypres. 48<br />
There is a tradition of Medieval Gothic<br />
guildhalls in England as at St. Mary’s<br />
Guildhall, Coventry (1340-1342, enlarged<br />
FIG. 17. Paris Town Hall, Assembly<br />
Room roof. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 19. Devizes (Wiltshire), St. Mary, and other<br />
Perpendicular windows, after John Henry<br />
Parker. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
1394-1414). 49 The original masonry of<br />
the hall of the London Guildhall is the<br />
work of John Croxton (circa 1411-circa<br />
1440), which formerly had an elaborate<br />
wooden roof over the hall as at the<br />
Paris Town Hall. 50 The Gothic tradition<br />
continued in the 1788 south façade of<br />
the London Guildhall by George Dance<br />
the Younger, albeit spiced with some<br />
Indian references. 51 Then of the Bristol<br />
Guildhall, 1844, H.S. Goodhart-Rendell<br />
remarked that,<br />
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FIG. 20. Paris Town Hall, W window. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 21. <strong>No</strong>rwich Cathedral, presbytery window,<br />
after John Henry Parker. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
although far clumsier in detail and<br />
arrangement, [it] resembles essentially the<br />
Houses of Parliament in the manner of its<br />
compromise between Gothic and Classic. This<br />
is the earliest neo-Gothic town hall of which<br />
I have found any record, and, if any others<br />
were built before the sixties of the century<br />
they were inconspicuous and uninfluential. I<br />
should be very much surprised to learn of any<br />
in whose design Pugin’s True Principles had<br />
been regarded, although in matters of detail<br />
they might mimic his practice. 52<br />
FIG. 22. Paris, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church,<br />
interior to E, John Maxwell (1857), clerestory<br />
by John Turner (1881).<br />
FIG. 23. Paris, Sacred Heart, N (S) aisle<br />
window. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
Aside from guildhalls, the large rectangular<br />
hall with an elaborate open-timber<br />
roof finds a great pedigree in English<br />
medieval halls. Most famous is the Great<br />
Hall of Westminster Palace, roof for Richard<br />
II (1394-1402), and another fine example<br />
is Edward IV’s Great Hall at Eltham<br />
Palace of the 1470s. John Maxwell’s Paris<br />
Town Hall does not presage George Gilbert<br />
Scott’s references to Belgian Gothic<br />
with centrally placed façade towers, as in<br />
Scott’s Hamburg Town Hall, 1856. 53 The<br />
tower of the Paris Town Hall is a monumental<br />
beacon of government just as in<br />
the London Houses of Parliament. It provides<br />
greater height than any classicising<br />
dome or puny tower like St. Catharine’s<br />
Town Hall. Monumental towers are not<br />
part of an English medieval guildhall tradition;<br />
there is one centrally placed above<br />
the façade at Bristol (1844), but it rises<br />
just one storey above the walls of the hall.<br />
The height at Paris Town Hall reads more<br />
like a reflection of Italian Gothic architecture.<br />
The famous English Victorian art<br />
and architecture critic, John Ruskin (1819-<br />
1900), eulogized on Giotto’s campanile of<br />
Florence Cathedral and was enamoured<br />
with the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence of<br />
which the tower is of mighty height. 54<br />
Be that as it may, other than the clasping<br />
octagonal buttress on the campanile<br />
of Florence Cathedral, the details of the<br />
Paris Town Hall tower do not depend on<br />
Italian exemplars, yet the inclusion of<br />
such a monumental tower may well owe<br />
something to Ruskin’s love of this feature.<br />
The connection is difficult to prove but at<br />
least we may associate Maxwell’s use of<br />
Gothic with Ruskin’s view of the Nature<br />
of Gothic for the architecture of <strong>No</strong>rthern<br />
nations. Ruskin proposed that “Gothic is<br />
not only the best, but the only rational<br />
architecture, as being that which can fit<br />
itself most easily to all services, vulgar or<br />
noble.” 55 Following Augustus Welby Pugin’s<br />
True Principles, albeit without credit,<br />
John Ruskin explained: “there is in cold<br />
countries exposed to rain and snow, only<br />
one advisable form for the roof-mask, and<br />
that is the gable, for this alone will throw<br />
off both rain and snow from all parts of<br />
its surface as speedily as possible. Snow<br />
can lodge on the top of a dome, not on<br />
the ridge of a gable.” 56 It would be hard<br />
to imagine anything more appropriate for<br />
the climate of Upper Canada. Moreover,<br />
Ruskin’s pointed-arch-and-gable definition<br />
of Gothic fulfilled with the roof of<br />
the Paris Town Hall. 57<br />
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FIG. 24. Pugin, True Principles, masonry and window<br />
joints. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 25. Kingsthorpe (<strong>No</strong>rthamptonshire), window,<br />
after John Henry Parker. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 26. Filby (<strong>No</strong>rfolk), interior to E, after<br />
John Henry Parker. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
On matters of detail, the octagonal clasping<br />
buttresses at the angles of the wings<br />
and the tower of the Paris Town Hall find<br />
parallel on the tower of the London Houses<br />
of Parliament and on countless English<br />
Perpendicular church towers. The octagonal<br />
plan is also used for the angle turrets<br />
of the gatehouse of St. James’s Palace,<br />
London, constructed between <strong>15</strong>32 and<br />
<strong>15</strong>40 for King Henry VIII, which building<br />
also provides a source for the brick masonry<br />
and square-headed windows of the<br />
Paris Town Hall (figs. 5 and 14).<br />
Many of the details of the Paris Town Hall<br />
can be traced to English medieval sources<br />
published in the architectural press from<br />
the late 1820s through the early 1850s.<br />
The rectangular moulded frame for the<br />
doorway derives from Perpendicular and<br />
Tudor Gothic precedent and may be paralleled<br />
with the north doorway to Merton<br />
College Chapel, Oxford, illustrated in John<br />
Henry Parker’s Glossary and his Introduction<br />
to the Study of Gothic Architecture,<br />
in which there are also trefoil cusps in the<br />
spandrels (figs. <strong>15</strong>-16). 58 The roof design<br />
with the combination of braces to form<br />
a pointed arch beneath a tie beam with<br />
a king post, principal rafters and diagonal<br />
struts with tracery on the principal<br />
rafters and struts, is closely allied to the<br />
nave roof of St. Mary’s Church, Adderbury<br />
(Oxfordshire), illustrated in Bloxam’s<br />
Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture<br />
(figs. 17-18). 59 The three-light Perpendicular<br />
windows of the north and south<br />
fronts are a simplified version of one in<br />
St. Mary’s, Devizes, Wiltshire, illustrated<br />
in Parker’s Glossary (figs. 14 and 19). 60<br />
For the east and west windows of the<br />
assembly hall, Parker’s Glossary does not<br />
provide a precise model, but the fusion of<br />
the dagger with the mullions and supermullions<br />
may be seen as a combination<br />
of the Devizes window with a clerestory<br />
window from the presbytery of <strong>No</strong>rwich<br />
Cathedral (figs. 19-21). 61<br />
Comparison with Scott’s Civic Gothic may<br />
suggest that Maxwell was old-fashioned<br />
in the use of Tudor Gothic. Yet, it should<br />
be emphasized that Scott’s row of eight<br />
terraced houses in the Broad Sanctuary,<br />
next to Westminster Abbey, illustrated<br />
in The Builder, 1854, 62 has both pointed<br />
and square-headed windows and stepped<br />
buttresses as in the Paris Town Hall. Moreover,<br />
the articulation of the central pavilion<br />
with octagonal turrets capped with<br />
crenellations is similar to the facades of<br />
the north and south wings of the Paris<br />
Town Hall. Thus, at the very time Maxwell<br />
designed the Paris Town Hall, so Gilbert<br />
Scott used the very same Tudor Gothic<br />
motifs in his Broad Sanctuary design.<br />
The Paris Town Hall was constructed at<br />
a time of outstanding growth and ambition<br />
in the community. The Great Western<br />
Railway Station in Paris opened on<br />
December <strong>15</strong>, 1853. 63 On March 4, 1854,<br />
the Brantford to Paris section of the Buf-<br />
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FIG. 27. Paris, Sacred Heart, N (S) aisle<br />
window. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
FIG. 28. Paris, Sacred Heart, N (S) aisle window, detail. | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
falo, Brantford and Goderich Railway was<br />
opened and the following month the two<br />
railway lines connected at Paris Junction. 64<br />
The grand scale and soaring tower of the<br />
Town Hall are a monument to the great<br />
civic pride of Paris in the 1850s.<br />
Sacred Heart Roman<br />
Catholic Church,<br />
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic church<br />
stands at the southeast corner of Main<br />
and Washington Streets, and mass was<br />
celebrated for the first time in the church<br />
on Christmas Day 1857. The fabric was then<br />
incomplete and remained so until 1881,<br />
when various additions and modifications<br />
were finished to the design of John Turner,<br />
architect of Brantford (fig. 22). The sanctuary<br />
was subsequently modified in 1912.<br />
Fortunately, we have a detailed description<br />
of the church, both in its original and<br />
in its 1881 forms. Comparison between the<br />
two accounts is most instructive. The account<br />
of the 1857 church tells us that:<br />
[The church] is after a design by Mr. John<br />
Maxwell, of Paris, and is calculated to contain<br />
about 500 persons. It is a substantial<br />
stone structure without any of the sham<br />
embellishment and showy deceptions so<br />
common in American churches. It has been<br />
fashioned after the model of the ancient,<br />
modest country churches of England,<br />
though still much wanting, no doubt, in the<br />
best of these edifices. Reality has however<br />
been aimed at throughout. The Design is in<br />
the late Decorated style, and comprises<br />
chancel, nave clerestory, and aisles, steeple<br />
and porch, together with cellar apartments<br />
and flues suitable for hot air apparatus. The<br />
nave piers are of cut stone, with bases and<br />
moulded capitals; the window mullions and<br />
side-mouldings, their tracery and internal<br />
finishings, are of the same material, as<br />
are also seven doorways of the building,<br />
and some other minor parts. The nave<br />
and chancel arches have, for the sake of<br />
economy, been constructed of moulded<br />
bricks, for the manufacture of which some<br />
clays in this district are peculiarly well<br />
adapted. These bricks are of an excellent<br />
and enduring color, are of solid texture, and<br />
easily cut when necessary. They will not be<br />
exposed to wet, and constitute a finish nearly<br />
as cheap, and much superior in beauty and<br />
durability, to stucco sham-work. The small<br />
cruciform windows of the clerestory have<br />
not yet been put in, but may be inserted for<br />
small cost, at some future day. The roof is<br />
thoroughly open throughout, with moulded<br />
rafters, principals, wall-plates, too.<br />
It is not contemplated to finish the steeple<br />
at the present time, although about £<strong>15</strong>0<br />
has already been expended on its basement<br />
apartment and the part of the steeple built<br />
above ground—some 25 feet in height.<br />
The expense as yet incurred upon the<br />
building is about £1250, a price which is<br />
generally considered by competent judges<br />
to be exceedingly low, and no contractors<br />
have been ruined by the job, as the work has<br />
been almost entirely done by piece-work and<br />
days’ wages. 65<br />
28<br />
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Malcolm Thurlby > essaY | essaI<br />
FIG. 29. Paris, Sacred Heart, interior to E, pre-1912 (Paris Museum and Archives). | Malcolm Thurlby<br />
The description of the church is remarkably<br />
well informed on the architectural architectural science.” 67 Frank Wills (1822-<br />
by the untutored as the most learned in<br />
theory of the time as witnessed by such 1857), another strong proponent of Pugin,<br />
remarks as none of “the sham embellishment<br />
and showy deceptions so common tecture. 68 He maintained that “[t]he great<br />
was a forceful advocate of reality in archi-<br />
in American churches,” and “[i]t has been secret of beauty of the ancient churches<br />
fashioned after the model of the ancient, is their reality,” and warned against “the<br />
modest country churches of England,” plus pernicious influence of sham.” 69<br />
references to reality aimed at throughout,<br />
late Decorated design, nave piers of cut Just as the Paris Town Hall, Maxwell’s<br />
stone, window tracery and side mouldings church of the Sacred Heart makes precise<br />
reference to medieval architectural<br />
of stone, brick for the nave and chancel<br />
arches “much superior in beauty and durability,<br />
to stucco sham-work”; and the standing of Pugin’s True Principles. 70 Pu-<br />
sources and displays a profound under-<br />
open timber roof. It is tempting to suggest<br />
that the description was written by the Roman Catholic churches in Ontario<br />
gin’s influence was strangely lacking in<br />
John Maxwell himself in that it reflects before the arrival of Joseph Connolly<br />
Augustus Welby Pugin’s True Principles (1840-1904) in Toronto in 1873. 71 We may<br />
as advocated by William Hay in an article contrast John Turner’s Roman Catholic<br />
in the Anglo-American Magazine, published<br />
in Toronto. 66 Hay further praised and St. Joseph in Stratford (1867), both<br />
churches of St. Basil in Brantford (1867)<br />
the “ancient village churches of England” of which conform to the standard threeaisle<br />
lath-and-plaster vaulted interior like<br />
and pronounced that “[t]here is a beauty<br />
about those venerable fabrics, not easily Santa Maria-sopra-Minerva, Rome, which<br />
described, but which is recognised as well was the norm throughout Ontario.<br />
The aisle windows of Sacred Heart are<br />
excellent examples of Pugin’s advocacy of<br />
“Ancient Irregular Joints,” as opposed to<br />
“Modern Regular Joints,” as illustrated in<br />
True Principles (figs. 23-24). They also have<br />
Decorated two-light flowing tracery, based<br />
on real medieval models as at Kingsthorpe<br />
(<strong>No</strong>rthamptonshire), illustrated in Parker’s<br />
Glossary (figs. 23 and 25). 72 The majority<br />
of windows in Ontario churches at this<br />
time have wooden frames and tracery,<br />
and therefore the “reality” of Maxwell’s<br />
use of stone is quite exceptional. Similarly,<br />
the stone columns may be contrasted<br />
with the wooden columns in imitation<br />
of stone in the nearby Roman Catholic<br />
church of St. Basil in Brantford. The octagonal<br />
columns with moulded capitals and<br />
two-order chamfered arches for the nave<br />
arcades at Sacred Heart are common in<br />
English parish churches of the thirteenth<br />
and fourteenth centuries and exemplars<br />
would have been available to Maxwell in<br />
books like Brandon’s Parish Churches. 73 Filby<br />
(<strong>No</strong>rfolk) nave has octagonal columns<br />
and two-light aisle windows with flowing<br />
tracery (figs. 22 and 26). Also at Filby, the<br />
small quatrefoil clerestory windows may<br />
have inspired the proposed “cruciform”<br />
clerestory windows in Sacred Heart.<br />
The description praises the durability and<br />
colour of the brick used for the chancel<br />
arch and nave arcade and adds that this is<br />
“much superior in beauty and durability,<br />
to stucco sham-work.” This suggests that<br />
the brickwork was exposed, a feature that<br />
conforms to a High Victorian aesthetic as<br />
advocated by George Edmund Street for<br />
“town churches.” 74<br />
In the easternmost window of the north<br />
nave aisle, the stained glass was a “Gift of<br />
J. Maxwell” (figs. 27-28). Like Maxwell’s<br />
architectural details, the design of the glass<br />
follows medieval precedent in incorporating<br />
stiff-leaf and vine scrolls from Early English<br />
and Decorated sources respectively.<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong><br />
29
Malcolm Thurlby > essaY | essaI<br />
Sacred Heart church was completed by<br />
Brantford architect, John Turner, and was<br />
dedicated on Sunday, February 6, 1881. 75<br />
The report of the dedication includes a<br />
description of the building:<br />
The R.C. Church at Paris has, during the<br />
past season, undergone many changes. A<br />
spire 110 feet has been erected. The roof<br />
has been raised 8 feet, and 4 handsome<br />
gothic windows placed in each side of the<br />
clear story. The whole of the roofs and spire<br />
are slated, the walls on the inside are newly<br />
plastered and blocked, in imitation of well<br />
bonded masonry. The chancel and vestry to<br />
the rear, 18 x 40, are built to correspond<br />
with the stonework of the church. The<br />
chancel on the inside is very handsomely<br />
finished—gothic dudoing—grained ceiling,<br />
coloured blue, with large stucco mouldings<br />
on each angle. The altar is of excellent<br />
design, about 11 feet wide by 24 feet high.<br />
The whole of the work is well executed. Cost<br />
about $7,000. 76<br />
The History of the County of Brant, Ontario<br />
(1883) reports:<br />
The Catholic Church was the pioneer church<br />
of Paris, and can boast of an edifice which<br />
far surpasses all the ecclesiastical buildings,<br />
and is in truth the architectural glory of this<br />
part of the town. It is located on the corner<br />
of Washington and Main Streets, and was<br />
first used for Divine service in 1857. 77<br />
[The 1883 account continues:] The church<br />
is a fine specimen of decorated [sic] Gothic;<br />
the tower is lofty, with a very beautiful<br />
spire, surmounted by a cross of gold. The<br />
building is constructed of a very rich field<br />
stone, to which time is likely to add fresh<br />
beauty and depth of colour. The coping<br />
and caps for buttresses are of the best<br />
cut stone from Ohio. The interior of this<br />
church is very striking. The spirit of true<br />
Gothic art is carried out in the minutest<br />
detail; everything is real; there are no<br />
trashy ornaments, no painted woodwork to<br />
resemble stone. On each side are transepts<br />
separated from the body of the nave by five<br />
massive pillars of cut stone surmounted by<br />
arches, which give the effect of distance<br />
to this beautifully proportional church and<br />
sanctuary. The roof of the nave is open<br />
work, on each side, the light falls through<br />
the stained glass of the clerestory windows<br />
[…] The nave and transepts are seated with<br />
oakwood; the windows all of stained glass,<br />
are for the most part gifts. The mullions and<br />
tracings, which are modified, are chastened<br />
examples of the decorative [sic] style, and<br />
all of cut stone.<br />
The tower of this church is fifteen feet<br />
square, and the spire a hundred and ten<br />
feet high. The nave is ninety feet by fortyfive,<br />
the chancel and sanctuary twentyfour<br />
feet by twenty, and beyond this,<br />
communicating with the priest’s house, a<br />
vestry eighteen feet by fifteen. The roof is<br />
of slate. The altar is on festive occasions<br />
decorated with handsome gilt candlesticks.<br />
It is surmounted with an elaborately-carved<br />
Gothic reredos, containing in the centre a<br />
tabernacle or pyx for the Holy Sacrament,<br />
before which the perpetual lamp is burning;<br />
also above this a gilt crucifix of singular<br />
beauty, and four niches containing figures<br />
of the four Evangelists, each with the<br />
appropriate symbol—the Sacrificial Ox of<br />
St. Luke, the Human Figure which marks<br />
the Evangelist of the Incarnation, the Lion<br />
of St. Mark, The Eagle of St. John. At the<br />
north or “Gospel” side is an oil painting, the<br />
work of a French artist, representing the<br />
baptism of Our Saviour. There are two side<br />
chapels; that to the south, of St. Joseph,<br />
that to the north, of the Blessed Virgin,<br />
whose image represents a face and figure<br />
of ideal purity and benignity. The transept<br />
walls are decorated with a cheap but not<br />
inartistic series of pictures of the Stations<br />
of the Cross. The baptismal font is of white<br />
marble, carved in imitation of an ancient<br />
font at Oxford. The entire cost of the<br />
building was $20,000, mainly raised by the<br />
energy of Father Dowling. It was dedicated<br />
to the Sacred Heart of the Redeemer, in<br />
February, 1881, by Bishop Crinnon, who<br />
then appointed Father Dowling to be Vicar-<br />
General of the Diocese.<br />
While the masonry of Turner’s additions<br />
to the fabric conform to Maxwell’s standards,<br />
it is clear that Pugin’s principles<br />
are diminished with Turner. The plaster<br />
was blocked in imitation of masonry, the<br />
very sort of sham abhorred by Maxwell<br />
the “realist.” The clerestory windows<br />
have wooden tracery rather than stone<br />
used for the aisle windows. The chancel<br />
arch is enriched with plaster capitals and<br />
mouldings and an old photograph preserved<br />
in the Paris Museum and Archives,<br />
taken before the 1912 remodelling of the<br />
chancel, shows that John Turner opted<br />
for a quadripartite rib vault in imitation<br />
of stone and round clerestory windows<br />
(fig. 29). The High Gothic reredos, as described<br />
in 1883, is also seen in the pre-<br />
1912 photograph. It was removed after<br />
the Second Vatican Council (1965).<br />
Conclusion<br />
St. James’s Anglican Church, the Town<br />
Hall, and Sacred Heart Roman Catholic<br />
Church in Paris serve as excellent barometers<br />
of changing attitudes towards Gothic<br />
Revival architecture in Victorian Ontario.<br />
The Town Hall and Sacred Heart introduce<br />
the previously unpublished work of the<br />
architect John Maxwell and amply demonstrate<br />
the great impact of current British<br />
architectural theory in the work of this<br />
local practitioner in the 1850s.<br />
notes<br />
1. I should like to thank David Powell for suggesting<br />
Paris Town Hall as a research topic. I<br />
am deeply indebted to John Runnquist, owner<br />
of Paris Town Hall, for providing unlimited access<br />
to the building, permission to photograph<br />
30<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Malcolm Thurlby > essaY | essaI<br />
it in detail, and for sharing his considerable<br />
knowledge of its history and structure. Bob<br />
Hasler, president of Paris Museum and Archives,<br />
has been an enthusiastic supporter<br />
of the research for this project and a brilliant<br />
guide to the material in his care. Ruth Lefler<br />
kindly drew my attention to aspects of the<br />
history of Paris and Brant County associated<br />
with my research. With characteristic generosity,<br />
Robert G. Hill has provided references to<br />
John Maxwell from his Biographical Dictionary<br />
of Architects in Canada. Rob Hamilton has<br />
also assisted with research related to Maxwell.<br />
Father Michael Bennett kindly facilitated photography<br />
at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic<br />
Church, as did Brian Edwards at St. James’s<br />
Anglican Church.<br />
2. MacRae, Marion and Anthony Adamson, 1963,<br />
The Ancestral Roof: The Domestic Architecture<br />
of Upper Canada, Toronto, Clarke, Irwin &<br />
Co. Ltd., p. 140-141; Byers, Mary and Margaret<br />
McBurney, 1982, The Governor’s Road: Early<br />
Buildings and Families from Mississauga to<br />
London, Toronto, University of Toronto Press,<br />
p. 2<strong>15</strong>-233; Ashenberg, Katherine, 1996, Going<br />
to Town: Architectural Walking Tours in<br />
Southern Ontario, Toronto, Macfarlane Walter<br />
and Ross, p. 89-108; Chapple, Nina Perkins,<br />
2006, A Heritage in Stone: Buildings of the<br />
Niagara Peninsula, Fergus and Elora, Guelph.<br />
Region of Waterloo, Cambridge, Paris, Ancaster-Dundas,<br />
Hamilton and St. Mary’s, Toronto,<br />
James Lorimer and Company Ltd., p. 75-85.<br />
On Paris Presbyterian Church, see Iron, Candace,<br />
2005, “Thomas J. Rutley: A Presbyterian<br />
Church Designer,” Journal of the Society for<br />
the Study of Architecture in Canada, vol. 30,<br />
no. 2, p. 16-26.<br />
3. MacRae, Marion and Anthony Adamson,<br />
1975, Hallowed Walls: Church Architecture of<br />
Upper Canada, Toronto, Clarke, Irwin & Co.<br />
Ltd., p. 263-264; Smith, Carl Frederick, 1944,<br />
Cobblestone Architecture, Rochester (NY),<br />
Great Lakes Press; Freeman, Rich and Sue<br />
Freeman, Cobblestone Quest: Road Tours of<br />
New York’s Historic Buildings, Englewood (FL),<br />
Footprint Press Inc.<br />
4. The History of the County of Brant, Ontario,<br />
Toronto, Warner, Beers & Co., 1883, p. 480-<br />
481.<br />
5. Id., p. 481.<br />
6. According to James Neilson (ed.) (St. James’<br />
Anglican Church, Paris, Ontario, <strong>15</strong>0 th Anniversary<br />
1838-1989, unpaginated), the plaster<br />
ceiling of the nave replaced an arched ceiling<br />
in 1872, at which time a gallery was removed<br />
from the nave and a centre aisle put in.<br />
7. Iron, Candace and Malcolm Thurlby, 2007,<br />
St. John’s Anglican Church, Ancaster: An Architectural<br />
History, [http://www.raisethehammer.<br />
org/index.asp?id=672], figs. 1- 2.<br />
8. Langley, Batty and Thomas Langley, [1742,<br />
Architecture, Restored, and Improved, by A<br />
Great Variety of Grand and useful Designs, Entirely<br />
New, In the Gothic Mode for the Ornamenting<br />
of Buildings and Gardens, London],<br />
reprinted in 2003 as Gothic Architecture, Mineoloa<br />
(NY), Dover Publications, Inc., pl. LIX.<br />
9. Neilson, op. cit.<br />
10. A Few Words to Church Builders, p. 6; reprinted<br />
in Christopher Webster, (ed.), 2003,<br />
“Temples… Worthy of His Presence”: Early<br />
Publications of the Cambridge Camden Society,<br />
Reading, Spire Books, p. 138.<br />
11. A Few Words to Church Builders, p. 13, #27;<br />
Webster, p. 145.<br />
12. A Few Words to Church Builders, p. 5, #6; p.<br />
10, #16; p. 11, #18; Webster, p. 137, 142-143.<br />
13. A Few Words to Church Builders, p. 12; Webster,<br />
p. 144.<br />
14. A Few Words to Church Builders, p. 24, #50;<br />
Webster, p. <strong>15</strong>6.<br />
<strong>15</strong>. Westfall, William and Malcolm Thurlby, 1990,<br />
“Church Architecture and Urban Space: The<br />
Development of Ecclesiastical Forms in Nineteenth-Century<br />
Ontario,” Old Ontario: Essays<br />
in Honour of J.M.C. Careless, In David Keane<br />
and Colin Read (ed.), Toronto and London,<br />
Dundurn Press, p. 118-147, at p. 129-131.<br />
16. Thurlby, Malcolm, 1986, “Nineteenth-Century<br />
Churches in Ontario: A Study in the Meaning<br />
of Style,” Historic Kingston, vol. 35, p. 96-<br />
118.<br />
17. Bennett, Vicki, 1997, Sacred Space and Structural<br />
Style: The Embodiment of Socio-Religious<br />
Ideology, Ottawa, University of Ottawa Press,<br />
p. 172-174.<br />
18. Iron and Thurlby, 2007.<br />
19. Ontario Archives, Minutes of Council of the<br />
Village of Paris, meeting of February 7, 1853.<br />
Copies of the Minutes are also kept at the Paris<br />
Museum and Archives.<br />
20. Id., meeting of February 21, 1853.<br />
21. Id., meeting of April 18, 1853.<br />
22. Id., meeting of May 23, 1853.<br />
23. Id., meeting of June 23, 1853.<br />
24. Id., meeting of December 19, 1853.<br />
25. [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forontario/g-paris.htm].<br />
26 . [http://www.interment.net/data/canada/<br />
ontario/brant/brantford/greenwood/green_<br />
mn.htm].<br />
27. [http://mail.brantford.ca/inventory.nsf].<br />
28. [ h t t p : / / w w w . r o o t s w e b . a n c e s t r y .<br />
com/~onbrant/voters.htm]; Reville, F. Douglas,<br />
1920, History of the County of Brant, vol.<br />
I, Brantford, The Hurley Printing Company,<br />
Limited, p. 107-108, 113.<br />
29. [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forontario/g-t-brant3.htm].<br />
30. The Journal & Express [Hamilton], July 16 1850,<br />
p. 1. Thanks to Robert G. Hill for this reference.<br />
31. V illage of Paris , 1851 Census, p. 35,<br />
lines 9-14.<br />
32. Paris Star Centennial Issue, June 28, 1956, for<br />
reprint of Paris Star and Great Western Advocate,<br />
Wednesday, February 11, 1852, p. 1,<br />
for the continuation of the Maxwell advertisement.<br />
33. The Specifications are preserved in the Paris<br />
Museum and Archives.<br />
34. MacRae, Marion and Anthony Adamson, 1983,<br />
Cornerstones of Order: Courthouses and Town<br />
Halls of Ontario, 1784-1914, Toronto, Clarke<br />
Irwin, p. 77-86.<br />
35. Id., p. 138-141.<br />
36. Id., p. 147-148.<br />
37. Id., p. 165-166.<br />
38. Id., p. 166-167.<br />
39. Id., p. <strong>15</strong>0-<strong>15</strong>2.<br />
40. The Times [London, Ontario], October 13, 1854,<br />
p. 2. I owe this reference to John Runnquist.<br />
41. Young, Carolyn, 1995, The Glory of Ottawa:<br />
Canada’s First Parliament Building, Montreal<br />
and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press;<br />
Thurlby, Malcolm, 1988, “Ottawa Gothic,”<br />
Rotunda, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 24-31.<br />
42. MacRae and Adamson, 1983, p. 92-98, 267;<br />
Brosseau, Mathilde, 1980, Gothic Revival in<br />
Canadian Architecture, Ottawa, Parks Canada,<br />
p. 12, fig. 28; Kalman, Harold, 1994, A History<br />
of Canadian Architecture, 2 vols., Toronto, Oxford<br />
University Press, p. 274-275.<br />
43. MacRae and Adamson, 1983, p. 99-108.<br />
44. Id., 1983, p. 168-169.<br />
45. Smith, Donald A., 1956, At the Forks of the<br />
Grand 1793-1920: 20 Historical Essays on Paris,<br />
Ontario, vol. 1, Paris, Paris Centennial Committee,<br />
p. 32; [http://www.parishistoricalsociety.<br />
com/history.html].<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong><br />
31
Malcolm Thurlby > essaY | essaI<br />
46. Smith, Donald A. 1980. At the Forks of the<br />
Grand 1793-1920: 20 Historical Essays on Paris,<br />
Ontario, vol. 2, Paris, Paris Centennial Committee,<br />
p. 142-145.<br />
47. Port, M.H. 1976. The Houses of Parliament,<br />
New Haven and London, Yale University<br />
Press.<br />
48. Scott, George Gilbert. 1857, Remarks on Secular<br />
and Domestic Architecture: Present and<br />
Future, London, John Murray, p. 198.<br />
49. On the origin of guildhalls, see Turner, T. Hudson,<br />
and John Henry Parker, 1851-1859, Some<br />
Account of Domestic Architecture in England<br />
[of the Middle Ages], Oxford, John Henry Parker,<br />
3 vols. in 4, vol. II, p. 176-177.<br />
50. Hudson and Parker, vol. II, p. 179-80; vol. III,<br />
p. 281-282; Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1973 [3 rd ed., rev.<br />
by Bridget Cherry], The Buildings of England,<br />
I, The Cities of London and Westminster, Harmondsworth,<br />
Penguin Books Ltd., p. 191.<br />
51. Stroud, Dorothy, 1971, George Dance Architect,<br />
1741-1825, London, Faber and Faber,<br />
p. 118-122, pl. 37 A and B.<br />
52. Goodhart-Rendell, H.S., 1964, “Victorian Public<br />
Buildings,” In Peter Ferriday, (ed.), Victorian<br />
Architecture, Philadelphia and New York, J.B.<br />
Lippincott Company, p. 87-101, at p. 91.<br />
53. The Builder, February 2, 1856, reproduced in<br />
Young, Carolyn, 1995, The Glory of Ottawa…,<br />
fig. 13.<br />
54. Ruskin, John, [1849] rev. ed. 1907, The Seven<br />
Lamps of Architecture, London, J.M. Dent &<br />
Sons Ltd., p. 75-76 and 149.<br />
55. Ruskin, John, 1981, The Stones of Venice, Jan<br />
Morris (ed.), Boston and Toronto, Little, Brown<br />
and Company, p. 123.<br />
56. Id., p. 134.<br />
57. Id., p. 135-136.<br />
58. Parker, John Henry, 1850, 5 th ed. enlarged, A<br />
Glossary of Terms used in Grecian, Roman, Italian,<br />
and Gothic Architecture, 3 vols., Oxford,<br />
John Henry Parker/London, John Bogue, vol. II,<br />
pl. 81; Parker, John Henry, 1849, An Introduction<br />
to the Study of Gothic Architecture, London,<br />
James Parker and Co., fig. <strong>15</strong>4.<br />
59. Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche, 1829, The Principles<br />
of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture,<br />
London, W. Kent and Co., ill. p. 227 and 229.<br />
60. Parker, 1850, pl. 253.<br />
61. Parker, 1850, pl. 252.<br />
62. The Builder, vol. 10, May 8, 1852, p. 289; The<br />
Builder, 12, 1854, 1<strong>15</strong> ill.; Muthesius, Stefan,<br />
1972, The High Victorian Movement in Architecture,<br />
London, Routledge and Kegan Paul,<br />
p. 172, pl. 128.<br />
63. Hasler, Robert Lewis Rashleigh, 2000, Paris<br />
Junction, Paris Station (1848-1900); “The Hey<br />
Day of the Dream Era,” Paris (ON), Somerset<br />
House Publishing, p. 12.<br />
64. Hasler, p. 12-13.<br />
65. The Mirror [Toronto], January <strong>15</strong>, 1858, p. 3. I<br />
owe this reference to Robert G. Hill.<br />
66. Hay, William, [1853, “The Late Mr. Pugin and<br />
the Revival of Christian Architecture,” Anglo-<br />
American Magazine, vol. II, p. 70-73], reprinted<br />
in Simmins, Geoffrey (ed.), Documents in Canadian<br />
Architecture, 1992, Peterborough (ON),<br />
Broadview Press.<br />
67. Hay, William, “Ecclesiastical Architecture: Village<br />
Churches,” Anglo-American Magazine,<br />
vol. 4 (1854), p. 20-22; [http://www.archive.<br />
org/stream/angloamericanma00unkngoog].<br />
68. Wills, Frank, 1848, “Reality in Church Architecture,”<br />
New York Ecclesiologist (October),<br />
p. 8-12, [http://anglicanhistory.org/ecclesiologist/ny/1.html];<br />
Wills, Frank, 1850, Ancient<br />
English Ecclesiastical Architecture and its<br />
Principles Applied to the Wants of the Church<br />
at the Present Day, New York, Stanford and<br />
Swords, p. 83-92.<br />
69. Wills, 1850, p. 89, 91.<br />
70. Pugin, Augustus Welby, 1841, True Principles<br />
of Pointed or Christian Architecture, London,<br />
John Weale.<br />
71. On Joseph Connolly, see Thurlby, Malcolm,<br />
2005, “Joseph Connolly in the Roman Catholic<br />
Archdiocese of Kingston, Ontario,” Journal of<br />
the Society for the Study of Architecture in<br />
Canada, vol. 30, p. 25-38, with full bibliography.<br />
72. Pugin, True Principles… pl. 2; Parker, 1850,<br />
vol. III, pl. 236.<br />
73. Brandon, Raphael and J. Arthur Brandon,<br />
1846, Parish Churches, London, George Bell.<br />
74. Street, George Edmund, 1850, “On the Proper<br />
Characteristics of a Town Church,” The Ecclesiologist,<br />
vol. XI, p. 227-233.<br />
75. “Paris, Church Dedication,” The Daily Expositor<br />
[Brantford], February 9, 1881, p. 2; The<br />
Weekly Expositor [Brantford], February 11,<br />
1881, p. 1.<br />
76. Ibid.<br />
77. The History of the County of Brant, Ontario,<br />
p. 479.<br />
32<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
ANALYSis | ANALYSe<br />
The Small House in Print<br />
Promoting the Modern Home to Post-war Canadians<br />
through Pattern Books, Journals, and Magazines 1<br />
George Thomas Kapelos is associate professor<br />
and past chair, Department of Architectural Science,<br />
Ryerson University (Toronto). He was president of<br />
>Ge o r g e Th o m a s<br />
Kap e l o s<br />
the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada<br />
(1980-1982) and member of the executive (vicepresident<br />
and secretary) (1977-1980). In 2008<br />
he was named a fellow of the Royal Architectural<br />
Institute of Canada (FRAIC). His publications include<br />
“Looking and Seeing: Concrete and the Education<br />
of the Architect,” In Graeme Stewart and Michael<br />
McClelland (eds.), TOBrut, Toronto, Coach House<br />
Press, 2007, p. 54-55; “Finding Beauty: Toronto’s<br />
Clean & Beautiful City Initiative,” ISoCaRP 3, Journal<br />
of the International Society of City and Regional<br />
Planners, 2007, p. 45-62; and Course Studies –<br />
Tracking Ontario’s Thames: An Exploration of the<br />
River, London, Museum London, 2001.<br />
The May 1962 cover of the Canadian<br />
Homes and Gardens (CH&G) magazine<br />
presents an enticing image. Entitled “The<br />
Poolside Life,” the cover story depicts a<br />
scene of nonchalant typicality in the West<br />
Vancouver family home of Art and Patti<br />
Philips and their four children: suburban,<br />
leisured, carefree, and completely modern<br />
(fig. 1). 2 The ease with which the magazine<br />
presented this as a matter-of-fact,<br />
everyday occurrence signalled a cultural<br />
shift. A scant decade and a half before,<br />
Canada had been facing an unprecedented<br />
housing crisis. Returning veterans<br />
were pressing for jobs; there were severe<br />
housing shortages across the country; and<br />
the infrastructure to accommodate new<br />
communities and the anticipated population<br />
surge was non-existent. In 1946,<br />
veterans staged a peaceful but pointed<br />
occupation of the old Hotel Vancouver.<br />
Led by a Canadian Legion sergeant-atarms<br />
and climaxing two years of public<br />
agitation over the lack of housing, that<br />
event drew national attention to the<br />
country’s housing needs. 3 Vancouver’s<br />
protesting veterans could hardly have<br />
imagined the idyllic future life, as pictured<br />
in the glossy pages of the magazine,<br />
that lay before them.<br />
FIG. 1. “The Poolside Life,” CH&G, May 1962, cover.<br />
Shortly after the article appeared, the<br />
CH&G ceased publication, 4 but the<br />
impact of its imagery and messages was<br />
apparent everywhere. Across the country,<br />
modern, single-family homes of contemporary<br />
design had become the norm.<br />
How did this dramatic change happen<br />
so quickly? What precipitated such widespread<br />
acceptance of a new style of living?<br />
How had the unimaginable become<br />
the quotidian?<br />
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33
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This paper explores the interrelationship<br />
between Canadian housing production<br />
and architectural print media in Englishlanguage<br />
Canada in the decade following<br />
the end of the Second World War. It<br />
explores how print media and concomitant<br />
professional and government institutions<br />
operated to influence widespread<br />
consumer adoption of a modern architectural<br />
design vocabulary that became<br />
the norm for single-family housing of<br />
the late 1940s, 1950s, and beyond. The<br />
paper also describes how the professional<br />
architectural press of the 1940s promoted<br />
modernism, mostly to architects. Simultaneously,<br />
it explores how the content of<br />
shelter magazines, focusing on the home<br />
and homeowner, popularized modern<br />
housing in a way that enabled homebuyers<br />
to identify with this new architecture<br />
and feel comfortable with it.<br />
While the interplay between popular and<br />
professional press is not uniquely Canadian,<br />
this paper contends that the strong<br />
presence of the state, in this case the Central<br />
(later Canada) Mortgage and Housing<br />
Corporation (CMHC), in the promotion<br />
and design of single-family housing is<br />
noteworthy. Through the agency of the<br />
CMHC, builders were drawn to build modern<br />
houses, and consumers were led to see<br />
these as the preferred choice for living. By<br />
operating both to guarantee financing for<br />
new housing and to produce pattern books<br />
of commissioned modern house designs<br />
that would readily be amenable to financing,<br />
the CMHC created an environment<br />
whereby this new housing mode was not<br />
only sanctioned, but became widely desirable<br />
and prevalent. But the state could not<br />
have effected this without the participation<br />
of the professions, the press, and the<br />
buying public. The convergence of professions,<br />
media, and national institution to<br />
bring about this new form of housing is<br />
an important yet unrecognized moment<br />
in Canada’s architectural history.<br />
The significant number of houses built<br />
during that period, and their continued<br />
existence, altered the Canadian housing<br />
landscape dramatically and created<br />
a new model for the ideal home. Many<br />
Canadians grew up in houses built in<br />
the period just after the Second World<br />
War when returning veterans drove the<br />
demand for affordable, first-time homes.<br />
These small modern dwellings, emblematic<br />
of a time of exponential growth and<br />
rising expectations, have a special place<br />
in the history of Canadian communities,<br />
establishing the standard for suburban<br />
living in the years following the war.<br />
The period 1946-1956, the first ten years<br />
of the CMHC, heralded the 1957 inception<br />
of the Canadian Housing Design<br />
Council, established to give a higher<br />
profile to housing design and ultimately<br />
wresting CMHC’s leadership on housing<br />
design. 5 In that same decade following<br />
the end of the Second World War, the<br />
CMHC made available over five hundred<br />
plans for small house types (and during<br />
that period the definition of the “small”<br />
house grew from under one thousand<br />
square feet to close to two thousand<br />
square feet). Through its regional centres<br />
and local offices, the CMHC distributed<br />
these plans as well as advice to potential<br />
homeowners and builders.<br />
As a result, Canada’s post-war suburbs are<br />
well stocked with CMHC-derived house<br />
designs. While it is difficult to know the<br />
exact number of single-family dwellings<br />
produced by this means, based on housing<br />
starts during that time period and the<br />
value of mortgages financed, an estimate<br />
of approximately one million two hundred<br />
thousand would be reasonable. 6 Many of<br />
these houses, albeit changed and modified<br />
over time, still serve their inhabitants<br />
and form the majority of housing stock in<br />
the older, near-in suburbs of all Canadian<br />
cities. Their continued value is further<br />
reflected in 2002 initiatives by the CMHC<br />
to encourage the renewal of these houses<br />
through improvements, as identified in<br />
two of their reports which focus on continued<br />
rehabilitation (figs. 2-3). 7 In fact,<br />
these houses comprise the largest stock of<br />
architectural heritage from the post-war,<br />
modern period. They are undervalued<br />
and their conservation remains ignored<br />
and neglected.<br />
The significance of CMHC’s designs is<br />
twofold: first, the emphasis on quality<br />
design, fostered by CMHC’s commissioning<br />
of young architectural talent<br />
to produce plans and prototypes, and,<br />
secondly, the proliferation of new technologies<br />
and materials introduced into<br />
the housing market. Yet, while the CMHC<br />
was active in promoting the design of<br />
small, efficiently-arranged and architecturally-considered<br />
houses, it is not<br />
solely responsible for the widespread<br />
acceptance among average Canadians.<br />
Professional publications, initially the<br />
Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute<br />
of Canada (JRAIC) and latterly the<br />
fledgling Canadian Architect (CA) magazine,<br />
kept the idea of high design for the<br />
modern house in the eye of the architect,<br />
and the architect’s client, whether<br />
a single-family homeowner or a builderdeveloper.<br />
Builders and manufacturers<br />
were also shaping the housing market<br />
in the post-war period, while capitalizing<br />
on the demand for housing and home<br />
equipment and furnishings. They captured<br />
consumers with an attractive and<br />
unprecedented array of materials, goods,<br />
and equipment that would be at home<br />
in these new, modern houses. 8<br />
It is the popular shelter magazine, and<br />
for readers in English-speaking Canada<br />
for the purposes of this investigation it is<br />
one magazine, the CH&G, which played<br />
a pivotal role in disseminating information<br />
on the new house. This publication,<br />
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unique in English Canada during the period,<br />
established norms of acceptability for<br />
these houses, provided standards for their<br />
occupancy and, most critically, promoted<br />
their comfort and liveability. Supported<br />
by a private sector anxious to meet the<br />
demands of a growing housing market,<br />
government agency, professional journal,<br />
and popular magazine came together to<br />
shape design expectations and ultimately<br />
the proliferation of a certain form of postwar<br />
single-family dwelling.<br />
The ‘Flow’ of Mass Culture<br />
This essay is framed by explorations of<br />
contemporary popular culture and the<br />
expression of this culture, especially<br />
through the magazine. 9 Maria Tippett<br />
argues that, for Canadians, particularly<br />
those in English-speaking Canada prior<br />
to 1945, the making of culture was<br />
achieved through a combination of local<br />
initiative and government intervention<br />
at the national level. 10 Until the 1960s<br />
and the writings of Marshall McLuhan 11<br />
and other critics, popular media have not<br />
been recognized as important agents in<br />
cultural production. Addressing the question<br />
of contemporary culture, Raymond<br />
Williams identifies a ‘sociology of culture,’<br />
which points to the informing spirit<br />
of a way of life, “manifest over a whole<br />
range of cultural activities.” 12 Culture, he<br />
believes, in its broadest sense, embodies<br />
all forms of practice and production,<br />
which converge to create a “signifying<br />
system through which social order is<br />
communicated, reproduced, experienced<br />
and explored.” 13 The approach<br />
to culture includes not only traditional<br />
arts and forms of intellectual production<br />
such as those explored by Maria<br />
Tippett and others, but also, according<br />
to Raymond Williams, “all of the signifying<br />
practices from language through<br />
the arts and philosophy to journalism,<br />
fashion and advertising.” 14 He offers<br />
FIG. 2. Many of the houses built as a result of CMHC programs<br />
still serve their inhabitants, although with<br />
changes and modifications, and form the majority of<br />
housing stock in the older, near-in suburbs of all Canadian<br />
cities. Their continued value is further reflected<br />
in recent initiatives by the CMHC to encourage the<br />
renewal of these houses through improvements, as<br />
identified in two 2002 reports by the CMHC which<br />
focus on their continued rehabilitation and upkeep.<br />
CMHC, 2002, Renovating Distinctive Homes:<br />
1½ Storey Post-War Homes, Ottawa, Canada<br />
Mortgage and Housing Corporation, cover.<br />
cautionary advice about the effects of<br />
studying individual threads of a subject,<br />
instead of the subject in its entirety and<br />
recommends that scholars study the flow<br />
of material instead of “the discrete single<br />
work, [because scholars are] in danger of<br />
narrowing [the] notion of text too much<br />
[…] and by doing so missing the normal<br />
characteristic of mass culture […] one of<br />
‘flow.’” <strong>15</strong> According to Raymond Williams,<br />
convergence is essential for an understanding<br />
of the ‘sociology of culture.’<br />
One important vehicle for cultural expression<br />
is the magazine, which as early as the<br />
1890s had become the de facto arbiter of<br />
the evolving social order and has recently<br />
become a source for scholarly study of contemporary<br />
culture. 16 Valerie J. Korinek has<br />
applied Raymond Williams’s notions of flow<br />
in the popular press in her investigation of<br />
FIG. 3. CMHC, 2002, Renovating Distinctive Homes:<br />
One Storey Houses of the ’60s and ’70s,<br />
Ottawa, Canada Mortgage and Housing<br />
Corporation, cover.<br />
Chatelaine magazine and its impact on<br />
the lives of Canadian women. 17 Her analysis<br />
builds on that author’s idea of the flow<br />
of mass culture; 18 she examines a twentyyear<br />
period of Chatelaine, systematically<br />
analyzing content to identify themes and<br />
prevalent ideas, in order to understand<br />
interrelationships and linkages. 19<br />
Utilizing that approach to explore the<br />
post-war house as an element of cultural<br />
expression and applying Raymond<br />
Williams’s ideas of convergence requires<br />
a multi-faceted analysis, including an<br />
exploration of specific cultural institutions,<br />
professional journals, and popular<br />
media. As well, the analysis requires<br />
an understanding of both the material<br />
means of cultural production (architects<br />
in practice and the CMHC) and the resultant<br />
forms of culture—in this case the<br />
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post-war single-family house. By means<br />
of a close reading of two periodicals and<br />
CMHC house plan books over the period<br />
of the greatest flux in the Canadian housing<br />
marketplace, that being the decade<br />
following the close of the Second World<br />
War, we begin to comprehend how the<br />
landscape of new housing, built mostly<br />
on the edge of Canadian urban areas, can<br />
be understood and evaluated.<br />
Before addressing the dialectic of the<br />
modern house as an instrument of<br />
social change and as an aesthetic ideal,<br />
we must first understand the interplay<br />
among Canada’s pre-eminent agent<br />
of housing production: the CMHC, the<br />
agents and institutions of architectural<br />
design, notably the architectural profession<br />
represented through the pages of<br />
the JRAIC, the agents of popular taste<br />
and consumption, as depicted in the<br />
popular shelter press, especially the<br />
CH&G magazine, the most widely read<br />
and popular English-language publication<br />
of its kind during the period, 20<br />
and the consumer, whose predilections<br />
and inclinations had been pent up during<br />
years of economic depression and<br />
the ensuing war. We must also understand<br />
how the shelter magazine and its<br />
readers (mostly female) moderated the<br />
dialectic of the modern house, making<br />
it palatable for mass consumption.<br />
In addition, the CMHC’s model house<br />
plans, initially selected by means of a<br />
competitive process, gained widespread<br />
acceptance through their regular publication<br />
in pattern books. By examining<br />
the English-language Canadian professional<br />
press and how it viewed and promoted<br />
the small, modern, single-family<br />
house, particularly through publishing<br />
the work of young Canadian architects,<br />
we can explore the interpretation and<br />
adaptation of the modern single-family<br />
home by the public. In particular, the<br />
CH&G was a primary source of information<br />
on housing and popular culture for<br />
the period of the magazine’s life, from<br />
1924 to 1962. 21 Throughout that period<br />
of social-aesthetic transformation, the<br />
consumer remains a constant, both as<br />
target and participant. 22<br />
While the CMHC was the engine that<br />
produced house designs and financed<br />
their construction through mortgage<br />
support, the architectural profession<br />
readily engaged with the CMHC, creating<br />
high-level design output. However,<br />
it was the magazine and the way it was<br />
conceived, read, and interpreted that<br />
became the vehicle of normalization and<br />
cultural acceptance for the new modern<br />
small house, legitimizing it, moderating<br />
and tempering its impact, providing information<br />
on its liveability, and showing the<br />
way for its acceptance by the post-war<br />
consumer. It is the flow of these forces<br />
and the convergence of disparate components<br />
into the form of contemporary,<br />
modern houses that created the dominant<br />
fabric of the post-war Canadian suburban<br />
landscape and material culture,<br />
which persist today. 23<br />
The Modern Single-family<br />
House: the “Quiet Revolution”<br />
in Residential Design<br />
In 1934, following an extensive tour of<br />
new European housing, Catherine Bauer<br />
presented a summary of what she called<br />
“modern housing” across the continent.<br />
In her opinion, “‘modern housing’<br />
[…] has certain qualities and embodies<br />
certain method and purposes, which<br />
distinguish it sharply from the typical<br />
residential environment of the past<br />
century.” 24 A number of case studies<br />
detailed the basic principles or “vital<br />
standards” of European housing, which<br />
she listed. Measured against these standards,<br />
she was impressed by what she<br />
identified as “not reform, but new form”<br />
signified by a “really positive and creative<br />
effort toward modern architecture.” 25<br />
She was unequivocal in her advocacy for<br />
this new form: “One of the most hopeful<br />
facts about both modern housing and<br />
modern architecture is that they are not<br />
a separate subject.” 26<br />
Catherine Bauer was predominantly preoccupied<br />
with multiple housing, which<br />
she believed would be the best way of<br />
providing housing in contemporary society;<br />
however, she did believe that the<br />
single-family dwelling would persist as<br />
a type. Turn-of-the-century progressivism,<br />
she conceded, “can be found in the<br />
typical suburban house of a progressive<br />
and fairly wealthy American of the period.”<br />
Such houses reflected the “vague<br />
idea that good taste had something to<br />
do with simplicity” and that there was<br />
“a snobbism in favour of sunlight and<br />
against useless objects.” 27<br />
Catherine Bauer’s advocacy of modern<br />
housing rested on social and technical<br />
reform and her energies were focused<br />
at the level of policy and government<br />
agency. Others took a different tack,<br />
primarily through the agency of the<br />
press, to engender positive popular feelings<br />
about the new forms of architecture.<br />
English architect and critic Francis<br />
Reginald Stevens Yorke became a champion<br />
of modernism and brought its message<br />
to a wider audience of architects<br />
and patrons in Britain in the 1930s and<br />
1940s. As the author of The Modern<br />
House, first published in London in 1934,<br />
and the founding secretary of the Modern<br />
Architecture Research Group (MARS)<br />
in Britain, he popularized modernity in<br />
the United Kingdom, particularly its<br />
appropriateness for the villa, or singlefamily<br />
house. Yorke continued to write<br />
about the house, updating it for postwar<br />
readers. 28 Francis R.S. Yorke’s writings<br />
for a number of British architectural<br />
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journals in the 1930s and 1940s brought<br />
him into close contact with practising<br />
architects. He understood that architects<br />
who wished to explore new forms<br />
of architecture could not use large commissions<br />
as the focus for experimentation:<br />
“Since the architect can gain real<br />
experience of new construction only in<br />
actually building work, he is most likely<br />
to find in the villa the most easily accessible<br />
unit for research.” 29<br />
Born into the British upper class, but<br />
not into wealth, and trained in architecture,<br />
Francis R.S. Yorke turned to<br />
writing as a means of economic survival<br />
and “proving his credentials as a<br />
modernist.” 30 Serving for many as the<br />
first introduction to European Modernism,<br />
The Modern House was drawn from<br />
his contributions to the leading magazines<br />
and reviews of the day, including<br />
The Architectural Record, Architecture<br />
Design and Construction, Building,<br />
The Master Builder, and L’Architecture<br />
d’aujourd’hui. 31 The Modern House was<br />
so easily written and laid out, as Jeremy<br />
Melvin stated, that “an impoverished,<br />
inexperienced architect could turn to<br />
The Modern House as a source book,<br />
almost a religious text.” 32 Throughout<br />
the 1930s Yorke continued as the advocate<br />
of modernity through his own columns<br />
in periodicals such as Architects’<br />
Journal and Architectural Review.<br />
Catherine Bauer and Francis R.S. Yorke<br />
represented the two poles within which<br />
the debate on modernism was framed:<br />
the progressive and populist sentiment,<br />
which argued for modern housing as a<br />
social necessity, and the aesthetic experiment,<br />
which saw it as a design expression<br />
of the zeitgeist [spirit of the age]. Translated<br />
into the <strong>No</strong>rth American context,<br />
this dialectic was labelled as revolutionary<br />
in both spatial and social terms. Typical<br />
is the 1951 introduction to The Modern<br />
House Today, written for American<br />
readers by Katherine Morrow Ford and<br />
Thomas H. Creighton:<br />
A quiet revolution has taken place in<br />
residential design in the last decade (which<br />
deserved to be documented rather fully;<br />
revolution, not evolution, because the<br />
wrench has been violent, if usually polite)<br />
[…] The revolt has done this: it has swept<br />
away the need for thinking in static terms<br />
of tightly enclosed, inward looking rooms;<br />
and it has substituted the privilege of using<br />
free, open, outward-looking space. This has<br />
implied both a technical and an emotional<br />
readjustment. 33<br />
Through the designs of architects practising<br />
in the USA, such as Hugh Stubbins,<br />
Marcel Breuer, and Philip Johnson,<br />
Katherine Morrow Ford and Thomas H.<br />
Creighton detailed that revolution with<br />
ample evidence, depicting eighty-five<br />
residential designs of the period. The<br />
houses were comfortable, spacious, open,<br />
light-filled, and clearly contemporary in<br />
approach and appearance. Nevertheless,<br />
even though well underway, the revolution<br />
remained to them incomprehensible.<br />
“The odd thing about this revolution,”<br />
they mused, “is that it has not been<br />
widely or generally understood, despite<br />
increasing attention to its results on the<br />
part of the consumer press and […] the<br />
professional journals.” 34<br />
Their views were typical of post-war<br />
writings on the architecture of domestic<br />
space. They exuberantly promoted<br />
a new form of housing that was taking<br />
hold in the post-war marketplace<br />
in <strong>No</strong>rth America in a long-anticipated<br />
revolution. Nevertheless, in spite of<br />
their acknowledgement of the role mass<br />
media was playing in popularizing this<br />
new form of design, they did not see<br />
how the popular press was interpreting<br />
and shaping public acceptance.<br />
The Magazine, the (Female)<br />
Reader, and the Advance<br />
of the Modern Agenda:<br />
Modernity or ‘Modified’<br />
Modern?<br />
The late nineteenth century witnessed<br />
the publication of an unprecedented<br />
number of mass-circulation titles in the<br />
English-speaking world, which included<br />
magazines whose primary concern and<br />
focus was domesticity. 35 While the relationship<br />
of the popular press to modernity<br />
in general goes beyond the scope of<br />
this investigation, certain aspects of the<br />
topic are relevant here. Several genres of<br />
magazines intersected in the domain of<br />
interior design, including women’s consumer<br />
titles, professional art and architecture<br />
journals, and trade journals for<br />
the building and furniture industries. 36<br />
In the first half of the twentieth century,<br />
a specific kind of journal evolved, which<br />
mediated between the architectural profession,<br />
predominantly male, and a clientele,<br />
which was understood to be largely<br />
female and credited with “the active role<br />
in ‘producing’ the domestic interior as a<br />
complex designed project.” 37<br />
Throughout the twentieth century and<br />
on national and international scales,<br />
the magazine brought the representation<br />
of designed objects into the reader’s<br />
physical environment. Indeed, the popular<br />
magazine became not only the means<br />
for readers to engage with contemporary<br />
ideas, but also the embodiment of<br />
modernity, “a complex object, in many<br />
respects the epitome of Baudelairean<br />
modernity: ephemeral, fleeting and<br />
contingent.” 38 Through reading about the<br />
modern in architecture and design, the<br />
consumer was primed and predisposed to<br />
new modes of form and design. During<br />
periods when resources were few, magazines<br />
suggested that actual consumption<br />
may not be necessary: modernity could<br />
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be performed simply by reading about<br />
that consumption. 39<br />
Canada was no exception. In 1958, in<br />
a brief from the CMHC to the United<br />
Nations on the state of housing in Canada,<br />
an anonymous writer described the relationship<br />
between the female consumer,<br />
the magazine, and norms and attitudes<br />
toward housing design in Canada:<br />
[A]s hired domestic help is more expensive<br />
and less tractable than mechanical aids<br />
in household operation, housewives are<br />
left alone to manage their domains with<br />
machines and their infant children with<br />
difficulty […] <strong>No</strong>rms of taste and behaviour<br />
in Canadian residential areas, certainly<br />
in suburban areas, are heavily influenced<br />
by Canadian and American advertisers<br />
of consumer goods and the leadership<br />
given editorially in the weekly and monthly<br />
magazines of this Continent. 40<br />
A number of critics have extensively reevaluated<br />
these norms of taste and behaviour,<br />
which are integral to the creation of<br />
the domestic realm, and have placed a<br />
particular focus on the post-war suburb,<br />
the interrelationship of media and magazine<br />
reader, and the roles played by each<br />
to shape the post-war suburban environment.<br />
Men and women played multiple<br />
roles in this world; the dynamics between<br />
media images and reality as it was lived<br />
were complex; and the impact on postwar<br />
culture, although profound, was<br />
neither straightforward nor predictable.<br />
Recent scholarship has focused on the<br />
interrelationship between designer, typically<br />
the male architect, and his androgynous,<br />
hermaphrodite client: the male<br />
husband-client (wage earner and de facto<br />
mortgage-reducer), and the female wifeclient<br />
(homemaker and de facto domestic<br />
stabilizer). Feminist research has focused<br />
on the latter: the woman as reader, client,<br />
and consumer. A summary of this research<br />
follows, to shed light on the complexities<br />
and nuances in the creation of the modern,<br />
domestic realm.<br />
Modernism anticipated an increased<br />
participation of women in the design of<br />
the modern home. The MARS group, for<br />
example, included the appointment of<br />
Elizabeth Denby as a housing consultant,<br />
whose role was to effect the improvement<br />
of domestic facilities. Her focus, however,<br />
remained on spaces identified traditionally<br />
as the domain of the female, most<br />
notably the kitchen. 41 Rhodri Windsor<br />
Liscombe suggests that such spaces were<br />
a “‘fe-maled’ surrogate to male agency<br />
and preference,” as kitchen designs were<br />
instigated predominantly by male architects<br />
who mobilized a knowledge base<br />
derived primarily from male performance<br />
in industry and the military. 42 Veronica<br />
Strong-Boag confirms the gendered realm<br />
of the suburb, which, she believes, supported<br />
the notion that “women’s basic<br />
satisfactions came through service to<br />
others in the domestic sphere.” 43<br />
But did women accept what the designers<br />
were bringing upon them, and did they act<br />
with one accord? <strong>No</strong>t necessarily. Joy Parr’s<br />
study of Canadian homemakers, designers,<br />
and manufacturers exposes the struggle<br />
between designer and client in the first<br />
two decades after the Second World<br />
War. 44 The domestic ideal envisioned by<br />
the designer did not always reflect the<br />
realm of the housewife. Post-war women<br />
did not blindly embrace modern tenets of<br />
purity of form, functionalism, and machine<br />
aesthetic, especially as they impacted the<br />
kitchen, living room, and other spaces of<br />
the domestic interior. Joy Parr suggests<br />
that many women read the small scale<br />
and practical plainness of modern, postwar<br />
housing as cottage-like rather than<br />
contemporary. Women, she contends, subverted<br />
the modern ideal, and created their<br />
own interpretation of modernity.<br />
Throughout that period, the magazine<br />
played an important and consistent role<br />
in the life of the homemaker 45 and in the<br />
establishment of norms and behaviours. 46<br />
Valerie J. Korinek’s close reading of Chatelaine,<br />
a publication of the Maclean Hunter<br />
group that also produced the CH&G,<br />
reveals that the magazine provided many<br />
women an opportunity to challenge prevalent<br />
assumptions about the home, their<br />
roles in the family, and expected norms of<br />
appropriate behaviour. 47 Rhodri Windsor<br />
Liscombe’s analysis of Western Homes and<br />
Living (WH&L), a popular shelter magazine<br />
published in Vancouver for a western<br />
Canadian audience, explores paternalistic<br />
attitudes and the modernist domestic<br />
agenda which he contends entrapped<br />
women. 48 Valerie J. Korinek does not focus<br />
in any detail on the relationship between<br />
reader and specifics of the domestic interior.<br />
Rather, her discussion centres on the<br />
magazine’s social realm, its profound influence<br />
on readers, and its importance in<br />
shaping the feminist agenda of the 1950s<br />
and 1960s. Women readers, she reveals,<br />
were not mute or passive in their acceptance<br />
of views presented by the magazine.<br />
Chatelaine was widely and continuously<br />
read, even when readers disagreed with<br />
editorial stances, and its pages provided a<br />
forum not only for information but also as<br />
a basis for communication among women<br />
across Canada. Women were active participants<br />
in the shaping and reshaping of the<br />
modernist agenda to fit their own particular<br />
conditions.<br />
The modernity of the house, anticipated<br />
by Francis R.S. Yorke, advocated by Catherine<br />
Bauer, and promoted by magazine<br />
editors, did not go unchallenged and,<br />
more importantly, was often transgressed<br />
to suit the circumstances of the homebuyer<br />
and homemaker. Joy Parr’s presentation<br />
of the transgressive reading of modernity<br />
takes shape in her discussion of the<br />
furniture industry. In the chapter entitled<br />
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“Maple as Modern,” she contends that<br />
modernism was not an aesthetic project,<br />
but one of reconciliation and accommodation,<br />
between the forces of the world of<br />
the 1950s and the needs to address the<br />
diverse pulls of family, financial exigency,<br />
and comfort. By example, the restyling of<br />
maple furniture in the late 1940s and 1950s<br />
was a response to the conditions of the<br />
modern home and family. It was “readily<br />
recognizable, relatively invulnerable, and<br />
inherently companionable.” 49 Rather than<br />
being simply about change, modernism<br />
was about making change amenable.<br />
That kind of re-adaptation of modernity<br />
is given a specific definition by David<br />
Smiley in his exploration of the interrelationship<br />
between ideas of the home and<br />
the cultural apparatus through which the<br />
home was represented. He identifies an<br />
ambiguous relationship between popular<br />
magazines and architectural journals<br />
in their representation of modernity. 50 In<br />
his survey of New York’s domestic culture<br />
in the period immediately following the<br />
Second World War, like Joy Parr, he identifies<br />
two overlapping views of domestic<br />
modernism, one based on aesthetic<br />
production and the other socially driven.<br />
The former, which he calls “productionbased<br />
modernism,” looked to technology<br />
to solve the housing problem. The latter,<br />
or “socially-derived modernism,” believed<br />
that modern living could be achieved in<br />
a house of either traditional or modern<br />
appearance. Socially-derived modernism,<br />
David Smiley contends, stressed a life of<br />
convenience and flexibility that was freed<br />
of the aesthetic rigors of high modernism.<br />
He labels that approach “modified modernism”<br />
or “a new style from which bits<br />
and pieces could be selected and combined<br />
with other styles.” 51 Images of new<br />
ways of living circulated by both popular<br />
and professional magazine resulted in a<br />
reformulation of the idea of the modern<br />
house as “a sum of attributes and experiences—a<br />
flexible space, a view through<br />
an expanse of glass, efficient storage.”<br />
Spurred by the domestic consumption<br />
industry, the resulting “modified modern”<br />
created “an elastic conception of<br />
modernity that made it the functional<br />
equivalent of a process of selection.” 52<br />
In effect, the housing consumer was<br />
allowed to choose aspects of modernity,<br />
without necessarily having to ascribe<br />
to the entire ideal. These “modernisms”<br />
propelled the single-family home to the<br />
centre of a post-war cultural debate, rendering<br />
moot any single idea of how the<br />
house should look. At the same time, the<br />
potential for a multiplicity of forms and<br />
ideas to coexist within the idea of the<br />
modern house provided unprecedented<br />
opportunities for architects and housing<br />
providers to develop houses in a myriad<br />
of forms and functional arrangements<br />
to satisfy the growing demands of firsttime<br />
homebuyers. It is in this milieu that<br />
the activities of the CMHC can best be<br />
explored and understood.<br />
The State and Housing<br />
Production in Canada<br />
after 1945 53<br />
With the end of the Second World War,<br />
attention focused on the urgent issue of<br />
housing. In 1947 the Canadian Welfare<br />
Council summarized the situation:<br />
The future health, vigour and stability of the<br />
nation will depend greatly upon the housing<br />
conditions under which the people live and<br />
raise their children […] The opportunity<br />
for every Canadian family to enjoy a<br />
decent house and a healthy neighbourhood<br />
environment should be a primary objective<br />
of national policy. 54<br />
The government acted quickly to address<br />
the anticipated demands of Canadians<br />
for new housing. In 1946 the CMHC was<br />
established and charged with a number<br />
of responsibilities including the administration<br />
of the National Housing Act 1944,<br />
whose mandate was both monetary and<br />
social. 55 The CMHC enabled financing of<br />
housing, including loans to prospective<br />
homeowners and builders, and guarantees<br />
to institutions and local governments<br />
to support housing initiatives. A small<br />
component focused on housing research<br />
and community planning. 56<br />
The subsequent impact of governmentsponsored<br />
CMHC activity on the Canadian<br />
housing industry has been well documented.<br />
57 Its influence on the architectural<br />
profession and design community<br />
was to encourage design innovation to<br />
facilitate housing production and provide<br />
cost-saving opportunities in new housing.<br />
58 While scant attention has yet to be<br />
paid to the cultural value of the CMHC’s<br />
activities on the design professions and to<br />
Canadian design culture in general, 59 the<br />
breadth of the CMHC’s agenda, embracing<br />
design, pragmatic and socially idealistic<br />
(and echoing the dialectic posed by<br />
Bauer and Yorke), is suggested by David<br />
Mansur, first president of the CMHC, in his<br />
introduction to the CMHC’s first national<br />
design competition: “Home building signifies<br />
many things—a lasting source of<br />
happiness, a kindly environment in which<br />
to raise children, a closer tie with community<br />
life, a new stake in the land.” 60<br />
Almost immediately after its formation,<br />
the CMHC expanded one aspect of its mandate<br />
to embrace the promotion of contemporary<br />
housing design with an emphasis<br />
on the single-family home, a specific activity<br />
that continued to the early 1970s. The<br />
CMHC’s organizational model, supporting<br />
that mandate, consisted of a centralized<br />
administration with decentralized regional<br />
offices and local branch offices. The latter<br />
served local and regional constituencies,<br />
providing information for prospective<br />
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work with community media and builders<br />
to spread the word to consumers, suppliers,<br />
and homebuilders.<br />
The 1946 Canadian Small House<br />
Competition<br />
FIG. 4. CMHC, 1947, 67 Homes for Canadians: Attractive<br />
House Plans designed especially for Canadian<br />
requirements including prize winners<br />
of the Canadian Small House Competition,<br />
Ottawa, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
February, cover.<br />
homebuyers, builders, and lending institutions.<br />
The central administration, located<br />
in Ottawa, had among its many responsibilities<br />
the Housing Research and Community<br />
Planning Group (HR&CPG), which<br />
was charged with technical investigations,<br />
planning research grants, educational<br />
grants, and housing design.<br />
Two architects figured prominently in that<br />
group at its inception: Frank Nicolls (until<br />
1946) and Sam Gitterman, who became<br />
chief architect of the CMHC in 1946 and<br />
continued on as senior advisor until 1965.<br />
Sam Gitterman had graduated from the<br />
McGill School of Architecture in 1935 and<br />
had worked in the offices of Max Kalman<br />
in Montreal before joining the Dominion<br />
Housing Administration in the late 1930s.<br />
Frank Nicolls was an American-trained<br />
architect who had previously worked<br />
for the US Federal Housing Administration.<br />
Both came to their job primed with<br />
FIG. 5. Canadian Small House Competition, Ontario Region,<br />
second prize, J.C. Parkin, Toronto. The comment reads<br />
“This design was carefully considered for first place<br />
but the plumbing arrangements and the small size<br />
of the kitchen and its general design characteristics<br />
relegated it to second place. It has a very compact<br />
and functional plan.”<br />
Results of the 1946 Small House Design Competition,<br />
published in JRAIC, January 1947, p. 14.<br />
ambitions to meet the new agendas of<br />
housing. According to Gitterman, Nicolls<br />
“was enthusiastic about house design,<br />
and some of the designs [they] worked<br />
on in those days were the genesis of the<br />
CMHC house-design program.” 61<br />
The CMHC’s organizational structure paralleled<br />
the development and promotion<br />
of contemporary housing design at both<br />
national and local levels. In Ottawa, at<br />
the centralized national office, the idea<br />
of promoting high standards of housing<br />
design took shape. In 1948 approximately<br />
seventy-seven thousand dollars were<br />
devoted to “architectural investigations.”<br />
By 1965 the CMHC was spending approximately<br />
one and a half million dollars for<br />
similar work, this time under the rubric<br />
of “housing research and community<br />
planning.” 62 While the central administration<br />
addressed housing at a conceptual<br />
level, it was left to the local agencies to<br />
In 1946, in response to the pressing need<br />
for post-war single-family housing, the<br />
CMHC together with the Royal Architectural<br />
Institute of Canada (RAIC) developed<br />
an innovative program: the first “small<br />
house competition […] to obtain housing<br />
plans suitable to the varying needs<br />
of Canada’s major regions.” 63 In addition<br />
to the central problem stated by the competition<br />
brief, the design of an affordable<br />
house for a veteran and his family as well<br />
as criteria of professionalism and cost, the<br />
competition addressed geographic variations,<br />
with prizes awarded to entries on a<br />
regional basis. The program for this house<br />
was not new, following that of the ‘Type<br />
C’ house promoted by Wartime Housing<br />
Limited (WHL), established to meet wartime<br />
housing needs. 64<br />
The importance both the CMHC and<br />
the RAIC placed on that competition<br />
is reflected in the composition of the<br />
competition jury, which included individuals<br />
prominent in Canadian architectural<br />
circles. Professional advisor Harold<br />
Lawson (Montreal) guided a jury consisting<br />
of Humphrey Carver (Toronto),<br />
Ernest Cormier (Montreal), L.R. Fairn<br />
(<strong>No</strong>va Scotia), William Gardiner (Vancouver),<br />
L.J. Green (Winnipeg), Monica<br />
McQueen (Winnipeg), and Bruce Riddell<br />
(Hamilton), as well as Ernest Ingles<br />
(London, Ontario), representing the<br />
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The<br />
judges expressed the desire to promote<br />
“novel and interesting designs for future<br />
house construction.” 65 An astonishing<br />
three hundred and thirty-one entries<br />
were received and thirty-seven prizes<br />
awarded. The winning entries supported<br />
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novelty and the jury report commented:<br />
“it is apparent that we are moving away<br />
from what is generally considered to be<br />
a house of orthodox appearance.” 66 In<br />
their choice of winning schemes, the jury<br />
made it clear that the design of the small<br />
house in the post-war years was clearly<br />
the responsibility of the architect. The<br />
jury believed that, given this competition,<br />
“it would be possible to draw in the<br />
practising architectural firms in greater<br />
numbers.” 67 With regard to affordability<br />
and build-ability, the jury reassured<br />
the CMHC that “few of the best designs<br />
would require careful supervision and<br />
skilful craftsmanship for execution.” 68<br />
The CMHC published the results of the<br />
competition in early 1947, along with the<br />
jury report and thirty other house plans,<br />
in 67 Homes for Canadians (fig. 4). The<br />
media was quick to report on the competition.<br />
The January 1947 JRAIC published<br />
the results, including the jury report and<br />
images of all houses, nineteen pages of<br />
house descriptions, and drawings and verbatim<br />
texts of competition entries (fig. 5).<br />
In February 1947, the CH&G similarly featured<br />
the housing competition. “Canada’s<br />
Prize-winning Houses” was the lead on a<br />
six-page spread that featured one house<br />
from each region (fig. 6).<br />
While the housing competition clearly<br />
generated considerable response from<br />
the design community and design press,<br />
the level of media reportage was, at best,<br />
cut-and-paste. <strong>No</strong>netheless, the report<br />
signalled the emerging synergy between<br />
the official agency for housing in Canada<br />
and housing’s unofficial promoters, the<br />
professional journals and glossy magazines,<br />
that would continue well into the<br />
next decade. The national housing body<br />
and popular press came to rely upon each<br />
other, working together to make the idea<br />
of the affordable, straightforward modern<br />
house a practical reality for Canadians.<br />
FIG. 6. Pictured here is the first prize for the Maritimes region by architects G. Burniston and J. Storey, Toronto. The editors<br />
wrote: “Whether you plan to build soon or not, you as a homeowner will be interested in the results of Canada’s<br />
first postwar architectural competition […] The plans make interesting study as they represent […] current thinking<br />
on better small house design.” The article also featured a number of prize-winning designs and reproduced verbatim<br />
from the competition results.<br />
“Canada’s Prize-Winning Houses,” CH&G, February 1947.<br />
CMHC Pattern Books and Guides<br />
to Housing Design<br />
With the success of the first housing<br />
design competition, the CMHC turned<br />
to the production of pattern books, an<br />
established format for the rapid dissemination<br />
of architectural ideas, in order<br />
to place house designs in the hands of<br />
builders and prospective home owners. 69<br />
As with earlier books of house designs,<br />
the CMHC produced a series of booklets<br />
illustrating houses for which working<br />
drawings would be available, in a service<br />
made “through the co-operation of<br />
Canadian architects.” 70 Produced on a<br />
regular basis in English and French, these<br />
books were distributed free of charge<br />
through CMHC regional offices. The<br />
range of house designs all conformed to<br />
building standards for houses financed<br />
under the National Housing Act 1944. To<br />
ensure quality control, the Corporation<br />
made working drawings available for<br />
purchase to builders and prospective<br />
homebuyers.<br />
To keep up with the demand for new<br />
house designs and to continue to expand<br />
the availability of house plans and styles,<br />
the CMHC invited architects to participate<br />
in the project. From designs submitted by<br />
architects, the Corporation selected those<br />
it considered most suitable and paid a fee<br />
of one thousand dollars to the architect<br />
for a complete set of working drawings<br />
developed from an accepted design. For<br />
that sum, the Corporation purchased<br />
rights to the use of the drawing with the<br />
architect’s name remaining on all published<br />
forms of the drawings. Further,<br />
the architect retained ownership of the<br />
copyright of each design sold publicly and<br />
received a royalty of three dollars from<br />
the Corporation for each set of working<br />
drawings sold (fig. 7).<br />
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FIG. 7. Original working drawings, ink on vellum, house 294, designed by Affleck, Desbarats,<br />
Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud and Sise (Montreal), 1958, as sold to builders and<br />
homebuyers by CMHC. This is a typical example of the architectural plans prepared in<br />
English and French and sold to builders and prospective home owners for $10 per set.<br />
Gitterman, S.A., 1986, “An Old Challenge” in Housing a Nation…, Ottawa,<br />
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.<br />
FIG. 8. This publication was the first of many regular pattern books produced by the CMHC<br />
from the late 1940s into the 1970s.<br />
CMHC, 1949, Small House Designs: Bungalows, Ottawa, Canada Mortgage<br />
and Housing Corporation, cover<br />
To assess designs submitted, the CMHC<br />
established a selection committee, comprised<br />
of a representative of the RAIC as<br />
well as the CMHC chief architect, members<br />
of the Advisory Group, and two<br />
other persons from the CMHC’s Housing<br />
Design and Information divisions.<br />
Architects were required to present their<br />
sketch designs on standard letter-size<br />
paper, including plans and elevations,<br />
and, to ensure anonymity and permit a<br />
blind review, the name of the design firm<br />
was omitted from submissions, except for<br />
cover documentation.<br />
Each design presented in the housing<br />
books usually showed plans, elevations,<br />
and a perspective drawing. Other information<br />
included CMHC designation number,<br />
name and locale of architect, house<br />
type, and square footage. Booklets of<br />
house plans were published regularly as<br />
follows (fig. 8): 71<br />
• 1947 67 Homes for Canadians;<br />
• 1949 Small House Designs<br />
– Bungalows;<br />
• 1949 West Coast Designs; 72<br />
• 1952 Small House Designs:<br />
Bungalows,<br />
1 ½ Storey,<br />
2 Storey;<br />
• 1954 Small House Designs;<br />
• 1954 DND [Department of<br />
National Defence] Small House<br />
Designs;<br />
• 1957 Small House Designs;<br />
• 1958 Small House Designs;<br />
• 1965 Small House Designs;<br />
• 1971 House Designs.<br />
The CMHC also produced a range of supportive<br />
material, aimed at the architect,<br />
planner, builder, developer, and client, as<br />
well as a series of technical papers they<br />
had presented at conferences and forums<br />
on housing in Canada. Technical papers<br />
included: 73<br />
• 1954 Principles of Small House<br />
Grouping;<br />
• 1964 Choosing a House Design<br />
(updated in 1972).<br />
Other publications available offered<br />
information directed at the consumer on<br />
how to read house plans, and considerations<br />
for prospective homeowners on<br />
selecting the house design best suited to<br />
their needs (fig. 9).<br />
It is estimated that from its inception<br />
until the program was discontinued in<br />
the 1970s, the CMHC House Plan Division<br />
provided Canadian first-time homebuyers<br />
with approximately five hundred different<br />
house designs to choose from, all of<br />
which met national housing standards and<br />
were therefore eligible for low-interest,<br />
low-cost financing. While new plans were<br />
continually being added, the majority of<br />
plans were based on designs produced in<br />
the initial decade of the program.<br />
The process of soliciting designs from<br />
architects was a major boon to the profession,<br />
particularly for young architects,<br />
as the commissioning and royalty process<br />
provided both one-time and ongoing<br />
income, as well as the opportunity to<br />
have commissioned work built and an<br />
exposure to a national audience. A review<br />
of names of those involved in the pro-<br />
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FIG. 9. The CMHC regularly issued publications offering assistance to the consumer on considerations<br />
for selecting the house design best suited to their needs.<br />
CMHC, 1954, “How To Read Floor Plan Sketches,” Choosing a House Design,<br />
Ottawa, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, p. 8.<br />
FIG. 10. Designs 49-20 and 49-40. House forms continued in a mix of traditional and contemporary.<br />
CMHC designs 1949-20 and 1949-40 demonstrate a marked contrast While<br />
both are one-storey two-bedroom bungalows, design 1949-20 shows a gable-roofed<br />
massing, with traditional vertical openings and an octagonal window lighting the vestibule.<br />
Design 1949-40, by contrast, is much bolder with flat roof, horizontal windows,<br />
and large overhanging eaves.<br />
CMHC, 1949, Small House Designs – Bungalows, Ottawa, Canada Mortgage<br />
and Housing Corporation.<br />
cess reveals a roster of architects whose<br />
careers would flourish into the later decades<br />
of the twentieth century. According<br />
to Sam Gitterman, “architects were commissioned<br />
to prepare plans, which sold<br />
for ten dollars each in those days, mainly<br />
to people who wanted to build their own<br />
small houses. Sales were so brisk some of<br />
the architects made a substantial amount<br />
of money from their modest royalties.” 74<br />
The CMHC: Setting a ‘Modern’ Agenda<br />
The CMHC’s praise of contemporary<br />
design, as voiced by the first design<br />
jury, resulted in a shift from traditional<br />
to non-traditional designs for housing. In<br />
keeping with David Smiley’s proposition<br />
of a ‘modified modern,’ house forms<br />
continued in a mix of traditional and<br />
contemporary. CMHC designs 1949-20<br />
and 1949-40 demonstrate a marked<br />
contrast (fig. 10). While both are onestorey<br />
two-bedroom bungalows, design<br />
1949-20 shows a gable-roofed massing,<br />
with traditional vertical openings and<br />
an octagonal window lighting the vestibule.<br />
Design 1949-40, by contrast, is<br />
much bolder with flat roof, horizontal<br />
windows, and large overhanging eaves.<br />
Traditional designs persisted, and were<br />
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FIG. 12. CMHC, 1949, West Coast Designs, Ottawa,<br />
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
cover.<br />
FIG. 13. Bird’s eye view. House BC-1, Fred Brodie, architect,<br />
Vancouver, 1178 square feet.<br />
CMHC, 1949, West Coast Designs, Canada<br />
Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Ottawa.<br />
FIG. 11. Design 54-316, Henry Fliess, architect, Toronto, 1345<br />
square feet.<br />
CMHC, 1954, Small House Designs / Two-storey<br />
and 1½-storey houses, Ottawa, Canada<br />
Mortgage and Housing Corporation, p. 34.<br />
always popular in the marketplace, but<br />
contemporary designs continued to<br />
make inroads.<br />
While the CMHC actively promoted modernity,<br />
the homebuilding industry took a<br />
more conservative approach. Established<br />
in 1943, the National Home Builders Association<br />
(NHBA), in questions of style and<br />
the appropriateness of the modern for<br />
their anticipated post-war clientele, professed<br />
the belief that average Canadians<br />
wanted traditional materials and forms for<br />
their housing. Modernity, they believed,<br />
was relegated to the equipment and<br />
technology of the home, which included<br />
labour-saving devices and new materials.<br />
75 Although that attitude persisted,<br />
as the demand for housing continued to<br />
grow, experimentation occurred. New<br />
developments such as Wildwood in Winnipeg,<br />
Applewood Acres west of Metropolitan<br />
Toronto, and Don Mills in Toronto,<br />
comprised a number of dwelling types,<br />
FIG. 14. Design 58-294, Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud and Sise (Montreal), 870 square feet.<br />
CMHC, 1958, Small House Designs, Ottawa, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.<br />
responding to the new design model. 76 By<br />
1954, in CMHC literature, the traditional<br />
house remained only in form. Design<br />
54-316, by architect Henry Fliess (Toronto),<br />
presents a one-and-a-half-storey threebedroom<br />
house, with a modest free plan<br />
of space flowing between living-dining<br />
room and kitchen (fig. 11).<br />
Also influential was the CMHC’s consideration<br />
of regionalism in housing design,<br />
with a particular emphasis on contemporary,<br />
modern forms. In 1949 the CMHC produced<br />
West Coast House Designs (fig. 12).<br />
Prepared by Zoltan Kiss in consultation<br />
with Fred Lasserre, director of the School<br />
of Architecture at the University of British<br />
Columbia, the publication featured the<br />
works of twelve Vancouver and Victoria<br />
architects, including Ralph Cole, Semmens<br />
and Simpson, and Jocelyn Davidson. Plan<br />
BC-1, designed by architect Fred Brodie,<br />
presents a one-level, one thousand one<br />
hundred and seventy-eight square foot,<br />
three-bedroom bungalow, complete with<br />
carport. The accompanying perspective<br />
line illustration depicts the building in a<br />
quintessential west coast setting, with<br />
forested slopes and mountain views in<br />
the distance (fig. 13).<br />
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The roster of architects whose designs<br />
were purchased and promoted by the<br />
CMHC underscores the extent of the<br />
close relationship between the CMHC<br />
and the profession. The 1958 publication<br />
of Small House Designs contained fiftytwo<br />
plans, arranged by type (bungalow,<br />
split-level, two-storey), number of bedrooms,<br />
and area. Plan 58-294, prepared<br />
by architects Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos,<br />
Lebensold, Michaud and Sise<br />
(Montreal), is typical of the house plans<br />
developed for 1958: dimension twentynine<br />
by thirty feet, with an attached<br />
carport, the gable-fronted house was<br />
raised off the ground providing space in<br />
the future for a living room in the basement.<br />
Three bedrooms occupied the rear<br />
of the house, while the front was shared<br />
by entry, living-dining, and open kitchen.<br />
Services of stair, bathroom, and heating<br />
occupied the centre of the plan (fig. 14).<br />
The plans demonstrate a subtle shift in<br />
space planning from the earlier CMHC<br />
house plans: more square footage, the<br />
integration of car and house, and greater<br />
separation between parent and children’s<br />
bedrooms, and indicate an easing in tight<br />
space-to-cost restrictions and greater<br />
availability of consumer financing.<br />
By the late 1950s, the tentative relationship<br />
between the profession and<br />
the CMHC, initiated in 1946 particularly<br />
through the RAIC, had solidified. <strong>No</strong>t only<br />
did the CMHC provide newly-established<br />
architects with commissions and ongoing<br />
royalties, its promotion of modern designs,<br />
innovation in construction, and use of new<br />
materials ensured that the housing market<br />
would be notable for progressive, forward-looking<br />
thought and action. What<br />
was the impetus of this ideology? How did<br />
the CMHC come to embrace this approach?<br />
Who championed this change, both within<br />
the professions and the general public?<br />
The answer can be found in the professional<br />
and popular press of the day.<br />
The Magazine<br />
and Canadian Housing<br />
Production after 1945<br />
In tone, editorial content, and presentation,<br />
the JRAIC and CH&G were influential<br />
in promoting the modern house in the<br />
decade following the Second World War.<br />
While the professional journal served to<br />
disseminate ideas to current practitioners,<br />
the popular press was critical in making<br />
this new form of housing acceptable and<br />
even desirable.<br />
The Journal of the Royal Architectural<br />
Institute of Canada: Modern Housing<br />
as a Social Necessity and Design<br />
Imperative<br />
The linkage between the CMHC and<br />
the profession was particularly effected<br />
through a close relationship with the<br />
RAIC. The RAIC participated actively<br />
in the selection of house designs and<br />
architects, and Institute members profited<br />
from the selection of their designs<br />
for inclusion in the CMHC plan booklets.<br />
This close partnership between the government<br />
bureaucracy involved with housing<br />
production and professional architect<br />
was mutually advantageous, although,<br />
within the profession, the ways in which<br />
the challenges were to be addressed were<br />
debated extensively. The variety of opinions<br />
and approaches initially advocated<br />
by post-war architects represented the<br />
split in the profession, between avantgarde<br />
and more conservative elements.<br />
By the end of the 1950s, however, modern<br />
forms and ideas prevailed, particularly as<br />
a new generation of architects, trained<br />
with modern sensibilities, entered the<br />
profession in large numbers. 77<br />
Between 1945 and 1960, the JRAIC<br />
devoted approximately ten percent of<br />
its editorial space to various aspects of<br />
housing, including editorials on housing<br />
design, feature articles on new house<br />
designs, and discussions about products<br />
unique to housing. Typically one issue per<br />
year was devoted to the subject, with an<br />
emphasis initially on single-family housing<br />
and then later in the 1950s on related<br />
issues, such as community planning and<br />
high-rise construction. 78<br />
In an editorial in the September 1946<br />
issue of the JRAIC, Charles David, RAIC<br />
president, proclaimed that “housing<br />
is Canada’s primary post-war building<br />
problem […] It is the responsibility of<br />
Canadian architects to demonstrate to<br />
the public any solution of this problem<br />
that is practicable and possible.” 79<br />
While the need for housing was clear,<br />
the form that the new housing would<br />
take was not. Writing in the July 1945<br />
JRAIC, Joseph Hudnut, dean of Harvard’s<br />
Graduate School of Design, made a case<br />
that the modern house must acknowledge<br />
precedence and, most importantly,<br />
not impose the wills of technology and<br />
structure on the inhabitant or, in his<br />
words, “the wonder and drama of our<br />
inventions.” 80 He trod carefully, neither<br />
opposing contemporary house design<br />
nor advocating for it. Rather, he relied<br />
upon the insistence that the contemporary<br />
house embraced the possibilities of<br />
interior and exterior space: “of all the<br />
inventions of modern architecture, the<br />
new space is, it seems to me, the most<br />
likely to attain a deep eloquence.” 81<br />
Joseph Hudnut’s equivocation is reflected<br />
in the pages of the JRAIC where the<br />
debate between the avant- and the rearguard<br />
played itself out in the first years<br />
after the war. Initially, most houses featured<br />
in the JRAIC were traditional in<br />
form and plan. Typical is the house of<br />
A.R. Ferguson located in Gravenhurst<br />
(Ontario) and designed by Page and<br />
Steele Architects, published in the July<br />
1945 JRAIC (fig. <strong>15</strong>). Overall the form is<br />
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FIG. <strong>15</strong>. House of A.R. Ferguson, Gravenhurst,<br />
Ontario, Page and Steele Architects. | JRAIC,<br />
July 1945, p. 142.<br />
FIG. 16. Rich’s Progressive Architecture Competition: A Realistic House for a Family in Georgia. Watson Balharrie,<br />
Ottawa, second prizewinner. | JRAIC, July 1946, p. 164-165.<br />
neo-colonial, with trim eaves, a central<br />
chimney dominating the composition,<br />
but in a modern approach to the interior,<br />
with a flow of space between living and<br />
dining areas. One year later, the JRAIC<br />
featured an award-winning entry from a<br />
competition in the USA for the design of<br />
a house for a man with three thousand<br />
dollars annual income, co-sponsored by<br />
Progressive Architecture magazine and<br />
the Rich Company, a Georgia department<br />
store. The design of Watson Balharrie,<br />
Ottawa, second prizewinner, featured a<br />
two-volume flat-roofed structure, with a<br />
separation of living and sleeping areas<br />
and an outdoor room (fig. 16).<br />
But changes were coming quickly. By<br />
1947, Joseph Hudnut’s argument about<br />
the new space of the house found evidence<br />
in the published “House in Rosedale”<br />
by architect Gordon Adamson,<br />
with landscape by the Howard and Lorrie<br />
Dunnington-Grubb (fig. 17). With a lowpitched<br />
hipped roof, this Toronto house<br />
was organized around a living-dining<br />
room that extended along the back of<br />
the house and opened directly into the<br />
garden at the rear, making indoor and<br />
outdoor living rooms into one continuous<br />
space. In June 1947, the entire issue<br />
of the JRAIC, dedicated to “Domestic<br />
Architecture in British Columbia”<br />
(fig. 18), promoted contemporary design,<br />
highlighting climatic conditions and site<br />
opportunities that made the new indooroutdoor<br />
living spaces featured in these<br />
houses unique to their setting and locale.<br />
Fifteen houses were presented, many<br />
designed by young architects for their<br />
families. The published “House of Mr.<br />
and Mrs. R.A.D. Berwick, West Vancouver”<br />
is typical, where the young Berwick<br />
demonstrates his use of new materials,<br />
engagement with the site, and overall<br />
promotion of modern tenets for the<br />
single-family house (fig. 19). Without<br />
a doubt, this issue of the JRAIC, which<br />
featured the unique possibilities of west<br />
coast design, played an important role in<br />
encouraging the CMHC to issue its West<br />
Coast Designs booklet two years later.<br />
Compared to CH&G and other popular<br />
magazines of the day, the JRAIC’s reportage<br />
of the small house remained<br />
restrained and focused on issues of tectonics,<br />
design, and siting (fig. 20). As predicted<br />
by Francis R.S. Yorke, magazines<br />
such as the JRAIC increasingly became<br />
the vehicle where young professionals,<br />
eager to make their names, sought publication<br />
of their houses. The August 1956<br />
JRAIC featured two works by architects<br />
for their families: the Earnest J. Smith<br />
House (Winnipeg) and the Roy Jessiman<br />
House (West Vancouver) (figs. 21-22).<br />
The <strong>No</strong>vember 1952 JRAIC featured as its<br />
cover story a house designed by architect<br />
A.J. (Jim) Donohue for Mr. J.S. Kennedy<br />
in Edmonton (figs. 23-25). 82 Increasingly,<br />
in these articles, text was minimal<br />
and the printed image prominent, with<br />
black-and-white photographs depicting<br />
the interior of the houses, and drawing<br />
attention to the relationship of spaces,<br />
the use of materials, and the range of<br />
modern furnishings appropriate to these<br />
modern houses. Photographs were in<br />
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FIG. 17. “House in Rosedale,” Gordon Adamson, architect,<br />
Howard and Lorrie Dunnington-Grubb,<br />
Landscape Architect. | JRAIC, March 1947, p. 83.<br />
FIG. 18. “Domestic Architecture in British Columbia,”<br />
cover. | JRAIC, June 1947.<br />
FIG. 19. “House of Mr. and Mrs R.A.D. Berwick, West<br />
Vancouver. R.A.D. Berwick, architect.” | JRAIC,<br />
June 1947, p. 181.<br />
the architectural mode, rarely showing<br />
people in spaces, to ensure that the<br />
reader’s eye remained focused on form,<br />
space, and materiality.<br />
The JRAIC made efforts to address the<br />
questions of the architectural interior.<br />
The August 1947 Journal (fig. 26) invited<br />
H.D. Deacon, manager of the Simpson’s<br />
Department Store Interior Decorating<br />
Department in Toronto, to contribute to<br />
the magazine. Deacon pinpointed the<br />
issue of the<br />
perennial problem of architect-interior<br />
decorator relations […] A great many<br />
architects still look upon an interior<br />
decorator as someone who will either<br />
persuade their clients to buy a lot of<br />
elaborate and unsuitable antique furniture<br />
or else as a person who will embellish the<br />
place to such an extent as to leave it looking<br />
like the backdrop to an indecent ballet. 83<br />
What followed were a number of pages<br />
featuring installations of furniture in contemporary<br />
houses. In most depictions, the<br />
house interiors took advantage of traditional<br />
furniture displayed in updated settings.<br />
In one instance only plan and image<br />
were coordinated, although no discussion<br />
took place to demonstrate the means by<br />
which interior furnishings supported the<br />
architectural idea (fig. 27).<br />
The Canadian Homes and Gardens<br />
Magazine: Modifying the Modern for<br />
the Canadian Consumer<br />
While the CMHC was actively promoting<br />
housing design across Canada, and the<br />
professional press reported on the design<br />
activities of architects eager to present<br />
their modern schemes to their peers, it<br />
was in the popular press that full expression<br />
of the possibility that the new and<br />
modern, single-family house was explored<br />
and eventually made accessible and real.<br />
The representation of new affordable<br />
forms of housing in popular press showed<br />
the relationship between mass media and<br />
housing production, and the importance<br />
FIG. 20. In the period between 1945 and 1960, the<br />
JRAIC devoted approximately 10% of its<br />
editorial space to some aspects of housing,<br />
including editorials on housing design, feature<br />
articles on new house designs, and discussions<br />
about products unique to housing.<br />
Typically one issue per year was devoted<br />
to housing, with an emphasis initially on<br />
single-family housing and then later in the<br />
1950s on related issues, such as community<br />
planning and high-rise construction. | JRAIC,<br />
September, 1952, cover.<br />
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FIG. 21. House of Earnest J. Smith, architect, Winnipeg.<br />
Exterior and interior views. | JRAIC, August 1956,<br />
p. 301.<br />
FIG. 22. House of Roy Jessiman, architect, West<br />
Vancouver. Ground floor plan and garden<br />
elevation. | JRAIC, August 1956, p. 300.<br />
FIG. 23. J.S. Kennedy House, Edmonton, A.J. Donohue,<br />
architect. | JRAIC, <strong>No</strong>vember 1952, cover.<br />
FIG. 24. J.S. Kennedy House, Edmonton, A.J. Donohue,<br />
architect. Views of dressing room and master<br />
bedroom, and dining room. | JRAIC, <strong>No</strong>vember<br />
1952, p. 336.<br />
FIG. 25. J.S. Kennedy House, Edmonton, A.J. Donohue,<br />
architect. Views of living room and entry,<br />
and patio off dining room. | JRAIC, <strong>No</strong>vember<br />
1952, p. 337.<br />
FIG. 26. “Interior Features: Residential,” JRAIC, June<br />
1947, cover.<br />
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FIG. 27. “Live,” “Cook,” Suggestions on Interior Design, presented by H.D. Deacon, manager, Simpson’s Department<br />
Store Interior Decorating Department (Toronto). | JRAIC, August 1947, p. 267, 274.<br />
FIG. 28. This article included two houses by James Murray<br />
and one by Henry Fliess, which both appeared previously<br />
in CMHC house plan pattern books.<br />
“Good Architecture Comes to the Builder’s<br />
House,” CH&G, <strong>No</strong>vember 1954, p. 68.<br />
that post-war shelter magazines played<br />
in selling the virtues of single-family,<br />
suburban living to the average Canadian,<br />
thereby establishing this mode as the<br />
Canadian norm and standard.<br />
This impact of the popular press is best<br />
illustrated by the CH&G, Canada’s primary,<br />
national English-language popular<br />
shelter magazine published by Maclean<br />
Hunter in Toronto. After Chatelaine, a<br />
sister publication at Maclean Hunter, the<br />
CH&G had the largest circulation of any<br />
magazine of its type in English-speaking<br />
Canada. In 1951 the CH&G reached one<br />
hundred thousand households or approximately<br />
two percent of Canada’s population.<br />
84 While such circulation numbers are<br />
not reliable indicators of a magazine’s<br />
readership (magazine circulation and<br />
readership numbers are not necessarily<br />
linked), within English-speaking Canada<br />
the CH&G had a significant share of readers<br />
of shelter magazines. 85<br />
Founded in 1924 by Senator Rupert<br />
Davies, owner of the Kingston British<br />
Whig and father to author Robertson<br />
Davies, the CH&G was originally designed<br />
to capture a range of women readers,<br />
reaching five thousand subscribers in<br />
its first year. In 1925, J.B. Maclean purchased<br />
the CH&G. The publishers chose<br />
not only to keep the magazine but to<br />
expand their reach to women readers<br />
by creating Mayfair magazine in 1927<br />
and purchasing Chatelaine magazine in<br />
1928. Mayfair was “intended to interpret<br />
the life and interests of Canadians<br />
in their most gracious moods.” 86 The<br />
CH&G spoke to women about their<br />
everyday living environments, while<br />
Chatelaine addressed a wider range of<br />
women’s matters, including health and<br />
family, as well as the home. 87 It was<br />
this trio of “women’s magazines” that<br />
directed and reflected the thoughts<br />
and desires of a generation of Canadian<br />
women through depression, war, and<br />
into the post-war era. In 1951, the CH&G<br />
absorbed another consumer magazine,<br />
Your House and Garden, becoming the<br />
pre-eminent beacon for the promotion<br />
to English-speaking readers in Canada<br />
of modern housing in the 1950s and<br />
early 1960s. 88<br />
The war had not been kind to Canadian<br />
consumer magazines and in 1945,<br />
with circulation flagging, Jean McKinley<br />
replaced the magazine’s long-time<br />
editor, J. Herbert Hodgins. Under this<br />
new lead, the CH&G was reconfigured to<br />
cash in on the post-war housing boom.<br />
John Caulfield Smith was appointed<br />
architectural editor and attention<br />
focused on house planning, design, and<br />
education, directed at new consumers<br />
and the post-war boom. From the end<br />
of the Second World War to its demise in<br />
1962, the CH&G stood out as the champion<br />
for single-family housing that was<br />
sensible, practical, and modern.<br />
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In contrast to the JRAIC, the CH&G<br />
avoided discussing political and production<br />
issues of housing. 89 It rather found its<br />
focus in three very distinct areas: helping<br />
the consumer gain confidence about making<br />
the right housing choices under the<br />
rubric of “planning and budget,” helping<br />
the consumer make decisions about house<br />
design (“design”), and guiding the consumer<br />
in the more traditional area of the<br />
magazine, the choice of interior furnishings<br />
and fittings that would be in keeping<br />
with planning, budget, and design<br />
(“the home”). In essence and using current<br />
terminology, the CH&G presented an<br />
approach to housing as “lifestyle.”<br />
FIG. 29. This article reproduced CMHC design 58-294, by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud and Sise, Architects<br />
(Montreal), which had appeared in the 1958 CMHC publication, Small House Design.<br />
“Five Designs for the Forgotten Buyer,” CH&G, February 1959.<br />
FIG. 30. “Planning the Small Home.” CH&G, May 1944,<br />
cover.<br />
FIG. 31. The editors write, “Economy is built into this lowcost<br />
home, yet there’s ample small-family space<br />
in its layout. And you’ve a choice of plan, with or<br />
without basement.”<br />
“A Two-plan Family House,” CH&G, <strong>No</strong>vember<br />
1952.<br />
The Maclean Hunter machinery did not<br />
rely on the CMHC material for magazine<br />
editorial content. While many of the architects<br />
who sold plans to the CMHC were<br />
also featured in the pages of the CH&G,<br />
only three instances correlate CMHC plans<br />
and houses featured in the CH&G. First<br />
was a report on the 1947 competition,<br />
which produced images from the competition<br />
that were also reproduced identically<br />
in the JRAIC. Second, the <strong>No</strong>vember<br />
1954 report in the CH&G, “Good architecture<br />
comes to the builder’s house,”<br />
included two houses by James Murray<br />
and one by Henry Fliess, which had both<br />
appeared previously in the CMHC annual<br />
house plans (fig. 28). Third, one house,<br />
which appeared in the 1958 CMHC publication<br />
Small House Design as House 294,<br />
designed by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos,<br />
Lebensold, Michaud and Sise<br />
(Montreal), appeared in the February<br />
1959 CH&G (fig. 29). The article focused on<br />
housing for “house hunters in the lower<br />
income range” and provided examples<br />
of housing for “forgotten buyers,” those<br />
families with an average annual income<br />
of four thousand six hundred dollars. 90<br />
While few direct linkages are in evidence,<br />
it was by indirect means that the CH&G<br />
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FIG. 32. Two plan options were presented, which allowed for two or three bedrooms, with or without basement.<br />
“A Two-Plan Family House,” CH&G, <strong>No</strong>vember 1952.<br />
became a successful agent in providing<br />
the means for new consumers to see themselves<br />
as actual owners and occupiers of<br />
the new form of housing being promoted<br />
by government and the professions, and<br />
the concomitant lifestyle it offered. That<br />
connection was accomplished through corollary<br />
advice on planning, budgeting, and<br />
home furnishing, advice whose content<br />
and tone moderated as the consumer’s<br />
anxieties shifted from finding basic housing<br />
to creating a welcoming domestic<br />
environment in the new home.<br />
Given the scarcity of resources at the<br />
end of the war and the consumer mindset<br />
from the Depression of the 1930s,<br />
the CH&G initially advocated that readers<br />
take the time to plan their houses.<br />
Typical is the cover story from the May<br />
1944 issue entitled “Planning the Small<br />
Home,” which lays out the possibilities<br />
of housing in a post-war Canada (fig. 30).<br />
Readers are drawn to consider the dreams<br />
of Canadian servicemen, writing to their<br />
wives and sweethearts at home:<br />
What I want when I get back is a little home<br />
somewhere outside the city where we can<br />
raise our own fruit and vegetables […] We<br />
don’t want anything big […] let’s keep it small<br />
and simple enough to enable you to look after<br />
the youngsters […] a house where we can<br />
have more fun that we’ve ever had before. 91<br />
The composite picture presented by the<br />
CH&G is low-density, suburban, owneroccupied,<br />
modestly-priced (estimated at<br />
four thousand five hundred dollars for the<br />
Toronto area), built with technologicallyadvanced<br />
materials and methods (such as<br />
dry construction and fibre board), free of<br />
decorative treatment, and designed to<br />
be energy conscious. The interior is presented<br />
in what the magazine termed “the<br />
contemporary idiom.” “Amazing, isn’t it,<br />
how many attractive convenient groupings<br />
can be fitted into the living-dining<br />
area of this compact cottage,” the editors<br />
proclaim. 92 The interior has a complete<br />
colour scheme, is fully furnished, and merchandizes<br />
design features, such as “dishes<br />
in Swedish design,” all presented through<br />
sketches prepared by the Interior Decorating<br />
Bureau of Eaton’s College Street Store<br />
in Toronto.<br />
The theme of planning for efficient<br />
design continued for the next ten years.<br />
Articles such as “A Two Plan Family<br />
House” offered two floor plans, a halfdozen<br />
economy features, and a number<br />
of space-saving ideas, including the possibility<br />
of a basement for storage and<br />
FIG. 33. Bird’s eye perspective and plan. A CH&G Select<br />
Home (no. 4) by Vancouver designer E.J. Watkins is<br />
featured. “The house provides 1380 square feet in<br />
an efficient, compact layout, including a central utility<br />
room, lit by clerestory windows.”<br />
“This House Gets Extra Space Without a<br />
Basement,” CH&G, June 1956.<br />
built-in storage spaces (figs. 31-32). 93 In<br />
“This House Gets Extra Space without a<br />
Basement,” a CH&G Select Home (no. 4)<br />
featured work by Vancouver designer<br />
E.J. Watkins. The revolutionary idea of<br />
a house with no basement allowed for<br />
one thousand three hundred and eighty<br />
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FIG. 34. The article proclaims: “With its good-sized rooms,<br />
its built ins and its feelings of warmth, this home is<br />
a good example of contemporary Canadian design<br />
tailored to fit family needs.”<br />
“Good Use of Space Here,” CH&G, December<br />
1951, p. 34.<br />
square feet in an efficient, compact layout,<br />
including a central utility room, lit by<br />
clerestory windows (fig. 33). 94<br />
As houses using modern plans were built,<br />
the CH&G was able to present completed<br />
schemes that had only been envisioned in<br />
1944. In “Good Use of Space Here,” R.D.<br />
Steers’s house near Ottawa (Victor Belcourt,<br />
architect) explicitly connected the<br />
application of modern design principles<br />
to the realization of the ideal lifestyle<br />
(fig. 34):<br />
With a young son of seven, Mr. Steers’ love<br />
of gardening and Mrs Steers’ fondness for<br />
the outdoors, a move to the country was<br />
only natural […] Three miles from downtown<br />
Ottawa […] they found a beautiful two-acre<br />
lot with a view of the Rideau River. A glance<br />
at the plans and photographs […] shows<br />
how [the architect] used the sloping site and<br />
view to establish an open type of planning so<br />
appropriate to family life today. 95<br />
FIG. 35. Designed by William Lyon Somerville, the house design<br />
was based—according to the editors—on the<br />
elements of a home “our readers have asked about<br />
and suggested most frequently.”<br />
The “Help-less House for a Family of Four,”<br />
CH&G, February 1945, cover.<br />
The magazine’s formula for directing<br />
their reader to the contemporary, and<br />
thereby directing tastes and preferences,<br />
was created by means of clever engagement<br />
with the client at the level of planning<br />
and design. In February 1945, as the<br />
outcome of the Second World War was<br />
becoming certain, the magazine looked<br />
brightly into the future. The “Help-less<br />
House for a Family of Four,” designed by<br />
architect William Lyon Somerville, was<br />
based, according to the editors, on the elements<br />
of a home “our readers have asked<br />
about and suggested most frequently” 96<br />
(figs. 35-36). The scheme was presented as<br />
a montage, which included the following<br />
wish list from magazine readers:<br />
• it satisfies the desires of a couple in<br />
Vancouver for an “open plan for the livingdining<br />
area,”<br />
• for a family of four in Ontario we designed<br />
for their two children a bedroom that could<br />
easily be divided in two,<br />
FIG. 36. “This is the House That You Built,” CH&G,<br />
February 1945, p. 17.<br />
• this fell in with the wishes of a family<br />
near Montreal who wanted the same<br />
construction for bedroom-into-guest<br />
rooms,<br />
• a returned soldier caused us to decide how<br />
to make the living room turn its back on<br />
the north wind and provide large doubleglazed<br />
windows to give the always-outdoor<br />
feeling,<br />
• and so it went,<br />
• the house was a cross section of what are<br />
readers are asking for. 97<br />
The editors ingeniously presented the<br />
plans as a kit of parts, with cut-outs for<br />
readers to assemble. “In presenting this<br />
home,” they asserted, “it occurred to<br />
us that you would have fun putting it<br />
together” 98 (figs. 37A-E). The project continued<br />
to be featured in the magazine into<br />
the spring of 1945. A ready-made landscape<br />
plan, designed by Frances Steinhoff<br />
from the Canadian Society of Landscape<br />
Architects (CSLA), was added to the kit<br />
of parts, along with two alternative suggestions<br />
for interior decorating by the<br />
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T. Eaton Company and Robert Simpson<br />
Company (figs. 38-39).<br />
The CH&G kept pace with the shifts in the<br />
consumer’s mindset following the end of<br />
the Second World War. Anxieties around<br />
finding housing gave way to detailed<br />
attention on the design of the domestic<br />
realm. By 1948 Canadian housing production<br />
had begun in earnest. According to<br />
Clayton Research Associates,<br />
the production of single-family homes<br />
expanded rapidly in the early post-war<br />
years and reached nearly 83,000 units in<br />
1948, more than double the number three<br />
years earlier. More than three out of four<br />
homes built in the late 1940s were singlefamily<br />
units (almost all were single-detached<br />
homes). The number of single family starts<br />
declined in 1951 to 59,000 units, but then<br />
recorded solid year-over-year gains reaching<br />
86,000 units by 1954. 99<br />
Aimed at the women of the house and<br />
detailing how a family could realize its<br />
housing dreams, the pages of the CH&G<br />
FIG. 37. Instructions and four pages of cut-outs.<br />
“How to Assemble the ‘Help-less’ House,” CH&G, February 1945, p. 20, 22-24.<br />
reflected the rush to build. One of the<br />
most telling articles produced by the<br />
CH&G during the initial years after the<br />
war was “How the Morrisons Manage:<br />
to budget, build and furnish,” an April<br />
1948 cover story in the same helpful<br />
tone as the “Help-less house,” but with<br />
a pragmatic focus on budget, construction,<br />
and implementation (fig. 40). 100 In<br />
collaboration with architect E.C.S. Cox<br />
and the Housing Research Section of<br />
the Manufacturer’s Life Insurance Company,<br />
the editors of the CH&G discussed<br />
costs, construction, materials, space<br />
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FIG. 38. “Garden for the ‘Help-less’ House,” CH&G, March 1945.<br />
FIG. 41. “How the Morrisons Manage... To Budget,<br />
Build and Furnish,” CH&G, April 1948, p. 31.<br />
tic skill in a fully-equipped up-to-date<br />
kitchen; she listens to her husband’s relay<br />
of the affairs of commerce in an end-ofday<br />
living room chat; she undertakes the<br />
rituals or the boudoir and prepares for<br />
bed (figs. 42A-C). This article was published<br />
just as the first batch of plans of<br />
newly-designed homes was being made<br />
available across Canada by the CMHC<br />
through its regional and branch offices<br />
in 1948.<br />
FIG. 39. “Interiors for the ‘Help-less’ House,” CH&G,<br />
May 1945.<br />
had a complete breakdown of costs for<br />
furniture, appliances, and finishes, and<br />
even suggested the ways in which the<br />
fictitious Mrs. Morrison would realize the<br />
dreams of a modern housewife in her<br />
own home: she demonstrates her domesplanning,<br />
interiors, and by means of a<br />
clever correlation between oblique plan<br />
and photograph, translated layout into<br />
reality (fig. 41). The focus was liveability,<br />
with particular attention paid to the<br />
woman of the house. Each room also<br />
FIG. 40. “How the Morrisons Manage… To Budget,<br />
Build and Furnish,” CH&G, April 1948, cover.<br />
A second and equally important aspect<br />
of the CH&G editorial philosophy was the<br />
sensitization of the consumer toward the<br />
new architectural form, modernism, as it<br />
was being developed in schemes promulgated<br />
by the CMHC and explored in the<br />
professional journals. In the pages of the<br />
CH&G, the modification of modernism, as<br />
suggested by David Smiley and Joy Parr,<br />
is clear. “How New is Modern?” proposes<br />
to “set the picture straight” by advocating<br />
that “modern is a state of mind.” Modern<br />
is transmuted into “the desire to get the<br />
maximum value and satisfaction in house<br />
54 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
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FIG. 42. By correlating oblique plan and photograph, the editors translate layout into reality. The focus is liveability, with particular attention paid to the woman of the house. Each room also has a complete<br />
breakdown of costs for furniture, appliances, and finishes, and even suggests the ways in which the fictitious Mrs. Morrison would realize the dreams of a modern housewife in her own home.<br />
“How the Morrisons Manage... To Budget, Build and Furnish,” CH&G, April 1948, p. 24, 26, 27.<br />
building by using the best materials and<br />
methods available regardless of period” 101<br />
(fig. 43). Plans and elevations showing<br />
what would soon become the suburban<br />
norm of a two- or three-bedroom house<br />
with attached garage support this formfollows-function<br />
argument: “The house is<br />
a splendid example of modern design. The<br />
predominant impression is one of horizontality,<br />
and the low-pitched roof with its<br />
overhanging eaves plays an important part<br />
in creating this effect.” 102<br />
However, just as the architectural profession<br />
struggled to fully embrace the modern<br />
as witnessed in the pages of the JRAIC,<br />
the CH&G continued the debate between<br />
traditional and modern maintaining the<br />
issue’s currency. In May 1950, two houses<br />
are compared: “The Brooks-Hills Wanted<br />
Traditional,” designed by architect<br />
W.G. Armstrong, is contrasted with “The<br />
Yolles Proved a Point,” designed by architect<br />
Samuel Devor (figs. 44-45). Typically,<br />
the CH&G takes a moderating stance,<br />
claiming that “[the juxtaposition] proves<br />
our contentions that modern design can fit<br />
into a traditional setting without offending<br />
either the eye or the neighbours.” 103<br />
From Magazine Reader to<br />
Post-war Homeowner<br />
Within five years of the first house plans<br />
being made available through CMHC<br />
offices, Canadians were well entrenched<br />
in their new homes. Based on census data,<br />
four hundred and fifty-eight thousand<br />
single-family units were added to the<br />
stock of Canadian housing in the period<br />
1941-1951, and an additional seven hundred<br />
and twenty-four thousand units<br />
were added in the period 1951-1961. 104<br />
Self-confident acceptance quickly overtook<br />
the tentative presentations of the<br />
late 1940s and first years of the 1950s.<br />
How is one to understand the role that the<br />
CH&G, as a representation of the popular<br />
press, played in the transformation of the<br />
Canadian housing landscape? The CH&G<br />
led readers to make logical choices, which<br />
were clearly in tune with the spirit of the<br />
times. Joy Parr’s assertion that the domestic<br />
ideal of the designer differed significantly<br />
from the reality of the homemaker<br />
and homeowner drove the CH&G’s editorial<br />
stance that modernism complements<br />
contemporary family living.<br />
Let us consider again the J.S. Kennedy<br />
House (Edmonton) designed by A.J. Donohue<br />
architect and featured in the <strong>No</strong>vember<br />
1952 JRAIC. In the professional<br />
journal the house is depicted uncluttered,<br />
un-peopled, almost un-inhabited. Four<br />
months later in May 1953, the CH&G features<br />
the same house, full of life, occupied<br />
the Kennedys, a typical post-war family<br />
(figs. 46A-B). Readers are told that “the<br />
Kennedys of Edmonton love their long,<br />
low one-level home which proves you can<br />
be cosy with contemporary design […]<br />
[Their] children take their friends through<br />
[the house], proudly.” 105 The starkness of<br />
modernity is transmuted by these assertions<br />
and the vision of liveability and the<br />
practical logic they portray. To the editors<br />
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FIG. 43. This articles proposes to “set the picture straight”<br />
by advocating that “modern is a state of mind. It’s<br />
the desire to get the maximum value and satisfaction<br />
in house building by using the best materials<br />
and methods available regardless of period.”<br />
“How New is Modern?” CH&G, January<br />
1948, p. 36.<br />
FIG. 44. Designed by architect W.G. Armstrong, the Brooks-<br />
Hill house is contrasted with the Yolles house,<br />
designed by architect Samuel Devor.<br />
“The Brooks-Hills Wanted Traditional,”<br />
CH&G, May 1950, p. 42.<br />
FIG.45. The Yolles House, designed by architect Samuel<br />
Devor, is juxtaposed with the Brooks-Hill house.<br />
Typically, CH&G presented a moderate view, claiming<br />
that “[the juxtaposition] proves our contentions that<br />
modern design can fit into a traditional setting without<br />
offending either the eye or the neighbours.”<br />
“The Yolles Proved a Point,” CH&G, May 1950, p. 43.<br />
of the CH&G, modernity is no longer simply<br />
an issue of design, but one of comfort<br />
and good sense.<br />
The CH&G cover story of May 1962 relates<br />
how this new ethos is now integral to the<br />
life of Art and Patti Phillips:<br />
Art Phillips, a young Vancouver investment<br />
banker, has worn out three swim suits in the<br />
two summers since the pool was installed<br />
in their West Vancouver home […] Often in<br />
summer [the family] barbeques their meals<br />
on the patio adjoining the pool. Sunday<br />
dinner is sometimes a carefree expedition<br />
to a drive-in for hamburgers and chips […]<br />
With both his house and family outdoororiented,<br />
[the] Phillips’ western version of<br />
The Poolside Life is very pleasant and very<br />
In living indeed. 106<br />
By means of these and other attractive<br />
real-life portraits of modernity in everyday<br />
use, and affirmations of its desirability,<br />
ordinary Canadians are encouraged<br />
not merely to accept, but to embrace<br />
modern design.<br />
Conclusions<br />
Printed material found in pattern books,<br />
professional journals, and shelter magazines<br />
of the day demonstrates how distinct<br />
agents interacted in concert to create a<br />
flow of forces directed at realizing the<br />
suburban, single-family ideal for post-war<br />
Canadian consumers.<br />
As the state proponent of the Canadian<br />
post-war housing industry, the CMHC<br />
acted on behalf of lenders, builders,<br />
government financiers, designers, and<br />
consumers to present affordable housing.<br />
With literature geared to the consumer,<br />
easy to comprehend, free of charge, and<br />
guaranteed to provide subsidized mort-<br />
gage financing, the CMHC guided consumers<br />
in making the right choices and<br />
presented confident direction to new<br />
homebuyers.<br />
As an official voice of the profession, the<br />
JRAIC promoted innovation, disseminated<br />
new ideas, and showcased the talent of<br />
young architects across the country. By<br />
advocating for the architect’s role in<br />
solving the country’s housing needs and<br />
then demonstrating how home-grown<br />
talent could successfully step up to the<br />
challenge, the JRAIC succeeded in confirming<br />
the value of modernity in architecture<br />
and architectural training in the<br />
building of post-war Canada. Further,<br />
by advocating that the small, affordable<br />
house was an appropriate venue for the<br />
architect’s attention, the JRAIC raised the<br />
design standard for the new housing and<br />
reinforced the value of good architectural<br />
design in the domestic sphere.<br />
56 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
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It is possible that modern, single-family<br />
housing could have been effectively realized<br />
without the popular press standing<br />
at the ready to mediate between the<br />
housing industry and design profession,<br />
and providing subtle direction to the consumer.<br />
The fact remains that the CH&G<br />
successfully promoted innovation in<br />
design and empowered female readers in<br />
making housing decisions. The magazine<br />
promoted consumer education, advocated<br />
for the equal voice of all members<br />
of the family, including the mother and<br />
child, as consumers. Further, it reinforced<br />
other values such as the centrality of the<br />
home in Canadian life, home ownership,<br />
pride of domicile, and material consumption<br />
as positive and necessary components<br />
of post-war life. The breezy and helpful<br />
manner in which content was presented<br />
made this material accessible, and always<br />
with a mind to the main reader, the<br />
female mother-housewife, whose role in<br />
the domestic sphere was deemed dominant,<br />
and in the designed sphere certainly<br />
equal to that of the male father-breadwinner,<br />
and whose participation was key<br />
to the successful construction of post-war<br />
domestic life.<br />
The magazine reflected changing attitudes<br />
to the place of contemporary<br />
design in everyday life. The architectdesigned,<br />
affordable, single-family home<br />
brought the exemplary to the quotidian.<br />
The accoutrements of design, such<br />
as furnishings and décor, and lifestyle,<br />
including appliances, outdoor spaces<br />
and automobiles, were an extension of<br />
the well-designed household. All these<br />
attitudes, implied by CMHC’s pattern<br />
books and filtered through the professional<br />
journal, saw their clearest and<br />
most accessible exploration in the pages<br />
of the CH&G.<br />
Recent feminist analyses of the domestic<br />
and suburban experience have informed<br />
FIG. 46. This article features the J.S. Kennedy House, Edmonton, A.J. Donohue, architect. Readers are told: “the Kennedys […] love<br />
their long, low one-level home which proves you can be cosy with contemporary design […] [Their] children take their friends<br />
through [the house], proudly.” The starkness of modernity is now downplayed in favour of its liveability and sensibility.<br />
CH&G, May 1953, p. 46-47.<br />
an understanding of the complexities of<br />
this environment and the particularities<br />
of the Canadian experience of the postwar<br />
community, particularly the suburb.<br />
Literature in design, housing construction,<br />
and economic development, however,<br />
has largely ignored the centrality<br />
of women in decision-making and their<br />
role, albeit indirect, in shaping the housing<br />
market.<br />
Reading within the pages of specific<br />
media of the day, and across the types<br />
of publications available, allows for a<br />
greater understanding of the forces at<br />
work in the shaping of Canada’s postwar<br />
suburbs. The terrain remains largely<br />
unexplored. Considering that so much<br />
of Canada’s modern heritage continues<br />
on the near-periphery of Canada’s urban<br />
areas, and that this environment shaped<br />
a large majority of Canadians born after<br />
the Second World War, this is a subject<br />
that merits further exploration and<br />
understanding.<br />
<strong>No</strong>tes<br />
1. This research was originally presented as a<br />
paper at the Annual Meeting of the Society<br />
for the Study of Architecture in Lethbridge,<br />
Alberta, in June 2005. The author wishes<br />
to express his appreciation to the following:<br />
Stalin Boctor, dean, Ryerson University<br />
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and<br />
Science, who provided funds for research<br />
support and travel to the SSAC Conference;<br />
Robert Dirstein, director, Office of Research<br />
Services, Ryerson University, whose office<br />
provided research assistance funding;<br />
John Fraser, master, Massey College, who<br />
provided the author, as senior fellow-inresidence,<br />
space to research and write during<br />
post-administrative leave in 2007-2008;<br />
research assistants Janice Quieta and Kelvin<br />
Lee, students in the Department of Architectural<br />
Science, Ryerson University; Zita<br />
Murphy, Ryerson University Library, staff<br />
of the CMHC Information Centre, Ottawa,<br />
and Metro Reference Library, Toronto, and<br />
Shore + Moffat Library, Daniels Faculty of<br />
Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University<br />
of Toronto, for providing generous<br />
access to their collections; and the following<br />
individuals: Ivor Shapiro, Ryerson School<br />
of Journalism, Rhodri Windsor Liscombe,<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong><br />
57
George Th o m a s Kapelos > ANALYSis | ANALYSe<br />
Department of Art History, Visual Art and<br />
Theory, University of British Columbia, Jill<br />
Wade, Open Learning Agency, Thompson<br />
Rivers University, Shelagh Wilkinson, professor<br />
emerita, School of Women’s Studies,<br />
York University, Pamela Kapelos Fitzgerald<br />
and Wanda <strong>No</strong>wakowska, who each provided<br />
the author in their own unique ways<br />
with thoughtful comments, editorial assistance,<br />
and considerable encouragement in<br />
the preparation of this manuscript. Thank<br />
you.<br />
2. “The Poolside Life,” CH&G, May 1962,<br />
cover.<br />
3. Wade, Jill, 1986, “‘A Palace for the Public’:<br />
Housing Reform and the 1946 Occupation<br />
of the Old Hotel Vancouver,” BC Studies,<br />
nos. 69-70, spring-summer, p. 288-310.<br />
4. The last issue of the CH&G appeared in July<br />
1962; in its latter years the magazine had<br />
been renamed Canadian Homes.<br />
5. For a full description of the activities of the<br />
CMHC with regard to housing policy, see<br />
Anderson, George, 1992, Housing Policy<br />
in Canada, Vancouver, Centre for Human<br />
Settlements, University of British Columbia.<br />
6. In the period 1954-1960, the CMHC administered<br />
approximately 340,000 National Housing<br />
Act (NHA) Insured Loans and 620,000<br />
conventional loans.<br />
7. Two recent publications highlight an awareness<br />
of the retention of this housing stock:<br />
CMHC, 2002, Renovating Distinctive Homes:<br />
1 ½ Storey Post-War Homes and Renovating<br />
Distinctive Homes: One-Storey Houses of the<br />
’60s and ’70s, Ottawa, Canada Mortgage<br />
and Housing Corporation.<br />
8. For a description of the context for the<br />
development of post-war housing in Canada,<br />
see Denhez, Marc, 1994, The Canadian<br />
Home. From Cave to Electronic Cocoon,<br />
Toronto, Dundern Press, p. 79-126.<br />
9. Although the radio was widely accessible<br />
to Canadian homes, it is outside the scope<br />
of this investigation. Television did not<br />
appear in Canadian households until the<br />
mid-1950s.<br />
10. Tippett, Maria, 1990, Making Culture:<br />
English-Canadian Institutions and the Arts<br />
Before the Massey Commission, Toronto,<br />
University of Toronto Press, p. 36. Tippett’s<br />
investigation focuses on the creative and<br />
performing arts in Canada.<br />
11. See McLuhan, Marshall, 1962, The Gutenberg<br />
Galaxy: the Making of Typographic<br />
Man, Toronto, University of Toronto Press;<br />
and Cavell, Richard, 2002, McLuhan in Space:<br />
a Cultural Geography, Toronto, University<br />
of Toronto Press.<br />
12. Williams, Raymond, 1981, Culture, Cambridge,<br />
Fontana Paperback, p. 10.<br />
13. Ibid.<br />
14. Ibid.<br />
<strong>15</strong>. Id., p. 13.<br />
16. For an extensive exploration of the role that<br />
the magazine has played in the influence<br />
of culture, see Matthew Schneirov, 1994,<br />
The Dream of a New Social Order: Popular<br />
Magazines in America 1893-1914, New York,<br />
Columbia University Press.<br />
17. Korinek, Valerie J., 2000, Roughing it in the<br />
Suburbs: Reading Chatelaine Magazine in<br />
the Fifties and Sixties, Toronto, University<br />
of Toronto Press.<br />
18. Williams, as discussed in Korinek, p. 382.<br />
19. Korinek, p. 16.<br />
20. It is difficult to establish exact figures for<br />
periodical readership during the time period<br />
of this investigation. Other researchers have<br />
reviewed the impact of magazines, particularly<br />
those from the USA, on American<br />
markets. Such magazines did permeate the<br />
Canadian marketplace; however, the CH&G<br />
appears to be the single and consequently<br />
most influential periodical of its kind in<br />
English-speaking Canada.<br />
21. There are several other threads that are to<br />
be pursued in future studies. The first is the<br />
rise of other media, namely television, and<br />
the ways in which early television advanced<br />
ideas of modern living, particularly as they<br />
related to the single-family house promoted<br />
by the CMHC. Another thread to<br />
be explored is the ways in which consumer<br />
culture attached itself to the suburban<br />
house and extended this domain into the<br />
everyday object. Home decorating services,<br />
through national department stores, such<br />
as the T. Eaton Company and the Robert<br />
Simpson Company, played a significant role<br />
in the furnishing and decorating of houses<br />
depicted in the magazine, underscoring the<br />
interplay between house design, lifestyle,<br />
and the cultural appurtenances necessary<br />
for that lifestyle.<br />
22. Strong-Boag, Veronica, 2002 [4 th ed.], “Home<br />
Dreams: Women and the Suburban Experiment<br />
in Canada, 1945-1960,” In Veronica<br />
Strong-Boag, Mona Gleason, and Adele<br />
Perry (eds.), Rethinking Canada: The Prom-<br />
ise of Women’s History, Don Mills, Oxford<br />
University Press.<br />
23. Larry Bourne identifies three phases of<br />
urban settlement under the aegis of the<br />
CMHC. The first, a period from 1945-1964,<br />
saw a rapid growth in population and the<br />
creation of new suburban communities<br />
across Canada. In 1941 only 24% of Canadians<br />
lived in suburbs. By 1961 that number<br />
had increased to 45%. (Bourne, Larry,<br />
1993, “The Changing Settlement Environment<br />
of Housing,” In John R. Miron (ed.),<br />
House, Home, and Community: Progress in<br />
Housing Canadians, 1945-1986, Montreal,<br />
McGill-Queen’s University Press, p. 272.)<br />
24. Bauer, Catherine, 1934, Modern Housing,<br />
Cambridge, Riverside Press, p. xv.<br />
25. Id., p. 146.<br />
26. Id., p. 212.<br />
27. Id., p. 106.<br />
28. See Yorke, Francis Reginald Stevens and<br />
Penelope Whiting, 1953, The New Small<br />
House, London, The Architectural Press.<br />
29. Yorke, Francis Reginald Stevens, 1937<br />
[3 rd ed.], The Modern House, London, Architectural<br />
Press, p. 5.<br />
30. Melvin, Jeremy, 2003. FRS Yorke and the<br />
Evolution of English Modernism, Chichester,<br />
Wiley, p. 13.<br />
31. Yorke, Preface.<br />
32. Melvin, p. 18.<br />
33. Ford, Katherine Morrow and Thomas H.<br />
Creighton, 1951, The American House Today,<br />
New York, Reinhold, p. 2.<br />
34. Ford, p. 2.<br />
35. Aynsley, Jeremy and Francesca Berry, 2005,<br />
“Introduction: Publishing the Modern<br />
House: Magazines and the Domestic Interior<br />
1870-1965,” Journal of Design History,<br />
vol. 18, no. 1, p. 1; and Schnierov, Matthew,<br />
1994, The Dream of a New Social Order:<br />
Popular Magazines in America 1893-1914,<br />
New York, Columbia University Press.<br />
36. Aynsley, p. 1.<br />
37. Id., p. 3.<br />
38. Ibid.<br />
39. Id., p. 5.<br />
40. CMHC, 1958, Housing in Canada: A brief<br />
from Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation<br />
to the United Nations, Ottawa,<br />
Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
p. III-1, IV-1.<br />
58 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
George Th o m a s Kapelos > ANALYSis | ANALYSe<br />
41. Liscombe, Rhodri Windsor, 2002, “The Fe-<br />
Male Spaces of Modernism: A Western Canadian<br />
Perspective,” Prospects: An Annual of<br />
American Cultural Studies, vol. 26, p. 669.<br />
42. Id., p. 679.<br />
43. Strong-Boag, p. 318.<br />
44. Parr, Joy, 1999, Domestic Goods: The<br />
Material, the Moral, and the Economic<br />
in Post-war Years, Toronto, University of<br />
Toronto Press, p. 61.<br />
45. For a sampling of issues brought to English<br />
Canadian magazine readers in the 1950s,<br />
see Benedict, Michael (ed.), 1999, Canada in<br />
the Fifties: From the Archives of Maclean’s,<br />
Toronto, Viking Penguin Group.<br />
46. This analysis does not take into account the<br />
very considerable role that local newspapers<br />
played in the dissemination of values and<br />
culture, directed at the home and homemaker.<br />
47. Korinek, p. 366.<br />
48. Liscombe, “The Fe-Male Spaces of Modernism…,”<br />
p. 676.<br />
49. Parr, p. 163.<br />
50. Smiley, David, 2001, “Making the Modified<br />
Modern,” Perspecta, 32, p. 40-54.<br />
51. Id., p. 45.<br />
52. Id., p. 53.<br />
53. The state had been directly involved with<br />
housing production nationally since 1941<br />
through the agency of Wartime Housing<br />
Limited (WHL). The CMHC assumed responsibility<br />
for housing with the 1944 National<br />
Housing Act and, with its establishment on<br />
January 1, 1946, took over the operations<br />
of WHL at that time.<br />
54. Canadian Welfare Council, 1947, A National<br />
Housing Policy for Canada, Ottawa, CWC,<br />
p. 1.<br />
55. The full intent of the Act is clear from its<br />
subtitle, “An Act to Promote the Construction<br />
of New Houses, the Repair and Modernization<br />
of Existing Houses, the Improvement<br />
of Housing and Living Conditions, and the<br />
expansion of Employment in the Post-war<br />
Period.”<br />
56. Carver, Humphrey, 1948, Houses for Canadians,<br />
Toronto, University of Toronto Press,<br />
p. 6.<br />
57. For an extensive description, see Clayton,<br />
Frank A., 1989, “The Single-family Homebuilding<br />
Industry in Canada 1946-2001,” In<br />
Tom Carter (ed.), CMHC and the Building<br />
Industry: Forty Years of Partnership. Occasional<br />
Paper 18, Winnipeg: Institute for<br />
Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg.<br />
58. McKellar, James, 1993, “Building Technology<br />
and the Production Process,” In Miron (ed.),<br />
House, Home, and Community, op. cit.<br />
59. See Liscombe, Rhodri Windsor, 1997, The<br />
New Spirit: Modern Architecture in Vancouver:<br />
1938-1963, Montreal, Canadian Centre<br />
for Architecture, p. 114.<br />
60. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
1947, 67 Homes for Canadians, Ottawa,<br />
Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
p. 1.<br />
61. Gitterman, S.A., 1986, “An Old Challenge”<br />
in Housing a Nation: 40 Years of Achievement<br />
/ Un toit pour tous : Quarante années<br />
de realisations, Ottawa, Canada Mortgage<br />
and Housing Corporation, p. 81.<br />
62. CMHC Annual Reports, Ottawa, Canada<br />
Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 1947,<br />
1965.<br />
63. CMHC Annual Report, Ottawa, Canada<br />
Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 1946,<br />
p. 23.<br />
64. For an extensive discussion on the WHL and<br />
projects in Vancouver and Montreal, see<br />
Wade, Jill, 1994, Houses for All: The Struggle<br />
for Social Housing in Vancouver, 1919-<br />
1950, Vancouver, The UBC Press; and Adams,<br />
Annmarie and Pieter Sijpkes, 1995, “Wartime<br />
Housing and Architectural Change,<br />
1942-1992,” Canadian Folklore Canadien,<br />
vol. 17, no. 2, p. 13-29.<br />
65. CMHC, 67 Homes for Canadians, p. 77.<br />
66. CMHC, 67 Homes for Canadians, p. 76.<br />
67. Ibid.<br />
68. Ibid.<br />
69. The pattern book has been a vehicle for<br />
disseminating house plans and information<br />
on housing design since the late eighteenth<br />
century. For a discussion of the role of pattern<br />
books, with particular emphasis on<br />
housing in Canada, see Ennals, Peter and<br />
Deryck W. Holdsworth, 1998, Homeplace:<br />
The Making of the Canadian Dwelling,<br />
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, p. 109-<br />
120, 192-212.<br />
70. CMHC, 1965, Small House Designs, Ottawa,<br />
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,<br />
Introduction.<br />
71. This list was assembled based on information<br />
on record in the CMHC Information<br />
Centre, Ottawa. In most instances, these<br />
publications were also produced in French.<br />
72. The date of publication is an approximation<br />
as the publication is undated.<br />
73. This list is by no means comprehensive. The<br />
materials produced by the CMHC in both<br />
English and French are extensive and merit<br />
a separate investigation.<br />
74. Gitterman, p. 81.<br />
75. Denhez, p. 79.<br />
76. Holdsworth, Deryck W. and Joan Simon,<br />
1993, “Housing Form and Use of Domestic<br />
Space,” In Miron (ed.), House, Home, and<br />
Community, op, cit., p. 192.<br />
77. The role of Canadian Schools of Architecture<br />
in this period has been discussed extensively<br />
in analyses of the take up of modernism<br />
across the country. (See Liscombe,<br />
The New Spirit…, op. cit.; and Keshavjee,<br />
Serena (ed.), 2006 Winnipeg Modern: Architecture<br />
1945-1975, Winnipeg, University of<br />
Manitoba Press, particularly the chapter by<br />
Kelly Crossman, “The Meaning of White,”<br />
p. 131-<strong>15</strong>2.)<br />
78. Author’s assessment.<br />
79. RAIC Journal, September 1946, p. 206.<br />
80. Hudnut, Joseph, 1945, “The Post-Modern<br />
House,” RAIC Journal, July, p. 139.<br />
81. Ibid.<br />
82. For an extensive discussion of the architect<br />
A.J. (Jim) Donohue, see Crossman, p. 138-<br />
139.<br />
83. “Feature: Residential Interiors,” RAIC Journal,<br />
August, p. 293-294.<br />
84. Based on an estimated Canadian population<br />
of 13.6 million.<br />
85. Chatelaine, by contrast, reached almost 7%<br />
of Canadian households at a circulation of<br />
375,000.<br />
86. Sutherland, Fraser, 1989, The Monthly Epic:<br />
A History of Canadian Magazines, 1789-<br />
1989, Toronto, Fitzhenry and Whiteside,<br />
p. <strong>15</strong>7.<br />
87. Valerie J. Korinek categorizes the CH&G as<br />
“upscale” and Mayfair as “society” publications;<br />
however, no further explanation<br />
of these categorizations is given (Korinek,<br />
p. 33).<br />
88. The CH&G continued to be published until<br />
July 1962 and Mayfair until 1961. Chatelaine<br />
is still published.<br />
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89. In the period 1946-1950, the CH&G presented<br />
only one article addressing housing<br />
production, as compared with the JRAIC<br />
that featured nine articles (many of which<br />
were editorials) during the same period.<br />
90. CH&G, “Five Designs for the Forgotten<br />
Buyer,” February 1959.<br />
91. CH&G, “Planning the Small Home,” <strong>No</strong>vember<br />
1945, p. 36.<br />
92. Ibid.<br />
93. CH&G, “A Two Plan Family House,” <strong>No</strong>vember<br />
1952, p. 28-29.<br />
94. CH&G, “This House Gets Extra Space without<br />
a Basement,” June 1956, p. 111.<br />
95. CH&G “Good Use of Space Here,” December<br />
1951, p. 31-35.<br />
96. CH&G, “This is the House that You Built,”<br />
February 1945, p. 17-20.<br />
97. Ibid.<br />
98. Id., p. 21.<br />
99. Clayton Research Associates and Scanada<br />
Consultants, 1989, “Working Paper Two”<br />
The Evolution of the Housing Industry in<br />
Canada, 1946-86: The Housing Industry, Perspective<br />
and Prospective, Ottawa, Canada<br />
Mortgage and Housing Corporation, p. 6.<br />
100. CH&G, “How the Morrisons Manage to<br />
Budget, Build and Furnish,” April 1948,<br />
p. 21-28.<br />
101. CH&G, “How New is Modern?,” January<br />
1948, p. 16.<br />
102. Id., p. 18.<br />
103. CH&G “The Brooks-Hills Wanted Traditional;<br />
The Yolles Proved a Point,” May 1950,<br />
p. 42-43.<br />
104. Skarburskis, A., 1993, “Net Changes in Canada’s<br />
Post-war Housing Stock,” In Miron<br />
(ed.), House, Home, and Community, op. cit,<br />
Table 9.1, p. <strong>15</strong>7.<br />
105. CH&G, “…the children take their friends<br />
through proudly,” May 1953, p. 16-18.<br />
106. CH&G, “The Poolside Life,” May 1962,<br />
p. 16-20.<br />
60 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Research <strong>No</strong>tes | <strong>No</strong>tes de recherche<br />
Hydrostone’s Heritagization:<br />
Garden City of War 1<br />
Yona Jébrak and Barbara Julien are both<br />
Ph.D. students in the Département d’études<br />
urbaines et touristiques, Université du Québec à<br />
>Yo n a Jé b r a k e t<br />
Bar b a r a Ju l i e n<br />
Montréal, and research associates in the Canada<br />
Research Chair on Urban Heritage and the Institut<br />
du patrimoine, of the same institution.<br />
In 2007, Halifax, <strong>No</strong>va Scotia, celebrated<br />
the ninetieth anniversary of its destruction,<br />
an event that would shape both the<br />
future of the city and the early stages of<br />
official planning in Canada. In the morning<br />
of December 6, 1917, an explosion<br />
rocked the harbour, destroying much of<br />
the city. Under the shadow of a worldwide<br />
conflict, many initially thought that the<br />
Germans had attacked; but an investigation<br />
soon revealed that two naval warships,<br />
the <strong>No</strong>rwegian vessel SS Imo and<br />
the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc, had<br />
collided. The city’s entire <strong>No</strong>rth End was<br />
levelled and nearly one thousand seven<br />
hundred people perished, and hundreds<br />
of others were wounded 2 . It was the worst<br />
man-made disaster before the atomic<br />
bomb (fig. 1).<br />
Reconstruction began immediately. By<br />
1922, all vestiges of the disaster had disappeared,<br />
so much so that seventy years<br />
later in 1993, the Hydrostone district was<br />
known as a “1920s public housing project<br />
in the English garden-suburb style.” The<br />
designation of a small part of the devastated<br />
area, now rebuilt as a National<br />
Historic Site of Canada by Parks Canada,<br />
spotlights the innovative character of the<br />
project but overlooks the essential reason<br />
behind the reconstruction.<br />
FIG. 1. Scenes of devastation remained in Halifax well after the explosion: some areas were still no man’s<br />
lands in June 1918. | Gauvin and Gentzel, June 19, 1918. <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management, accession no. 1992-359,<br />
negative no. N-7086.<br />
As presented by Parks Canada, the Hydrostone<br />
model of heritagization appears<br />
to trace its beginnings after the project’s<br />
completion, once the first inhabitants were<br />
housed. But Hydrostone was a neighbourhood<br />
rebuilt primarily to house disaster<br />
victims. The initial plan was not conceived<br />
as an innovative housing project; it was<br />
first and foremost an urban response to<br />
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FIG. 2. Halifax devastated. | Adapted by the authors from a 1918 lithograph. <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management, <strong>No</strong>va Scotia<br />
Board of Insurance underwriters Collection, accession no. V6 / 240-1917 Halifax, loc. 4.2.3.2.<br />
a catastrophe. As the sole example of a<br />
reconstruction project on Canadian soil tied<br />
to a modern-day armed conflict, Hydrostone’s<br />
exceptional character is emphasized<br />
by the fact that it was part of a very distinct<br />
urban trend—a garden city of war.<br />
Consequently, this research note attempts<br />
to cast a new perspective on the process,<br />
beginning with the catastrophe and<br />
aimed at showing that Hydrostone was<br />
not so much a public housing project as<br />
it was a garden city of war that followed<br />
an international reconstruction movement.<br />
Our discussion will hinge on three<br />
propositions. At the time, the garden<br />
city model was considered as an essential,<br />
even necessary tool for a rapid return<br />
to normal life. Therefore, Halifax would<br />
have chosen the garden city as a means<br />
to rebuild, thus joining an international<br />
“reconstruction management” movement.<br />
Urban resilience—a city’s ability<br />
to return to normal—could have affected<br />
the heritage recognition process.<br />
The Garden City—a<br />
Reconstruction Tool<br />
After the explosion, chaos reigned: seven<br />
hundred and fifty families needed hous-<br />
ing, all landmarks had disappeared, fires<br />
broke out, and a blizzard raged (fig. 2).<br />
A good part of the city needed rebuilding,<br />
and damage was estimated at nearly<br />
twenty-eight million dollars. International<br />
rescue and aid workers were quickly organized<br />
and the federal government imposed<br />
the War Measures Act, giving full power to<br />
the Halifax Relief Commission, which was<br />
created to manage reconstruction.<br />
The Halifax Relief Commission quickly<br />
called on Thomas Adams (1871-1940) to<br />
define the boundaries of the devastated<br />
area (two and a half square kilometres) and<br />
prepare reconstruction plans. At that time,<br />
Thomas Adams was a city planner for the<br />
Conservation Commission, an organization<br />
created in 1909 to ensure management of<br />
Canadian resources. Called over from England<br />
in 1914 as a garden city specialist, 3 he<br />
remained a key resource person in Europe<br />
where he actively participated in discussions<br />
on reconstruction.<br />
Appearing in the late nineteenth century,<br />
the garden city was defined as an alternative<br />
to industrial urban living conditions.<br />
Presented by Ebenezer Howard in his<br />
work Garden Cities of To-Morrow 4 (1898),<br />
it aimed to combine the advantages of<br />
FIG. 3. Article written by Thomas Adams on the<br />
planning of Halifax published in The Contract<br />
Record (Toronto), August 28, 1918,<br />
p. 680-683. | <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management,<br />
Halifax Relief Commission Collection, accession no. 1976-166.57.<br />
both the city and countryside through the<br />
principle of cooperation. From Ebenezer<br />
Howard’s ideal, urban planners only<br />
retained some of the principles. As a<br />
social concept, the garden city is often<br />
interpreted as a construction method<br />
that became standardized, and thus the<br />
tool of choice in early twentieth-century<br />
urban planning.<br />
In 1899 in England, the Garden City<br />
Association was formed, institutionalizing<br />
a movement which soon became<br />
international in scope. This association<br />
had a major impact on the spread of the<br />
concept via a program of publications,<br />
international conferences, exhibitions,<br />
and site visits. When World War I broke<br />
out in 1914, the association’s contribution<br />
to ideas about reconstruction was only<br />
reinforced. Within the very first months,<br />
a number of conferences were organized<br />
by the Garden City and Town Planning<br />
Association and the International Union<br />
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FIG. 4. Blueprint for the “Plan of Devasted [sic] area indicating progress rehousing<br />
undertaken by the Halifax Relief Commission,” prepared by the firm<br />
Ross and MacDonald, October 25, 1918 (completed March 1919). | <strong>No</strong>va Scotia<br />
Archives and Records Management, Halifax Relief Commission Collection.<br />
FIG. 5. Hydrostone District and its surroundings, ca. 1921. Park Fort Needham can<br />
be seen on the left. | <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management, Halifax Relief Commission<br />
Collection, accession no. 1976-166.41.<br />
FIG. 6. Merkel Place, facing one of the linear parks. | Yona Jébrak, June 2006.<br />
FIG. 7. One of the linear parks, between Cabot Street<br />
and Sebastian Street. | Barbara Julien, June 2006.<br />
of Local Authorities. 5 Practitioners and<br />
authorities gathered, enabling the spread<br />
of information and implementation of<br />
intervention guidelines. The Association<br />
lobbied so effectively that the garden<br />
city was considered one of the only<br />
valid plans for rebuilding war-torn cities.<br />
Thomas Adams promoted the idea in Canada<br />
through the publication of numerous<br />
articles on the matter 6 (fig. 3).<br />
Thus, it is in that context of urban innovation<br />
that the destruction of the Hydrostone<br />
district precipitated Canadian<br />
thinking on reconstruction and city planning<br />
in general. It can be conceived that<br />
Halifax, itself a victim of war, wished to<br />
join the European-style reconstruction<br />
movement. The choice of hiring Thomas<br />
Adams to rebuild Hydrostone seemed<br />
clear: he was not only famous, he was also<br />
a garden city theorist and practitioner.<br />
Hydrostone—a Garden City<br />
Hydrostone’s urban environment—garden<br />
city principles combined with the<br />
need to rebuild rapidly—is composed of a<br />
two-part orthogonal grid divided by Gottingen<br />
Street, the district’s central axis. In<br />
the upper area, a series of twenty rows of<br />
equal width are repeated in a standardized<br />
sequence: alley, row of houses, street,<br />
linear park, street, and row of houses. In<br />
the lower area, the streets are parallel to<br />
the port. The sequence is broken by a central<br />
park and two diagonals that create<br />
a formal square. Reconstruction began<br />
with the upper part of the plan, which<br />
we call the Hydrostone district. The lower<br />
area was mainly developed in the 1930s<br />
(figs. 4-5).<br />
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FIG. 8. Young Street, the commercial strip. | Yona Jébrak, June 2006. FIG. 9. Blueprint for one of Ross and Macdonald’s house designs, house design D.12<br />
(June 1918). | <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management, Halifax Relief Commission Collection,<br />
reference no. MG 36, Series R, no. 1028.<br />
FIG. 10. A typical Hydrostone model on Stanley Street, between Navonlea Street<br />
and Isleville Street. | Yona Jébrak, June 2006.<br />
FIG. 11. A typical Hydrostone model on Cabot Street. | Barbara Julien, June 2006.<br />
FIG. 12. Canadian Hydrostone Plant, Eastern Passage, January 1919. The plant was built in order<br />
to accelerate house reconstruction. | <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management, William Smith Collection,<br />
accession no. 1991-325, negative no. N-7050.<br />
There were three underlying development<br />
criteria to the plan: first, it introduced<br />
a standard neighbourhood design<br />
composed of an economic centre and<br />
residences. A commercial thoroughfare<br />
with the same architectural design was<br />
developed in the vicinity of the three<br />
hundred and twenty-six new residences.<br />
The road hierarchy—the second criteria—consisted<br />
of a five-level system of<br />
streets including thoroughfares, primary<br />
and secondary collection highways, local<br />
access roads, and service roads. This<br />
organization not only separated the different<br />
kinds of traffic and controlled their<br />
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FIG. 13. The symbolic and physical mechanism of urban resilience applied to the<br />
reconstruction of Halifax devastated area. | Jébrak and Julien, 2008, “Hydrostone<br />
patrimonialisé : cité-jardin de guerre,” p. 65.<br />
FIG. 14. Newly built Hydrostone houses designed by Ross and Macdonald. This<br />
strip of houses is located on the north side of Sebastian Place, west<br />
of Gottingen Street. | Gauvin and Gentzel, March 24, 1921. <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records<br />
Management, William Smith Collection, accession no. 1991-325, negative no. N-70<strong>15</strong>.<br />
FIG. 16. Postcard published in 1918 illustrating “Stores and residences destroyed” during the 1917 explosion.<br />
| Cox Bros., <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management, Halifax City Regional Library Collection, accession no. 1983-212.<br />
FIG. <strong>15</strong>. Advertisement for Devastated Halifax, a<br />
graphic picture story published by Gerald<br />
E. Weir. Excerpt from Stanley K. Smith, Heart<br />
Throbs of the Halifax Horror (Halifax, 1918),<br />
p. 118. | <strong>No</strong>va Scotia Archives and Records Management,<br />
reference no. F5249 / H17 / Ex96 / S66.<br />
volume and direction, it also limited the<br />
dangers associated with traffic and pollution,<br />
thus fostering the development<br />
of a local community. This quest for an<br />
ideal community is also illustrated by the<br />
priority given to public spaces, notably<br />
parks—the third criteria. Three kinds of<br />
parks were included. First, across from<br />
the commercial strip was a triangular<br />
outdoor space boasting green plants and<br />
park benches where shoppers could rest<br />
between errands. In addition, eight garden<br />
boulevards, bordered by residences,<br />
were at the centre of the project and<br />
gave the district its special feel. Lastly,<br />
Park Fort Needham—a central park area<br />
of over eight acres that was the crowning<br />
point of the garden city—was a recreational<br />
space as well as a historic landmark.<br />
It served as a natural border for the district<br />
and provided Halifax’s <strong>No</strong>rth End<br />
with something it had lacked before the<br />
disaster: an accessible, multifunctional<br />
park network (figs. 6-8).<br />
For architectural expertise, the Halifax<br />
Relief Commission called on the services<br />
of George Allen Ross from the Montreal<br />
firm Ross and MacDonald. In close<br />
collaboration with Thomas Adams, Ross<br />
fine-tuned a standard home construction<br />
method using hydrostone—cinderblocks<br />
made from cast concrete. This material<br />
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was non-flammable, relatively inexpensive,<br />
and, most importantly, could be produced<br />
quickly. As well, Ross standardized<br />
his architectural design. The seven home<br />
models he proposed were in the English<br />
cottage style, which is reminiscent of the<br />
garden city architecture proposed by Raymond<br />
Unwin and Barry Parker at Letchworth,<br />
England (figs. 9-12).<br />
Halifax’s Resilience<br />
A study of the Halifax reconstruction<br />
reveals the existence of a process of resilience.<br />
7 The shorter the reconstruction period,<br />
the more effective urban resilience<br />
will be. The components of this resilience<br />
can be categorized in two groups: physical<br />
elements and symbolic elements (fig. 13).<br />
Physical elements are pragmatic in nature:<br />
when a well-organized municipal structure<br />
takes charge of victims, quickly and<br />
from the very start, an even greater catastrophe<br />
is avoided. Despite winter and<br />
the incredible devastation, there were<br />
no sanitary problems after the explosion<br />
and all of the victims were housed<br />
within a month of the disaster. Moreover,<br />
permanent reconstruction was all the<br />
more efficient as the Relief Commission,<br />
sole party responsible for reconstruction,<br />
quickly named Thomas Adams to draw<br />
up the reconstruction plans. The garden<br />
city, whose applicability had already been<br />
determined, was rapidly approved, thus<br />
enabling a return to normal (fig. 14). We<br />
consider that community resilience was<br />
achieved in 1922, as, by that date, physical<br />
reconstruction was complete.<br />
Nevertheless, even though by 1922 the<br />
homeless had found new lodging, it cannot<br />
be considered that the catastrophe had<br />
been forgotten by then. The memory of an<br />
event enlists a sphere of representations:<br />
that is symbolic resilience. It does not follow<br />
the same pattern as physical resilience<br />
in that it is supported by a set of references<br />
that varies from one group of actors<br />
to another. Symbolic resilience is achieved<br />
through a series of stages. At first, the<br />
ruins prompted discussion of the disaster.<br />
As in Europe, where the Michelin Guide<br />
proposed guided tours of the battlefields<br />
even before the war was over, postcards<br />
and guidebooks of the Halifax rubble were<br />
offered for sale (figs. <strong>15</strong>-16). Next, as the<br />
first Hydrostone occupants moved into<br />
new dwellings, new discussions centred<br />
on the beauty of the restored district,<br />
thereby allowing the disaster victims to<br />
regain their community. Grieving gave way<br />
to thoughts of the future. Starting in the<br />
1980s, Hydrostone was no longer referred<br />
to as a reconstructed district. In 1983, it<br />
was time to commemorate the disaster victims<br />
by erecting a memorial in the heart<br />
of Fort Needham Park.<br />
Conclusion<br />
The explosion and reconstruction had,<br />
and still have, an impact on national and<br />
local collective memory following the<br />
federal recognition of heritage. However,<br />
that recognition seems to overlook the<br />
circumstances in which Hydrostone was<br />
born. Can this paradox be explained by<br />
our natural tendency to forget, associated<br />
with successful urban resilience?<br />
Hydrostone is clearly a garden city of<br />
war. World War I created an environment<br />
that encouraged international cooperation<br />
among city planner professionals<br />
and theorists. This pooling of ideas not<br />
only spurred thinking about rebuilding a<br />
city, it also sped the application of the<br />
theory. Through model standardization<br />
and simplification of the building process,<br />
a rapid response was therefore possible; a<br />
new urban design was born. In choosing<br />
Thomas Adams, the city of Halifax sought<br />
to join this international reconstruction<br />
movement. Hydrostone became the tangible<br />
application of ideas from abroad<br />
and helped develop the basis for modern<br />
Canadian urban planning. Far from the<br />
“English garden city” model, Hydrostone<br />
illustrates the ability of a city to rebuild…<br />
and to forget its past.<br />
<strong>No</strong>tes<br />
1. This research was also published in Jébrak,<br />
Yona and Barbara Julien, 2008, “Hydrostone<br />
patrimonialisé : cité-jardin de guerre,” In<br />
Marie-Blanche Fourcade (ed.), Patrimoine et<br />
patrimonialisation. Entre matériel et immatériel,<br />
Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval,<br />
p. 51-72.<br />
2. Ruffman, Alan and Colin D. Howell (ed.),<br />
1994, Ground Zero. A Reassessment of the<br />
1917 Explosion in Halifax Harbour. Canada’s<br />
Most Tragic Disaster, Halifax, Nimbus Publishing<br />
Limited.<br />
3. Adams was the Garden City Association’s<br />
secretary and administrator (1903-1906) of<br />
Letchworth, a garden city in Herfordshire,<br />
England.<br />
4. Howard, Ebenezer [1898] 1902, Garden Cities<br />
of To-Morrow (1898), London, Swan<br />
Sonnenschein and Co., Ltd.<br />
5. See Hardy, Dennis, 1991, From Garden Cities<br />
to New Towns. Campaigning for Town<br />
and Country Planning, 1899-1946, Oxford, E<br />
and FN Spon Publisher; Ward, Stephen, 2002,<br />
Planning the Twentieth Century City: The<br />
Advanced Capitalist World, Chichester, John<br />
Wiley; and Smets, Marcel (ed.), 1985, Resurgam.<br />
La reconstruction en Belgique après<br />
1914, Bruxelles, Crédit communal.<br />
6. See Adams, Thomas, 1917, Plan et Développement<br />
ruraux. Une étude sur les conditions et<br />
les problèmes ruraux au Canada, Ottawa,<br />
Commission de la conservation du Canada;<br />
and Adams, Thomas, 1917, “What Town Planning<br />
really Means,” The Canadian Municipal<br />
Journal, vol. X.<br />
7. On the topic of urban resilience, see Vale,<br />
Lawrence J. and Thomas J. Campanella (eds.),<br />
2005, The Resilient City. How Modern Cities<br />
Recover From Disaster, New York, Oxford university<br />
Press.<br />
66 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Research <strong>No</strong>tes | <strong>No</strong>tes de recherche<br />
Deux exemples de jardins civils<br />
à Montréal au dix-huitième siècle<br />
Marie-José Fortier est architecte paysagiste<br />
et muséologue; elle a récemment terminé son<br />
doctorat. Sa recherche portait sur les jardins<br />
>Ma r i e-Jo s é<br />
For t i e r<br />
canadiens durant le Régime français. Elle est<br />
spécialisée en histoire des jardins.<br />
Des documents récemment découverts<br />
aux Archives nationales de France,<br />
Centre des archives d’outre-mer (CAOM),<br />
apportent des précisions sur l’état de la<br />
propriété de Claude de Ramezay un peu<br />
après sa mort. Ils permettent également<br />
de donner une forme aux jardins et de<br />
confirmer leur existence. La disposition de<br />
la propriété offre un modèle d’aménagement<br />
à plusieurs zones tel qu’il apparaît<br />
dans les plans de ville de la <strong>No</strong>uvelle-<br />
France dès 1670. Ce modèle se trouve<br />
surtout en milieu urbain, quoiqu’il existe<br />
aussi des exemples de segmentation des<br />
espaces extérieurs dans les propriétés de<br />
banlieue. L’aménagement peut revêtir<br />
des formes riches et complexes, comme<br />
nous le verrons dans le cas de l’hôtel<br />
particulier du seizième gouverneur de<br />
la colonie, le marquis Philippe de Rigaud<br />
de Vaudreuil.<br />
ill. 1. Levasseur de Neré, Jacques, 1704, « Plan de la ville de Montréal levé<br />
en l’année 1704 », maison et jardins du marquis de Vaudreuil, plan<br />
manuscrit, 50 x 90 cm. | Archives nationales de France, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, 468/5PFA.<br />
La composition des espaces extérieurs<br />
en plusieurs zones à usage différencié<br />
apparaît comme un ajustement aux pratiques<br />
métropolitaines reproduites dans<br />
un contexte aux ressources limitées, dans<br />
les deux cas que nous allons illustrer, soit<br />
deux membres de l’administration coloniale.<br />
Le gouverneur de Montréal, Claude<br />
de Ramezay (1659-1724), occupe ce poste<br />
durant vingt ans, à partir de 1704 ; Philippe<br />
de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1643-1725)<br />
est d’abord nommé gouverneur de Montréal<br />
(de 1698 à 1703), puis gouverneur<br />
de la <strong>No</strong>uvelle-France (de 1703 à 1725).<br />
Les jardins et les espaces extérieurs de<br />
ces deux propriétés sont aménagés de<br />
manière à rehausser et à compléter la<br />
demeure. Ces deux jardins jouent un double<br />
rôle, espaces à la fois privés et institutionnels.<br />
Dans leur première fonction, les<br />
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67
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Ill. 2. Chaussegros de Léry, Gaspard-Joseph, 1717, « Plan de la ville de Montréal, en<br />
Canada, <strong>No</strong>uvelle-France, dans l’Amérique Septentrionale », jardins de particuliers<br />
dans la ville, 500 toises, juin, plan manuscrit, 52,5 x 78,7 cm. | Archives<br />
nationales de France, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, 03DFC472B.<br />
Ill. 3. Chaussegros de Léry, Gaspard-Joseph, 1725, « Plan de la ville de Montréal<br />
», jardins de particuliers, 300 toises, 10 septembre, plan manuscrit,<br />
51,9 x 73,9 cm. | Archives nationales de France, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, 475/5pfB.<br />
jardins comportent des parties utilitaires<br />
et d’agrément alors que, pour répondre<br />
à la seconde, ils doivent offrir un espace<br />
social, voire de représentation.<br />
Dans cet article, nous décrirons la composition<br />
de ces deux jardins aménagés à<br />
Montréal au début du dix-huitième siècle.<br />
<strong>No</strong>us y avons trouvé des éléments et des<br />
dispositions propres aux courants adoptés<br />
par la bourgeoisie et la petite noblesse<br />
dans des provinces françaises, au cours de<br />
la même période : présence d’un jardin,<br />
qui peut servir de cadre de rencontre et<br />
comporte conséquemment des caractères<br />
d’apparat, et structuration de la propriété,<br />
pour mettre en valeur la demeure et les<br />
espaces extérieurs. <strong>No</strong>s deux exemples en<br />
sont l’illustration.<br />
Les jardins de l’hôtel du<br />
marquis de Vaudreuil<br />
À Montréal, les jardins de la résidence du<br />
marquis de Vaudreuil peuvent être considérés,<br />
en regard de la composition et de la<br />
complexité des espaces aménagés, comme<br />
l’équivalent des jardins du palais de l’intendant<br />
à Québec. Bien qu’il s’agisse d’une<br />
résidence privée, les lieux peuvent se prêter<br />
à des fonctions politiques et administratives,<br />
y compris la représentation du pouvoir<br />
colonial et, de ce fait, ils deviennent<br />
des espaces institutionnels. Cette double<br />
fonction explique le caractère recherché<br />
de la composition des espaces, la qualité<br />
de l’habitation et des jardins. Deux types<br />
de documents cartographiques, soit les<br />
plans de Montréal et des plans spécifiques<br />
de la résidence, nous permettent, d’une<br />
part, de juger de l’évolution des jardins de<br />
1704 à 1731 et, d’autre part, de connaître la<br />
composition précise de cet aménagement<br />
urbain. À ces manuscrits s’ajoutent des<br />
documents écrits qui corroborent l’information<br />
contenue dans les plans mentionnés.<br />
En 1704, les jardins du marquis sont représentés<br />
simplement ; on y trouve d’abord<br />
l’arrangement assez fréquent de l’espace<br />
carré ou rectangulaire subdivisé en quatre<br />
grandes zones, à leur tour fractionnées en<br />
autant de carrés, avec puits attenant. Un<br />
rectangle de verdure, situé à proximité de<br />
la maison, s’ajoute à cette composition : il<br />
en est séparé de la zone du potager par<br />
un long mur maçonné qui court d’ouest<br />
en est (ill. 1).<br />
Sur le plan de 1717 (ill. 2), la maison qui<br />
précède la construction de l’hôtel particulier<br />
occupe le même emplacement ; au<br />
sud, on peut voir la cour avec remise et,<br />
à l’arrière, un grand espace dédié au jardin.<br />
Cette zone, subdivisée en neuf carrés<br />
définis par des allées qui se coupent à<br />
angle droit, est bordée d’une plantation<br />
et entourée d’une clôture de pieux.<br />
En 1723, le gouverneur entreprend la<br />
construction d’une résidence plus cossue,<br />
que certains historiens assimilent à l’hôtel<br />
parisien de la même période ; sur le plan<br />
de 1725 (ill. 3), on peut voir le nouveau<br />
bâtiment, toujours flanqué à sa gauche<br />
de la cour et d’un bâtiment de service, et<br />
le jardin à l’arrière. Ce dernier a gardé une<br />
allure semblable, bien que deux nouveaux<br />
bâtiments soient venus réduire l’espace<br />
qu’il occupait initialement.<br />
Le plan de 1731 (ill. 4) représente une<br />
version des aménagements très proche<br />
du plan spécifique dressé le 17 juillet<br />
1726 par Jean-Baptiste Angers et René<br />
de Couagne, mandatés à cet effet par<br />
le procureur du roi. Dorénavant, une<br />
grille permet d’accéder à la maison ; un<br />
68 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
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Ill. 4. Chaussegros de Léry, Gaspard-Joseph, 1731,<br />
« Plan de la ville de Montréal dans la <strong>No</strong>uvelle<br />
France 1731 », jardin de Vaudreuil, 400<br />
toises, 2 octobre, plan manuscrit, 51,3 x 70,7<br />
cm. | Archives nationales de France, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence,<br />
03DFC480B.<br />
Ill. 5. Angers, Jean-Baptiste et René de Couagne,<br />
1726, « Plan, élévation, profil et terrains<br />
appartenant à la succession de monsieur le<br />
marquis de Vaudreuil », 17 juillet, plan manuscrit<br />
avec retombes, 51,5 x 12,7 cm. | Archives<br />
nationales de France, Paris, Cartes et plans, Marine, C7, no 340,<br />
pièce 13bis, dossier Vaudreuil.<br />
mur maçonné circonscrit la cour et l’espace<br />
adjacent, plus au nord. Le parterre<br />
de broderie, placé immédiatement à<br />
l’arrière de la demeure, est également<br />
entouré d’un mur de pierre. Au-delà<br />
s’étend le reste du jardin, composé de<br />
quatre carrés. La propriété couvre la<br />
quasi-totalité de l’espace compris entre<br />
la rue Saint-Paul – sur laquelle donne la<br />
façade – et la rue <strong>No</strong>tre-Dame, et elle<br />
borde la rue Saint-Charles sur presque<br />
toute sa longueur.<br />
Le premier plan de la succession de<br />
Vaudreuil est dressé en 1726 (ill. 5), au<br />
moment de l’inventaire des biens. Un<br />
second plan, portant la signature de<br />
Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry,<br />
est complété l’année suivante, en juillet<br />
(ill. 6). Les deux plans offrent peu de différences<br />
quant aux parties du jardin et à<br />
la disposition interne.<br />
Il existe également un troisième plan :<br />
« Le château de Vaudreuil 1726 » (ill. 7) ; il<br />
s’agit d’une copie d’un plan conservé par<br />
Archibald Chaussegros de Léry McDonald.<br />
Bien que cette version reprenne l’ensemble<br />
des éléments du plan initial et présente<br />
distinctement les trois parties du<br />
jardin, à savoir le parterre, le verger et le<br />
potager, la légende en est plus sommaire.<br />
Ces distinctions étant établies, nous utiliserons<br />
le premier plan pour décrire les<br />
aménagements extérieurs.<br />
Le relevé de 1726 fournit d’abord les<br />
dimensions du terrain, soit une superficie<br />
de mille deux cent onze toises 1 : deux cent<br />
soixante et un pieds sur la rue Saint-Charles<br />
et trois cent trente-trois pieds sur la<br />
limite intérieure, cent soixante-huit pieds<br />
en façade sur Saint-Paul et cent soixantedix<br />
du côté opposé. Du côté sud de la rue<br />
Saint-Paul, face à la résidence, un terrain<br />
Ill. 6. Chaussegros de Léry, Gaspard-Joseph, 1727,<br />
« Plan, élévation, profil et terrains appartenant<br />
à la succession de feu Monsieur le<br />
marquis de Vaudreuil », 25 toises, <strong>15</strong> juillet. |<br />
Archives nationales de France, Paris, Cartes et plans, Marine, C7,<br />
no 340, dossier Vaudreuil.<br />
de soixante-quatre toises appartient aussi<br />
au marquis ; il a été acquis pour préserver<br />
la vue sur le fleuve. Une maison située sur<br />
la rue Saint-Paul a davantage de valeur,<br />
ainsi que le signale Claude-Thomas Dupuy<br />
quand il évalue la maison de Claude<br />
de Ramezay :<br />
On peut encore trouver le prix par celuy qui<br />
a esté marqué au sujet de l’estimation de la<br />
maison de feu M. le Marquis de vaudreuil sur<br />
quoi il faut observer que les terreins de la<br />
haute ville tel qu’est celuy-cy dans un endroit<br />
reculé du commerce se vendent moins qu’a ce<br />
qu’on appelle la basse ville vers le marché 2 .<br />
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pour l’usage de son propriétaire. Ces<br />
espaces forment un tout avec le bâtiment<br />
et s’intègrent à l’aménagement général<br />
de la propriété qui possède également<br />
cour et avant-cour, bâtiments de service<br />
et équipements utilitaires (puits et glacière).<br />
Enfin, l’occupant s’est réservé un<br />
espace qui lui permet d’apprécier le paysage<br />
environnant et, de façon non équivoque,<br />
le fleuve. Bien que moins élaboré<br />
mais porteur des mêmes usages et de la<br />
même signification, nous verrons ci-après<br />
comment se présente le jardin de Claude<br />
de Ramezay, à la même période.<br />
Ill. 7. « Le château de Vaudreuil 1726 ». | D’après un plan<br />
en la possession d’Archibald Chaussegros de Léry Macdonald,<br />
dans Benjamin Sulte, 1884, Histoire des Canadiens-Français,<br />
1608-1880 : origine, histoire, religion, guerres, découvertes,<br />
colonisation, coutumes, vie domestique, sociale et politique, développement,<br />
avenir, Montréal, Wilson et Cie Éditeurs, vol. 8.<br />
Le plan contient également un relevé précis<br />
des parties de la propriété. Une avantcour<br />
précède l’escalier et le perron (L) ;<br />
une grande cour (V), regroupant remise<br />
(N), écurie (O), corps de garde (P) et commodités<br />
pour les domestiques (M), est<br />
aménagée dans la partie est et se trouve<br />
complètement séparée de l’entrée principale.<br />
L’accès au potager (S) peut se faire à<br />
partir de la cour ou du parterre (T) ; murs,<br />
clôtures et escaliers séparent ces espaces<br />
entre eux et avec le jardin fruitier (R),<br />
situé à l’arrière (ill. 8).<br />
L’organisation interne des espaces dominés<br />
par les végétaux est simplement<br />
esquissée par quatre carrés de dimensions<br />
semblables ; le parterre bénéficie<br />
en plus d’un aménagement central, qui<br />
pourrait être une fontaine, un cadran<br />
solaire ou une autre pièce décorative, et<br />
d’un puits situé en retrait. De la grande<br />
salle (A), de la grande chambre (B), situées<br />
Ill. 8. Agrandissement d’une partie du plan<br />
d’Angers et de Couagne (ill. 5).<br />
à l’étage noble, et des cabinets (C) dans<br />
les ailes latérales, on a une vue directe sur<br />
le parterre ; la terrasse à l’arrière offre le<br />
même avantage, alors que l’escalier qui<br />
la complète, aménagé au centre du bâtiment<br />
et dans l’axe central du parterre, en<br />
autorise l’accès. La glacière (Q) se trouve<br />
à l’angle nord-ouest du terrain, à proximité<br />
du verger. L’intendant Dupuy, qui<br />
rédige la correspondance relative à l’estimation<br />
de la maison, en 1727, écrit : « du<br />
reste la maison est gracieuse et très bien<br />
distribuée à quelque chose. Bâtie avec<br />
convenance pour sa destination en belle<br />
veûe et sans la pouvoir perdre au moyen<br />
de la place devant […] bâtimens cours et<br />
jardins avec les arbres fruitiers qui y sont<br />
complantés » et précise que les « écuries,<br />
remise, mur de clôture, puits et canals »<br />
sont en maçonnerie 3 .<br />
Ce jardin, qui complète une résidence<br />
nobiliaire canadienne, se présente comme<br />
un modèle de jardin d’agrément urbain<br />
constitué de trois parties essentielles<br />
– parterre, jardin fruitier, potager –<br />
rehaussées par la présence de l’eau et<br />
organisées pour le plaisir de la vue et<br />
Le jardin de la maison<br />
du gouverneur Claude de<br />
Ramezay<br />
Les plans de Montréal et les plans spécifiques<br />
illustrant la propriété du gouverneur<br />
général et du gouverneur de Montréal<br />
sont liés par des circonstances semblables.<br />
Claude de Ramezay, un temps gouverneur<br />
de la ville des Trois-Rivières (1690-1699),<br />
puis de Montréal (1704-1725), à sa mort<br />
lègue à sa veuve une belle maison avec<br />
jardin et verger, donnant sur la rue <strong>No</strong>tre-<br />
Dame, mais aussi beaucoup de dettes.<br />
Compte tenu de la situation, celle-ci propose<br />
au représentant du gouvernement<br />
d’acheter une partie ou la totalité de sa<br />
propriété en vue de l’utiliser comme résidence<br />
pour l’intendant lors de ses séjours<br />
dans la région. La transaction sera éventuellement<br />
conclue et la maison occupée<br />
durant plusieurs années par l’intendant<br />
Gilles Hocquart, au gré de ses passages<br />
dans la ville. En octobre 1727, Claude-<br />
Thomas Dupuy, écrivant au ministre de<br />
la Marine, mentionne l’utilisation des<br />
plans de la ville pour mieux faire connaître<br />
outre-mer la situation des deux résidences<br />
; il souligne le parallèle des deux<br />
démarches :<br />
j’ay eü soin de faire marquer sur le plan<br />
général d’une maniere distincte les<br />
70 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
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emplacemens de ces deux maisons tant de<br />
celle de feu M. le marquis de vaudreuil que<br />
de celle de M de Ramezay pour que vous<br />
ayés le tout sous les yeux et que vous y<br />
metiés vous même l’estimation 4 .<br />
Il avait auparavant, précisé :<br />
Comme il n’y a point eü de commission du<br />
Roy au sujet de la maison de madame de<br />
Ramezay je n’en ay point fait faire de proces<br />
verbaux d’estimation en forme, mais j’ay<br />
chargé le S. Raimbault d’y emploier les<br />
memes experts, ala suitte de l’operation<br />
qu’ils ont faite de la maison de feu M. Le<br />
marquis de Vaudreuil, de sorte que pouvans<br />
penser avoir prêté le serment pour l’un et<br />
pour l’autre ils fussent plus attentifs à ne<br />
dire que la verite 5 .<br />
Dessiné par Dahlia Marinier-Doucet<br />
Plan du rez-de-jardin<br />
Superposition du plan actuel et du plan ancien<br />
J’ay fait faire par M dugué le plan tant de<br />
la maison que du verger avec la disposition<br />
sur ce verger de la destination qu’en fait<br />
madame de Ramezay. Je joins les plans à<br />
cette lettre 6 .<br />
Quatre documents récemment découverts<br />
permettent dorénavant de situer avec<br />
précision le jardin de Claude de Ramezay<br />
et de comprendre le morcellement progressif<br />
de la propriété après la mort du<br />
gouverneur. Tout d’abord, deux mémoires<br />
de la main de l’intendant Dupuy contiennent<br />
une description et une évaluation<br />
des lieux, suivies de propositions en vu<br />
de leur utilisation comme domaine royal 7 .<br />
Ces documents ne seraient cependant<br />
pas complets sans les plans auxquels<br />
ils réfèrent, en l’occurrence deux plans<br />
découverts au cours de notre recherche 8<br />
et représentant, pour l’un, la maison et<br />
la disposition des trois étages et, pour<br />
l’autre, l’ensemble de la propriété, y<br />
compris la localisation du potager et du<br />
verger. Le « Plan de la maison de madame<br />
de Ramezay » (ill. 9) et le « Plan de la<br />
Maison, Jardin et verger de Madame de<br />
Ramezay » (ill. 10) sont directement liés<br />
Récemment, une série de plans illustrant le Château Ramezay, datés de 1727, a été<br />
retrouvée dans un fonds d’archives en France. Il s’agit là d’une découverte importante<br />
au sujet de cet édifice historique unique dont la première construction, commandée par<br />
le gouverneur de Montréal, Claude de Ramezay, remonte à 1705. Jusqu’à maintenant,<br />
les plus anciens plans connus du Château dataient des années 1830.<br />
<strong>No</strong>us savions que la Compagnie des Indes, qui acheta la résidence des héritiers de<br />
Ramezay en 1745, avait procédé à un agrandissement du bâtiment en 1755-1756. En<br />
1973, des fouilles archéologiques avaient mis au jour la maçonnerie du coin sud-est<br />
des fondations du Château de 1705. En prenant comme point de repère ce coin sudest,<br />
nous avons procédé à la superposition du plan de 1727 à celui d’aujourd’hui. Cet<br />
exercice nous a permis de constater que les murs nord et ouest auraient toujours été au<br />
même endroit. Ce fait renforce l’idée d’un « rétablissement et augmentation », comme<br />
le stipulait le contrat octroyé au maçon en 1755 (dont nous avions déjà copie), et non<br />
d’une reconstruction complète. D’ailleurs, plusieurs autres éléments du bâtiment de<br />
1705 semblent encore être présents aujourd’hui. À partir de ces plans, des recherches<br />
plus poussées nous permettront de mieux documenter l’histoire du Château et de<br />
l’architecture en <strong>No</strong>uvelle-France.<br />
Le Château Ramezay, un des plus beaux exemples de l’architecture du dix-huitième<br />
siècle, premier édifice classé par la Commission des monuments historiques du Québec<br />
en 1929, a été témoin de nombreux moments forts de notre passé. En ses murs,<br />
« l’esprit du lieu » conserve toutes ses strates historiques, dont tout particulièrement<br />
l’époque de Ramezay, pierre d’assise de toute l’histoire originale de cet édifice.<br />
André Delisle<br />
Directeur général et conservateur<br />
Musée du Château de Ramezay<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong><br />
71
Marie-José Fortier > Research <strong>No</strong>tes | <strong>No</strong>tes de recherche<br />
Ill. 9. Dugué, 1727, « Plan de la Maison de madame de Ramezay », plan manuscrit<br />
avec retombes pour les trois niveaux de la maison. | Archives nationales de<br />
France, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, Collection Moreau de Saint-Méry, Guyane, F/3/289/14.<br />
Ill. 10. Dugué, « Plan de la Maison, Jardin et verger de Madame de Ramezay »,<br />
1727, plan manuscrit. | Archives nationales de France, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, Collection<br />
Moreau de Saint-Méry, Guyane, F/3/289/<strong>15</strong>.<br />
Ill. 11. Dezallier d’Argenville, Antoine-Joseph, 1747 [4e éd.], « Plan général de Jardin dessiné<br />
sur le papier », La théorie et la pratique du jardinage, ou l’on traite à fond des beaux<br />
jardins appelés communément les jardins de plaisance et de propreté, Paris,<br />
Chez Pierre-Jean Mariette, planche 1, p. 260.<br />
Ill. 12. De Villeneuve, Robert, 1685, « Plan de la ville et chasteau<br />
de Québec, fait en 1685 mezurée exactement par le sieur<br />
de Villeneuve » (partie), 100 toises, 13 novembre 1685,<br />
plan manuscrit, 55,8 x 81,8 cm. | Archives nationales de France,<br />
CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, 03DFC349B.<br />
aux mémoires de Claude-Thomas Dupuy ;<br />
la correspondance sur plusieurs points a<br />
été établie et elle permet de confirmer<br />
cette hypothèse.<br />
Une démarche semblable à la précédente<br />
sera effectuée pour l’examen de<br />
la représentation du jardin de Claude<br />
de Ramezay. Dans un premier temps, nous<br />
questionnerons les formes et l’évolution<br />
du jardin dans la cartographie de la ville<br />
de Montréal de 1717 à 1734 ; par la suite,<br />
l’examen des plans spécifiques permettra<br />
de compléter la description des lieux.<br />
Dès 1717 (ill. 2), la disposition de la maison<br />
et du jardin, représentée sur le plan de<br />
la ville, correspond de près au plan particulier<br />
de 1727 (ill. 10). La cour avant est<br />
circonscrite par un mur de pierre qui se<br />
termine d’un côté sur le mur ouest de la<br />
maison et de l’autre à l’écurie, établie le<br />
long de la rue <strong>No</strong>tre-Dame. Le verger fait<br />
suite à l’écurie et longe aussi la rue <strong>No</strong>tre-<br />
Dame ; le jardin composé de plusieurs carrés<br />
se trouve à l’arrière de la demeure et<br />
se prolonge en entonnoir jusqu’à la rue<br />
Saint-Paul. En 1725 (ill. 3), la situation est<br />
pratiquement inchangée. En 1731, la composition<br />
des espaces extérieurs est conser-<br />
72 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
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vée, mais la superficie de la propriété est<br />
réduite et il n’y a plus d’accès direct à la<br />
rue Saint-Paul. En 1734 9 , le verger a disparu<br />
et seul subsiste le jardin arrière.<br />
Le plan portant spécifiquement sur<br />
la propriété de Claude de Ramezay a<br />
l’avantage de nous renseigner sur l’organisation<br />
interne et sur la relation des parties<br />
entre elles. Le « Plan de la Maison,<br />
Jardin et verger de Madame de Ramezay<br />
» (ill. 10) est un bel exemple de la<br />
disposition des espaces extérieurs et des<br />
dépendances, semblable à ce qui figure,<br />
mais dans une version moins élaborée,<br />
dans les traités de jardinage de l’époque,<br />
notamment celui d’Antoine-Joseph<br />
Dezallier d’Argenville (ill. 11). Sa simplicité<br />
le rapproche des jardins du domaine<br />
de Talcy 10 : juxtaposition de carrés offrant<br />
fonctionnalité et ornementation.<br />
L’espace extérieur est composé d’une<br />
porte aménagée dans le mur qui isole la<br />
maison de la rue, débouchant au centre<br />
de l’avant-cour, face à la résidence ; de<br />
part et d’autre de cette cour, deux portes<br />
aménagées dans les murs perpendiculaires<br />
donnent accès à deux basses-cours distinctes<br />
comportant, pour l’une, la glacière<br />
et, pour l’autre, l’écurie. La disposition<br />
des pièces de la maison est en lien avec<br />
les aménagements extérieurs. Au rez-dechaussée<br />
et à l’étage, une série d’ouvertures<br />
dans le mur arrière donnent sur le<br />
« jardin potager », alors qu’un escalier<br />
au rez-de-chaussée permet d’y accéder<br />
directement. Bien que Dugué 11 désigne<br />
cet espace comme potager, l’attention<br />
portée à la représentation du jardin, sa<br />
composition formelle en quatre grands<br />
carrés et la rangée d’arbres qui complète<br />
l’aménagement donnent à penser qu’il<br />
remplissait une fonction à la fois utilitaire<br />
et d’agrément.<br />
Sur le plan de 1727, le verger occupe un<br />
espace en « L » qui s’étend au-delà du<br />
potager et qui diffère de la représentation<br />
sur le plan de Montréal de 1725 ; son<br />
état correspond toutefois à la description<br />
qu’en fait Claude-Thomas Dupuy, dans le<br />
document annexe, et met en évidence sa<br />
valeur marchande, compte tenu de ses<br />
dimensions importantes :<br />
Le verger qui contient scavoir la majeure<br />
partie a costé et joignant le terrain limité<br />
pour la Maison dix neuf toises trois pieds<br />
et demy de front sur le niveau de la rüe<br />
notre Dame et 18 toises deux pieds sur le<br />
niveau de la rüe St Paul et cinquante et une<br />
toises trois pieds de l’une desdites rues<br />
à l’autre, et lautre partie dix sept toises<br />
sur le niveau de ladite rue notre Dame sur<br />
quatorze toises de proffendeur, peut se<br />
diviser par emplacement dont douze sur la<br />
majeure partie en formant une rüe au milieu<br />
de vingt quatre pieds de large et deux dans<br />
l’autre partie sur la rüe notre Dame ce qui<br />
produisoit à madame de Ramezay, 14 à<br />
<strong>15</strong> 000 livres en les donnant à constitution<br />
de rente aux preneurs suivant lavis des<br />
personnes qui en ont fait la visite 12 .<br />
En réalité, le plan spécifique est conforme<br />
aux représentations sur les plans de 1717<br />
(ill. 2) et de 1725 (ill. 3) ; Dugué a simplement<br />
inclus dans la superficie du verger<br />
la pointe du jardin qui se terminait<br />
à la rue Saint-Paul, ce qui permettait de<br />
vendre une bande de terrain où il serait<br />
possible de subdiviser l’espace et d’autoriser<br />
l’aménagement d’une nouvelle rue.<br />
Le plan du jardin et du verger sert à<br />
illustrer la faisabilité d’une proposition<br />
d’affaire et non à mettre en valeur les<br />
aménagements extérieurs. L’auteur du<br />
plan n’avait donc pas intérêt à insister<br />
sur la composition et la valeur ornementale<br />
de ces espaces. Ce sont notamment<br />
l’envergure de la superficie consacrée<br />
en jardin et, plus précisément, le verger,<br />
qui accroissent l’attrait de la propriété,<br />
compte tenu de sa valeur foncière. À titre<br />
comparatif, Dupuy évalue la maison et le<br />
jardin, sans le verger, à vingt-huit mille<br />
deux cent quarante-cinq livres 13 .<br />
L’importance du jardin et du verger de<br />
Ramezay à sa résidence de Montréal a<br />
dû nécessiter l’embauche d’un jardinier,<br />
situation cependant non documentée.<br />
Par contre, un contrat intervenu entre<br />
Claude de Ramezay et Gervais Chesnon,<br />
jardinier embauché pour un an en 1693 14<br />
pour s’occuper du jardin du gouverneur<br />
résidant alors à Trois-Rivières, apporte un<br />
élément de réponse. On constate chez le<br />
gouverneur une constante dans le souci<br />
d’aménager un jardin dans ses deux lieux<br />
de résidence officielle.<br />
Ce plan nouvellement retrouvé confirme,<br />
dans un premier temps, la présence de<br />
jardins attenants à la résidence de Claude<br />
de Ramezay. Il permet d’obtenir une<br />
image précise de l’organisation de la propriété.<br />
Chez ce dernier, comme chez le<br />
marquis de Vaudreuil, la disposition des<br />
espaces extérieurs reprend le modèle déjà<br />
apparu à Québec au siècle précédent et<br />
dont témoigne Robert de Villeneuve dans<br />
son plan de 1685 (ill. 12).<br />
La maison du gouverneur de Ramezay correspond<br />
à la demeure de petite noblesse<br />
campagnarde – entre autres, par la prédominance<br />
des espaces vivriers pouvant<br />
aussi offrir des zones d’agrément –, un<br />
modèle français qu’on pouvait également<br />
transposer dans les agglomérations. Cette<br />
découverte a aussi le mérite de mettre<br />
un terme aux spéculations imprécises sur<br />
la forme réelle du jardin du gouverneur<br />
Claude de Ramezay.<br />
<strong>No</strong>tes<br />
1. Une toise compte 6 pieds français ; elle correspond<br />
à 1,94 mètre ou 6,4 pieds anglais.<br />
2. Archives nationales de France, CAOM, dossier<br />
Claude de Ramezay, E344bis, feuillet 4, document<br />
non paginé.<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong><br />
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8. Archives nationales de France, Paris, dossier<br />
Vaudreuil, Marine, C7, n o 340.<br />
3. Ibid.<br />
4. Archives nationales de France, CAOM, dossier<br />
Claude de Ramezay, E344bis, feuillet 7, non<br />
paginé ; quant au « plan général » dont il est<br />
question, il s’agit sans doute de celui réalisé<br />
par Dugué en 1726 : « Plan de la ville et des<br />
fortifications de Montréal relatif au mémoire<br />
ci-dessus », 19 août, Archives nationales de<br />
France, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, 477/5pfb et<br />
478/5pfB.<br />
5. Id., feuillets 1 et 2.<br />
6. Id., feuillet 6.<br />
7. Ibid. Le premier mémoire s’intitule « Au sujet<br />
de l’Emplacement et du verger de Madame de<br />
Ramezay » et comprend deux pages. Le second<br />
s’adresse à Monseigneur (sous-entendu, le ministre<br />
de la Marine) ; il contient neuf pages<br />
dans lesquelles Dupuy détaille l’évaluation qui<br />
a été faite de la maison et propose diverses<br />
solutions de rechange au ministre.<br />
8. Au Musée du Château Ramezay, on savait que<br />
des plans de la propriété avaient été confectionnés<br />
au cours du Régime français, au moment<br />
du décès du gouverneur, mais ceux-ci<br />
n’avaient jamais été retracés. <strong>No</strong>us les avons<br />
retrouvés en consultant la liste complète des<br />
plans de la collection Moreau de Saint-Méry,<br />
au CAOM, où ils avaient été classés dans la<br />
section « Guyane ».<br />
9. Chaussegros de Léry, Gaspard-Joseph, 1734,<br />
« Plan de la ville de Montréal dans la nouvelle<br />
France », 300 toises, <strong>15</strong> (ou 16) octobre,<br />
Archives nationales de France, CAOM, Aix-en-<br />
Provence, 487pf.5B.<br />
10. Weill, Joëlle, 2001, « Les jardins de Talcy, Loiret-Cher<br />
», Monumental – annuel 2001, dossier<br />
« Jardins historiques », Paris, Éditions du Patrimoine,<br />
p. 48-49.<br />
11. <strong>No</strong>s recherches ne nous ont pas permis de<br />
trouver le prénom de M. Dugué.<br />
12. Archives nationales de France, CAOM, dossier<br />
Claude de Ramezay, E344bis, « Au sujet de<br />
l’emplacement et du verger de madame de<br />
Ramezay », p. 1.<br />
13. Id., p. 3.<br />
14. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec,<br />
Montréal, Greffe Louis Chambalon, Québec,<br />
30 octobre 1693.<br />
74 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Report | Rapport<br />
National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario<br />
Rhona Goodspeed has been an architectural<br />
historian with Parks Canada since 1990. During<br />
>Rh o n a Go o d s p e e d<br />
that time she has worked on a range of subjects,<br />
including military complexes, historic districts,<br />
cultural landscapes, ecclesiastical buildings,<br />
houses, and other building types.<br />
Designation<br />
The National Arts Centre (NAC) was designated<br />
a national historic site of Canada<br />
in 2005. The reasons for its designation<br />
are the following. It is an outstanding<br />
example of a performing arts centre in<br />
Canada for its overall design, its highly<br />
successful integration into its urban setting,<br />
its succession of interior spaces to<br />
create dramatic effect, its unique combination<br />
of performing spaces and the<br />
progressive designs of each one, and its<br />
integration of contemporary works of art<br />
as part of its design. It is an outstanding<br />
example of a building illustrating<br />
the positive consequences of Canadian<br />
federal policy on the performing arts<br />
during the second half of the twentieth<br />
century, considered, in the words<br />
of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, as a<br />
“national institution.” It is an example of<br />
state-of-the-art performing spaces and<br />
technology at the time of construction,<br />
in particular for the aesthetic and technical<br />
design of Southam Hall, which is an<br />
exceptional example of a medium-sized<br />
multipurpose auditorium representing an<br />
inspired collaboration between architect<br />
and acoustician.<br />
Introduction<br />
FIG. 1. National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario; built in 1964-1969, Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Sise, architect; from the east side of the Rideau Canal; 2001. | Marc Fowler, Courtesy of the National Arts Centre.<br />
The National Arts Centre (NAC) is located<br />
on the east side of Confederation Square<br />
in the centre of downtown Ottawa<br />
(figs. 1-3). It occupies an irregular site on a<br />
steep slope descending from Elgin Street,<br />
a major artery on the west, to the Rideau<br />
Canal on the east. The Mackenzie King<br />
Bridge, also a major artery, runs along the<br />
south. Just to the north of the building is<br />
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Fig. 2. Current site plan showing the location of the<br />
NAC in relation to the surrounding streets<br />
and the Rideau Canal. | NAC, n.d.<br />
Fig. 4. Boundaries of the site. | City of Ottawa, 2002; and<br />
Judith Dufresne, Historical Services Branch, Parks Canada, 2005.<br />
Fig. 6. NAC from the north showing a hexagonal<br />
stair tower on the left, and windows of the<br />
Southam Hall lobby on the right. | Wayne Duford,<br />
Parks Canada, Canadian Inventory of Historic Buildings, 1989.<br />
Fig. 7. NAC from the west side of Elgin Street. The entrance<br />
from this street is located behind the<br />
car in the centre. | Wayne Duford, 1989.<br />
Fig. 3. Aerial view of the NAC. To the northwest are<br />
Confederation Square and the Parliament<br />
Buildings. The Château Laurier is on the upper<br />
right, on Rideau Street. Directly opposite and<br />
beside the Rideau Canal is former Union<br />
Station, now the Conference Centre. | NAC, 1970.<br />
a small park with a manicured lawn, trees,<br />
and paths as well as recent additions of<br />
sculptures and balustrades (fig. 4).<br />
The NAC is a complex structure of irregular<br />
plan whose design is based on the<br />
triangle and hexagon, from the overall<br />
composition and layout down to decorative<br />
details (figs. 5-10). The building<br />
houses three main performing spaces: a<br />
multipurpose auditorium with two thousand<br />
three hundred and thirty-four seats,<br />
formerly called the Opera Hall and renamed<br />
Southam Hall in 2000 (figs. 5 and<br />
11), the Theatre with eight hundred seats<br />
(figs. 5 and 12), and the Studio with three<br />
Fig. 5. Floor plan for the main level of the NAC. This is<br />
the level of the main entrance, box office, main<br />
foyer, and main lobbies to all performing spaces.<br />
On the right is Southam Hall; in the centre is<br />
the Theatre, and on the left is the Studio. To the<br />
immediate left of Southam Hall is the much<br />
smaller Salon. | Wilkinson Studios, courtesy of the NAC, 1965.<br />
hundred (figs. 5 and 13), as well as the<br />
Salon, a fourth space for small concerts<br />
and receptions (fig. 5). In addition, the<br />
centre houses two rehearsal halls, dressing<br />
rooms, a workshop and prop room,<br />
offices for administration, restaurants,<br />
the Panorama and Fountain rooms for<br />
public rental, and a nine hundred-space<br />
subterranean parking garage. Designed in<br />
the Brutalist style, the NAC is constructed<br />
of poured reinforced concrete and covered<br />
with precast panels of exposed<br />
Laurentian-granite aggregate concrete<br />
with a variety of textures. The visually<br />
dominant components of its irregular<br />
design are the three main performing<br />
Fig. 8. View of the NAC from the southwest along<br />
Elgin Street. | Rhona Goodspeed, Parks Canada, 2005.<br />
spaces that rise above a series of terraces,<br />
in the form of huge irregular hexagons<br />
with flat roofs (fig. 3). The main elevation<br />
faces the canal, where the principal, ceremonial<br />
entrance is located at the second<br />
level, accessible by car from a ramp descending<br />
from Elgin Street and then paralleling<br />
the entrance before descending<br />
again to the level of the canal (figs. 10<br />
and 14). A segment of the ramp forms a<br />
section of the building structure as the<br />
roof of Le Café, a restaurant for fine dining<br />
at the canal level, where in summer<br />
an outdoor terrace extends out towards<br />
the canal (fig. 10). On the opposite side<br />
of the building, along Elgin Street, below<br />
76 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
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Fig. 9. Display windows on Elgin Street, formerly<br />
looking into French and English bookstores,<br />
an area now housing the Fourth Stage. | Rhona<br />
Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 13. The Studio in 2000. | Marc Fowler, Courtesy of NAC.<br />
Fig. 11. Southam Hall showing the decorative stage<br />
curtain, designed by Micheline Beauchemin,<br />
and the ceiling, designed by Julien Hébert;<br />
1985. | André Dubreuil, courtesy of NAC.<br />
Fig. 10. The NAC from the Mackenzie King Bridge,<br />
showing the windows of the administrative<br />
spaces and the ramp descending from<br />
the main, ceremonial entrance on<br />
the far right. Le Café is located beneath<br />
the ramp. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 12. The Theatre in 1999. Since then, the rows<br />
have been widened, the seat covers changed<br />
to a bluer shade, and handrails have been<br />
added. | Marc Fowler and Stephen Fenn, courtesy of NAC.<br />
Fig. 14. Above is the entrance to the Studio lobby,<br />
while the parking spaces are located directly<br />
opposite the main entrance, seen below. On<br />
the ceiling of the overhang are the hexagonal<br />
light fixtures, also seen throughout the<br />
public spaces in the interior. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005<br />
the terraces, are display windows originally<br />
designed for commercial space, space<br />
that is now used for the community performances<br />
of the Fourth Stage, a small<br />
multipurpose performance hall (figs. 7-9).<br />
Two public pedestrian entrances to the<br />
centre are also located on Elgin Street<br />
(figs. 7 and <strong>15</strong>).<br />
Most of the interior walls of the public<br />
spaces are covered with precast concrete<br />
panels of the same materials as<br />
the exterior. A number of contemporary<br />
works of art have been introduced<br />
into the centre, many of which are integrated<br />
with the architecture, following<br />
the tenets of modern architecture; these<br />
works include sculptures, paintings, and<br />
tapestries. Among them are: a nine-ton<br />
abstract bronze sculpture by Montréal<br />
sculptor and painter Charles Daudelin,<br />
located on the south terrace (fig. 16);<br />
the stage curtain designed by Québec<br />
painter-weaver Micheline Beauchemin<br />
and woven in Kyoto, Japan, for the<br />
Southam Hall (fig. 11); a second stage<br />
curtain for the hall by Canadian artist<br />
Mariette Rousseau-Vermette; the ceiling<br />
of Southam Hall by Canadian industrial<br />
designer Julien Hébert (fig. 11); two huge<br />
cast-aluminium doors with abstract relief<br />
sculpture by Montréal sculptor Jordi<br />
Bonet, opening into the Salon (fig. 17); a<br />
large chandelier donated by the Swedish<br />
government and a tapestry by Parisian<br />
artist Alfred Manessier, woven in France,<br />
both in the Salon; European artist Ossip<br />
Zadkine’s Trois Grâces, a bronze formerly<br />
in the National Gallery of Canada<br />
(fig. 18); a sixty-foot-high relief sculpture<br />
of brushed aluminium, by Montréal artist<br />
Gino Lorcini, on the wall of the Theatre<br />
lobby (fig. 19); a glass and metal sculpture<br />
for a fountain, designed by Julien<br />
Hébert, in the Studio lobby (fig. 20); an<br />
abstract mural called Homage to Robert<br />
F. Kennedy, by Canadian painter William<br />
Ronald, in front of the Studio and<br />
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Fig. <strong>15</strong>. Entrance on Elgin Street, opening to a<br />
passage leading to the box office and<br />
to Southam Hall. Just to the left may be<br />
glimpsed the terrace. A second entrance, to<br />
the Fourth Stage, is located, further south<br />
on Elgin. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 18. Three Graces, by Ossip Zadkine, in one of the<br />
stairwells on the level of the main lobby of<br />
Southam Hall. | Courtesy of NAC, n.d.<br />
Fig. 21. Detail of Homage to Robert F. Kennedy,<br />
by William Ronald. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 16. Bronze sculpture, 25 feet long, 10.5 feet<br />
high, by Charles Daudelin, on the southern<br />
terrace. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 19. Sculpture by Montréal artist Gino<br />
Lorcini, on the wall of the Theatre<br />
lobby. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 22. Chandelier in stairwell, by William<br />
Martin. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 17. The pair of cast aluminium doors by Jordi<br />
Bonet, opening into the Salon. | The Canadian<br />
Architect, July 1969, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 59.<br />
Fig. 20. Studio lobby with sculpture in hexagonal<br />
water fountain. In the background is a painting<br />
by British Columbia artist Jack Shadbolt,<br />
and on the left is a glimpse of the work by<br />
William Ronald. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 23. One of four tapestries designed for the<br />
walls behind each of the bars in the lobbies<br />
of Southam Hall. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
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extending into three levels (figs. 20-21);<br />
and five chandeliers of metal and glass<br />
spirals suspended within five wells for<br />
staircases, by William Martin from Milton,<br />
Massachusetts (fig. 22). Tapestries were<br />
also installed in each of the four lobbies<br />
of Southam Hall, and in the lobby of the<br />
Studio (fig. 23).<br />
In addition, the NAC’s nine hundred-space<br />
underground parking garage, on three<br />
levels, is fully integrated with the structure<br />
of the building and the surrounding<br />
site, and partially located beneath the<br />
Mackenzie King Bridge. The parking lot is<br />
accessed and exited at four points, 1 and in<br />
turn provides access to the public spaces<br />
by means of escalators, the top one rising<br />
into the foyer of the box office, and<br />
by means of elevators, just to the north<br />
of that foyer.<br />
Historic Value of the Place<br />
This section discusses the NAC with respect<br />
to the guidelines for built heritage of the<br />
modern era. 2 It begins with a discussion<br />
of the social and political conditions that<br />
brought about the federal government’s<br />
construction of the NAC. The Massey Report<br />
is then considered, and the building<br />
is shown to be an exceptional illustration<br />
of Canadian cultural policy concerning<br />
the performing arts during the second<br />
half of the twentieth century, in particular<br />
federal government subsidization of<br />
culture and related activities. The NAC<br />
is also considered briefly in its role as a<br />
national ceremonial meeting place for<br />
heads of state and visiting dignitaries,<br />
which was a significant improvement to<br />
Canada’s capital. This is followed by a<br />
discussion of its performing spaces from<br />
a functional and technical point of view,<br />
and how this programme determined, to<br />
a large extent, the architectural design<br />
and use of materials, with an emphasis<br />
on the Opera Hall. Following is an analysis<br />
of the architecture of the whole as a new<br />
expression of form both stylistically and<br />
functionally. Here it is demonstrated that<br />
the building is an outstanding example of<br />
a performing arts centre for its design in<br />
the modern, Brutalist style, for its successful<br />
integration with its site and setting,<br />
and for the design of its interior spaces,<br />
including the integration of contemporary<br />
art with the architecture, an expression of<br />
the tenets of modern architecture.<br />
Changing Social, Political<br />
and /or Economic Conditions<br />
The NAC is an outstanding example of<br />
a building illustrating the evolution of<br />
Canadian federal policy on culture during<br />
the second half of the twentieth<br />
century and, as one of a number of<br />
performing arts centres built across the<br />
country, the flowering of the performing<br />
arts nationally during the 1960s. Its construction<br />
was a significant contribution<br />
to the improvement of Canada’s capital,<br />
including its role as a place to entertain<br />
visiting dignitaries.<br />
One of the most important early steps<br />
taken by the federal government in the<br />
development of the Canadian cultural<br />
policy on the arts was without doubt the<br />
Royal Commission on National Development<br />
in the Arts, Letters and Sciences<br />
(1949-1951). 3 Chaired by Vincent Massey,<br />
then chancellor of the University of<br />
Toronto; the commission was unprecedented<br />
in Canada in nature and in scope.<br />
Its role was to examine federal institutions<br />
concerned with Canadian history<br />
and traditions that enriched Canadian<br />
life, for example the CBC, the National<br />
Film Board, the National Gallery, and the<br />
Public Archives. One of the commission’s<br />
particular areas of investigation was the<br />
stystem of aid offered by the federal government.<br />
The Massey Report became a<br />
landmark of the “utmost importance in<br />
the cultural history of Canada,” as it advocated<br />
“the principle of federal patronage<br />
of a wide range of cultural activities” and<br />
proposed the establishment of a Canada<br />
Council to provide federal subsidies for,<br />
among other things, the arts across Canada.<br />
4 The Canada Council was eventually<br />
established in 1957, along the lines suggested<br />
in the report. State support of the<br />
arts had long been taken for granted in<br />
most European countries and, in fact,<br />
had already been “flourishing modestly”<br />
in the province of Québec; however,<br />
the idea was unpopular in Canada and<br />
<strong>No</strong>rth America, where advocacy of public<br />
spending for the arts was considered<br />
detrimental to a political career.<br />
The Massey Report addressed the performing<br />
arts in three separate chapters,<br />
on the theatre, ballet, and music. For all<br />
three areas, it reported that there were<br />
ample Canadian talent, audiences, and<br />
annual festivals, and a significant growth<br />
in the appreciation of these arts in recent<br />
years. 5 However, in all three areas, it was<br />
reported that there was inadequate financial<br />
support. In addition, it described a<br />
nationwide lack of adequate performance<br />
facilities. For theatre, the report stated:<br />
“Every great drama […] has been shaped<br />
by its playhouse,” while “facilities for<br />
the advanced training in the arts of the<br />
theatre are non-existent in Canada,” and<br />
even amateur companies are “grievously<br />
handicapped, through lack of suitable or<br />
of any playhouses.” 6 Consequently, only<br />
a few theatre companies existed. Further,<br />
there were inadequate rehearsal<br />
facilities. 7 The report called for federal<br />
subsidies to build suitable playhouses<br />
throughout Canada, and mentioned the<br />
possibility of building a National Theatre<br />
in Ottawa, from which travelling companies<br />
could go on tour across Canada.” 8 For<br />
music and ballet, too, there was a lack<br />
of suitable quarters for rehearsal and<br />
performance, impeding growth of these<br />
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arts. 9 The commission reported that the<br />
country was singularly deficient in concert<br />
halls. “Without exception, in all […]<br />
centres […] visited […] the musical life of<br />
the community is gravely handicapped<br />
through lack of appropriate quarters for<br />
concerts and recitals.” 10<br />
The idea of a performing arts centre<br />
in Ottawa was taken up in 1952, when<br />
Vincent Massey, then Governor General,<br />
commissioned a study on the feasibility of<br />
the creation of an annual performing arts<br />
festival in the capital, modelled after the<br />
highly successful Edinburgh Festival. The<br />
main obstacle was identified as the near<br />
complete lack of adequate facilities for<br />
the performing arts in the national capital.<br />
11 At that time the Capitol Theatre, a<br />
movie palace (demolished), was Ottawa’s<br />
premier stage; while it had a good number<br />
of seats, its stage was shallow, and<br />
there were few dressing rooms, little<br />
wing space, and insufficient storage space<br />
for scenery. Venues for theatre, choral,<br />
and orchestral ensembles were generally<br />
schools; for example the Canadian<br />
Repertory Theatre, Ottawa’s acclaimed<br />
professional theatre company, made use<br />
of the La Salle Academy, a high school,<br />
and the amateur Ottawa Drama League<br />
(now the Ottawa Little Theatre) at first<br />
performed in the museum on McLeod<br />
Street, and later in a converted church<br />
on King Edward Avenue. 12<br />
By 1963, over fifty arts groups in the<br />
National Capital Region had come<br />
together to collectively embrace the idea<br />
of the creation of a performing arts centre<br />
in Ottawa. The National Capital Arts<br />
Alliance (NCAA) argued that the capital<br />
of “an ever more culturally confident and<br />
mature country deserved better theatrical<br />
facilities.” 13 With funding from the<br />
Canada Council and volunteer organizations,<br />
it commissioned professional consultants<br />
to prepare a well-researched<br />
and detailed report on requirements for<br />
a National Centre for the Performing<br />
Arts and the establishment within it<br />
of an annual festival, as envisioned by<br />
Massey’s 1952 study. 14 Identifying its project<br />
within a national and international<br />
context, rather than local, this group was<br />
united in its determination to improve the<br />
cultural life of Canada and its capital. Its<br />
president was G. Hamilton Southam, who<br />
held that the NCAA were “spiritual successors”<br />
to Massey and his commission.<br />
Inherent in the NCAA’s proposal for a centre<br />
was a “humanist belief that culture<br />
must form an integral part of Canadian<br />
society, and become the cornerstone of a<br />
distinct Canadian identity.” <strong>15</strong> The report<br />
reiterated the absence of a concert hall<br />
and playhouse facilities in Ottawa. Why,<br />
it asked, support the arts, if there was no<br />
centre for them in which to perform? 16<br />
The NCAA called on Prime Minister Lester<br />
B. Pearson to build the centre and establish<br />
an annual festival of the arts. The<br />
Prime Minister took up the project; like<br />
the NCAA, he set it within an international<br />
context, pointing out that the United<br />
States and Australia were already building<br />
similar centres. Within the national<br />
context, he saw the centre as having potential<br />
for reducing the strain between<br />
English and French Canadians, bringing<br />
about a unifying effect. He felt that “[a]<br />
National Centre to which the best in<br />
the development of both cultures could<br />
be brought for performances and from<br />
which the development of both could<br />
be encouraged, could become a helpful<br />
force in the future of the country.” 17 Prime<br />
Minister Pearson stated that the Canada<br />
Council was an “imaginative first step,”<br />
while “the establishment of a cultural<br />
centre with a gradually developing programme<br />
of activities would be a logical<br />
and positive second step” in this regard. 18<br />
It would also be a central facility for national<br />
organizations serving the arts, and<br />
would develop repertory theatre companies<br />
in both languages, possibly a resident<br />
orchestra, and a national festival, which<br />
would be dependent on the centre. It was,<br />
of course, to be a bilingual institution.<br />
With Cabinet approval in 1963, the proposed<br />
centre became the only major centenary<br />
project under federal government<br />
study for Ottawa. 19 The six and a half-acre<br />
site, finally chosen amid great controversy<br />
in 1964, was donated by the city. 20<br />
G. Hamilton Southam was chosen as the<br />
project’s full-time coordinator and four<br />
subcommittees made up of representatives<br />
of the performing arts community<br />
were created to advise on building requirements.<br />
The Montréal firm of Affleck,<br />
Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Sise was selected to prepare the plans,<br />
with Fred Lebensold (1918-1985) as lead<br />
architect, reporting to James Langford,<br />
chief architect of Public Works, under<br />
whose direction the building was constructed.<br />
As architect of Place des Arts in<br />
Montréal, the Queen Elizabeth Theatre<br />
in Vancouver, and the Centennial Centre<br />
in Charlottetown, the firm already had<br />
considerable experience in the field. The<br />
NAC was one of a number of performing<br />
arts centres built across the country during<br />
that time, a part of the “gathering<br />
movement across the country,” in the<br />
words of the Honourable Judy Lamarsh,<br />
“to provide housing that will be worthy<br />
of the high standard of excellence of our<br />
leading artistic companies.” 21 In fact, some<br />
forty to fifty projects for performing arts<br />
centres were under consideration across<br />
the country in 1964. 22<br />
Construction of the NAC began in 1965.<br />
Built at a cost of forty-six million four<br />
hundred thousand dollars, the edifice<br />
was entirely paid for by the federal government.<br />
<strong>No</strong>t completed in time for the<br />
Centennial as planned, the centre officially<br />
opened two years later, on June 2,<br />
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Fig. 24. Cross sections of designs for the performing spaces, showing the Studio<br />
on the upper left, the Theatre on the upper right, and the Opera,<br />
below; 1965. | Wilkinson Studios, courtesy of the NAC.<br />
Fig. 25. The National Arts Centre Orchestra on the stage of Southam Hall in 1990.<br />
In the background are the boxes on either side and along the rear the four<br />
levels of orchestra, mezzanine, amphitheatre and balcony. | Fred Cattroll,<br />
courtesy of the NAC.<br />
1969, still a part of the euphoric spirit<br />
of the Centennial and attracting international<br />
attention, both for its inaugural<br />
stage presentations and for its fine architecture.<br />
23 The Opera opened with the<br />
National Ballet of Canada’s production<br />
of a new ballet, Kraanerg, with choreography<br />
by Roland Petit and music by Iannis<br />
Xenakis, conducted by Lukas Foss; the<br />
Theatre opened with Michel Tremblay’s<br />
adaptation of Aristophanes’s Lysistrata,<br />
produced by the Théâtre du <strong>No</strong>uveau<br />
Monde, directed by André Brassard;<br />
and the Studio opened with a new play<br />
called Party Day, written and directed<br />
by Jack Winter. Former Prime Minister<br />
Lester B. Pearson, on opening day, described<br />
the NAC as more than a building:<br />
“This is not an arts centre—it is a national<br />
institution.” 24 The realization of the National<br />
Arts Centre in Ottawa was both a<br />
major architectural and cultural achievement<br />
for the federal government. 25<br />
The NAC was operated by a crown corporation<br />
established by an Act of Parliament<br />
that had received Royal Assent in<br />
1966. G. Hamilton Southam was chosen<br />
as its head, and held the position of director<br />
general of the NAC from 1967 to<br />
1977. The National Arts Centre Corporation<br />
was “to operate and maintain the<br />
Centre, to promote the development<br />
and production of the performing arts<br />
in the National Capital Region, and to<br />
assist the Canada Council in the development<br />
of the performing arts elsewhere<br />
in Canada.” 26 While the corporation was<br />
to be governed by an independent board<br />
of trustees, funding was to come from an<br />
annual appropriation from federal funds,<br />
as well as from its own earned revenues.<br />
Subsidies for the performing arts were<br />
part of the idea from the beginning.<br />
The NAC, though, needed to have resident<br />
companies, that is “a heart that beats,” in<br />
the words of Jean Gascon, chairman of the<br />
Advisory Committee on Theatre. 27 In 1967-<br />
1969, the National Arts Centre Orchestra<br />
(NACO) was created under music director<br />
Jean-Marie Beaudet and founding conductor<br />
Maestro Mario Bernardi. A firm<br />
foundation for theatre was established<br />
in 1971, when touring companies for<br />
youth audiences, known as The Hexagon<br />
in English and l’Hexagone in French, were<br />
established, and seasons in English and<br />
French for visiting and in-house productions<br />
were created for the NAC’s stages in<br />
the Theatre and the Studio. 28 That same<br />
year, Festival Canada came into being;<br />
though modest, it heralded the establishment<br />
of a festival centred on opera<br />
and chamber music, which would eventually<br />
garner international recognition for<br />
Canada. In 1973, undoubtedly due to the<br />
success of the NAC, federal government<br />
subsidies increased, with the government<br />
announcing that it would allocate twenty<br />
percent more to the centre in the coming<br />
year. G. Hamilton Southam announced<br />
that he would speak out for even more<br />
money in the years ahead: the “centre<br />
has proven itself a success and attitudes<br />
have changed […] [it is] obvious not only<br />
in Ottawa but in the centre’s contribution<br />
to the performing arts across Canada.”<br />
The NAC has staged performances from<br />
grand opera, to hard rock shows, to outdoor<br />
sing-alongs. 29<br />
Canada’s capital now had elegant spaces<br />
for visiting dignitaries and for Canadian<br />
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Fig. 26. Widely spaced fins on exterior of Southam Hall lobby, angled in the<br />
direction of the Parliament Buildings. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Fig. 27. View from the terrace showing the National War Memorial and,<br />
behind it, the East Block and the Peace Tower of the Parliament<br />
Buildings. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
and international performances. Ottawa<br />
was transformed culturally by the construction<br />
of the NAC, with its variety of<br />
performing spaces under one roof and<br />
its central location on Confederation<br />
Square, the city’s second most important<br />
ceremonial space, and in proximity<br />
to the most important, the Parliamentary<br />
grounds. The NAC was also intended<br />
as a national ceremonial meeting place,<br />
where national events would be held and<br />
national and international heads of state<br />
and dignitaries would visit as guests of<br />
Canada. Over the years an impressive list<br />
of kings, queens, heads of state, and internationally<br />
famous persons, including, of<br />
course, great artists, have passed through<br />
the doors of the centre. Command and<br />
state performances are an integral part<br />
of the Centre’s mandate. There is a long<br />
list of command performances as well as<br />
state occasions that have been held at<br />
the NAC. The government of Canada has<br />
used the NAC as an instrument of Canadian<br />
cultural prestige, and as a point of<br />
access to Canadians for culture from other<br />
countries. 30 With the opening of the NAC<br />
in 1969, a range and variety of types of<br />
performances, in both official languages,<br />
were offered on a regular basis in appropriate<br />
and highly attractive spaces, in a<br />
central location.<br />
Technological Advances<br />
In the design of the performing spaces,<br />
the architect had two main objectives: first<br />
to provide a different spatial experience<br />
in each one; and second to make each of<br />
them as versatile as possible for differing<br />
types of performances. 31 The Opera was<br />
to be an auditorium to accommodate a<br />
wide range of performances with large<br />
audiences; the Theatre to be for smaller<br />
productions, of plays, and the Studio for a<br />
range of performances as well, but especially<br />
for experimental works (fig. 24). All<br />
three had specific technical requirements,<br />
especially with respect to acoustics and<br />
lighting. The American firm Bolt, Beranek<br />
& Newman, Inc. (BBN) provided advice<br />
on, and supervision of, the design of the<br />
acoustics for all three spaces.<br />
The largest of the performing spaces,<br />
the Opera, was to be a multipurpose<br />
hall, which at the time was a relatively<br />
new concept but was coming into more<br />
frequent use. 32 It was to accommodate<br />
orchestra, opera, and ballet, as well as<br />
popular musicians and other functions.<br />
The enormous stage area, which was<br />
slightly larger than the auditorium itself,<br />
was the second largest in <strong>No</strong>rth America<br />
at the time. 33 It included an orchestra<br />
pit that could be raised or lowered. The<br />
acoustical design had a major impact on<br />
the space’s architecture. Acoustics and<br />
architecture were very closely related<br />
in auditorium design, with dimensions,<br />
materials, shaping, and surface orientations<br />
playing direct and often key roles<br />
in establishing the quality of sound. 34<br />
World-renowned acoustician Russell<br />
Johnson of BBN was project supervisor<br />
as well as acoustic designer for the Opera<br />
Hall. 35 For such a multipurpose hall, it was<br />
necessary to be able to vary the acoustic<br />
environment. In the design process<br />
of a performing space, the acoustician<br />
advises the architect, who then decides<br />
how the architecture of the space shall<br />
be. For the Opera, most of the requirements<br />
laid out by Russell to create good<br />
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sound effects were incorporated or at<br />
least taken into account by the architect.<br />
Among these was the seating capacity:<br />
the larger the hall, the more difficult it is<br />
to achieve satisfactory hearing conditions<br />
for a variety of types of performances. 36<br />
The relatively small capacity of the hall,<br />
that is under about two thousand four<br />
hundred, was a good choice and represented<br />
the current trend of the previous<br />
five years towards smaller seating capacities.<br />
A compact audience chamber also<br />
had a positive effect for most types of<br />
performances; for the Opera the dimensions<br />
chosen were about as long, or deep,<br />
from the front to the rear of the audience,<br />
as they were wide. In addition, the<br />
tiering of seats along the side walls and<br />
across the rear, using three levels, as opposed<br />
to the one or two used in most<br />
auditoriums from about 1920-1963, was<br />
also a positive choice, as were the fascias<br />
of the boxes and balconies, which provided<br />
for shorter time delays, for many<br />
seats, for reflected sound (fig. 25). The<br />
fairly steep, rather than shallow, rake of<br />
the Opera also added to the quality of<br />
the acoustics (fig. 24). The use of thick<br />
materials throughout was preferable, as<br />
thin materials tended to vibrate more easily,<br />
deadening the sound. In addition to<br />
the concrete pillars supporting the hall,<br />
there were inverted plaster pyramids as<br />
part of a suspended ceiling; 37 the carpets<br />
and fully upholstered seats also helped.<br />
For rehearsal purposes, the seats, when<br />
empty and folded, were designed to reproduce<br />
absorption qualities of human<br />
beings: the metal underneath the seat<br />
itself was perforated, so rather than reflecting<br />
sound, it allowed it to pass into<br />
the upholstery. The thin glass walls of the<br />
hall were thickened on the inside with<br />
vertically attached aluminium diffusers,<br />
each of varying thickness, to break up<br />
some of the sound. To alter the hall for<br />
symphony concerts, the stage could be<br />
enclosed with a solid reflective bandshell<br />
made of plywood, whose front surfaces<br />
were articulated by the addition of aluminium<br />
diffusers. 38 Motor-operated cloth<br />
curtains were installed just below the upper<br />
ceiling, above the boxes and along<br />
the rear wall: by retracting the curtains,<br />
reverberance was increased; by extending<br />
them, the articulation of sound was increased.<br />
39 This was a relatively new system<br />
that had been little tried elsewhere. 40<br />
Helmhotz chambers were also added outside<br />
the hall, above the collector aisles;<br />
these could be opened for symphonies,<br />
increasing reverberation within the hall.<br />
The orchestra pit, when lowered, functioned<br />
as an acoustic shell.<br />
Just below the ceiling of the hall, a catwalk<br />
was installed, camouflaged by<br />
means of the aesthetic design of the ceiling<br />
(fig. 11). The catwalk was not included<br />
in the initial designs, but it was very soon<br />
realized that one would be needed, both<br />
for sound requirements and, in particular,<br />
for lighting, for example, the spotlight.<br />
Technical facilities included a lighting<br />
system whereby a required sequence of<br />
changes in light levels could be recorded<br />
in rehearsal and played back in the correct<br />
order during performance. 41 Also<br />
along the catwalk was an array of sound<br />
loudspeakers; others were installed in<br />
the box and balcony soffits. The console<br />
for this system was located in the control<br />
room behind and above the top balcony. 42<br />
Just above this catwalk network was an<br />
array of remote-controlled sound-reflecting<br />
panels, which were vertically placed<br />
for concerts and horizontally placed for<br />
musical comedy and lectures. This was<br />
also a new technology.<br />
Acoustician Russell Johnson strongly<br />
praised the collaboration between the<br />
architect and acoustician in the Opera. In<br />
his words, “Bolt, Beranek and Newman<br />
have worked on many auditorium projects,<br />
but in only some of these has the<br />
architect availed himself of more than<br />
a fraction of advice proffered. One example<br />
of true collaboration in this regard<br />
is the 2300-seat Opera Hall in Ottawa.” 43<br />
The acoustics of the NAC were highly<br />
praised in reviews at the time of the<br />
building’s opening: “Canada’s National<br />
Arts Centre opened in Ottawa with<br />
three theatres and some of the world’s<br />
most advanced technical facilities for the<br />
performing arts;” 44 and the NAC “constitue<br />
une réussite incontestable sur le<br />
plan de la qualité architecturale et de<br />
l’équipement technique.” 45 Performers,<br />
for example of opera and ballet, were<br />
also very happy with the hall, while musicians<br />
had some reservations—though<br />
music of the orchestra was well articulated,<br />
it tended to be dry, as was the<br />
case with multipurpose halls in general.<br />
In spite of the dryness of the sound perceived<br />
by musicians and music lovers,<br />
in the words of one critic at the time,<br />
“there are no acoustical mistakes; sound<br />
at all frequencies is well distributed.” 46<br />
Since the hall was built, many of its features<br />
continue to promote high quality<br />
sound, especially the basic design of the<br />
hall. The hydraulically-controlled curtains<br />
are still used; although technical testing<br />
has shown that they have little effect,<br />
in practice, listeners can hear a positive<br />
difference when they are used. 47 However,<br />
the sound reflecting panels on the<br />
ceiling were removed because they were<br />
not effective. Recently there was a major<br />
improvement for the orchestra: the<br />
addition of an electronic sound system,<br />
to improve the acoustics and add warmth<br />
to the sound. For this, speakers were added<br />
onto the side and back walls and the<br />
ceiling, as well as above the orchestra.<br />
The system adds reverberation and time<br />
delay, and the NACO is extremely happy<br />
with it. While the possibility of significantly<br />
upgrading the acoustics has been<br />
considered in recent years, it would not<br />
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be possible without substantially altering<br />
the architecture of the hall as well as closing<br />
it for a year or two. Therefore this<br />
was not seriously considered. 48<br />
The eight hundred-seat Theatre was arranged<br />
in an amphitheatre plan, with<br />
the seats in a semi-circle; it had a single<br />
balcony and a steep rake (figs. 12 and<br />
24). The stage was adjustable: it had a<br />
thrust stage and a vomitory to allow the<br />
actors to enter through the audience, or it<br />
could accommodate traditional proscenium<br />
productions, in which case the apron<br />
portion of the stage could either provide<br />
additional seating or be lowered to create<br />
an orchestra pit. 49 At the time of construction,<br />
a theatre combining adjustable<br />
stage facilities of this type with an amphitheatre<br />
plan was unique and remains<br />
so in the professional world in Canada.<br />
It presented a “tremendous architectural<br />
challenge” and since its construction has<br />
been “a very successful space.” 50<br />
The Studio was designed to be an experimental<br />
space and was therefore<br />
highly flexible with extensive capabilities<br />
(figs. 24 and 33). 51 Here, there was no<br />
fixed position for the stage or for seating<br />
arrangements. There was a shallow balcony<br />
all around the space; any part of the<br />
floor or balcony could be used for performers<br />
or spectators and curtains were<br />
available if desired. Both the main and<br />
balcony levels had public and backstage<br />
entrances and the two were connected<br />
by a variety of demountable stairs. The<br />
Studio’s three hundred seats could be arranged<br />
in innumerable ways: they could<br />
be either small seat wagons or chairs; the<br />
chairs could be placed on demountable<br />
stairs, if desired. Risers could be installed<br />
or removed. The ceiling was a steel hexagonal<br />
grid which allowed great flexibility<br />
for lighting effects. Above the grid, which<br />
could be removed, was equipment for flying<br />
scenery, a function rarely seen in experimental<br />
spaces. The only mechanized<br />
equipment was a hexagonal lift near the<br />
centre, which could be lowered to form a<br />
pit or raised for use as a platform. 52 As an<br />
experimental space was usually a “black<br />
box,” either adapted from an already<br />
existing space or inexpensively built, the<br />
Studio was unique in Canada at the time<br />
of construction and probably remains<br />
so today. The Studio retains its original<br />
flexibility, though the original seating has<br />
since been adapted to conform to the fire<br />
code, which required some seats to be<br />
attached to others. According to Macy<br />
Dubois in The Canadian Architect, “The<br />
Studio is a remarkable achievement both<br />
as a great performing space and very fine<br />
architecture.” 53<br />
When the NAC was built there was no<br />
precedent on which to model this combination<br />
of facilities. 54 Further, each one<br />
of them was unique and represented the<br />
state of the art in its technical facilities.<br />
Louis Applebaum, musical advisor for<br />
the NAC, praised the technical facilities<br />
and spaces for performers of the NAC<br />
in 1971:<br />
Wing space, side stages, backstages,<br />
workshops, dressing room areas, film<br />
projection equipment and radio and<br />
television facilities have all been considered<br />
carefully. Whether it be the computerized<br />
lighting console, or the latest-designed<br />
rigging system, everything is provided to<br />
satisfy the artistic ambitions of the most<br />
demanding producers. For them, life at the<br />
Centre should be a joy!” 55<br />
New Expressions of Form and/or<br />
Responses to Functional Demands<br />
The NAC is an outstanding example of a<br />
performing arts centre for its design in<br />
the Brutalist style, for its integration into<br />
its urban setting, and for the effective<br />
integration of art into the architectural<br />
design. The building is also of interest<br />
for its very carefully designed interior<br />
which unites several different types of<br />
performing space in one building, and<br />
creates public spaces which are carefully<br />
designed to provide delight and enjoyment<br />
for spectators by means of spatial<br />
design, art, aesthetics, and lighting effects.<br />
<strong>No</strong> cost was spared on this fine<br />
building, from its overall design down to<br />
the finest details. 56 According to architectural<br />
historian Janet Wright, the building<br />
epitomizes the architectural aesthetic of<br />
the 1960s in Canada. 57<br />
The architects were given freedom in<br />
developing the design, 58 and they took<br />
inspiration from the general shape of the<br />
building’s site (fig. 3). In Fred Lebensold’s<br />
words, the shape of the whole centre was<br />
dictated, “as much by the site on which<br />
the buildings are located as by the purpose<br />
for which they are intended […] The<br />
hexagonal pattern reflects the shape of<br />
the site.” 59 The sixty-degree angle at the<br />
northeast corner of the intersection of the<br />
Rideau Canal and Rideau Street provided<br />
inspiration for the sixty-degree angles of<br />
the hexagon, while the site as a whole<br />
was generally triangular. The hexagon<br />
and the triangle were the basic modular<br />
units used throughout the building (except<br />
for the parking lot), reappearing<br />
in plans for the performing spaces, for<br />
stairs, for decorative details of the ceiling<br />
and floor, as well as for the layout of the<br />
dressing rooms and rehearsal halls for the<br />
use of the performers.<br />
The building was designed to house a<br />
number of functions; in addition to the<br />
primary functions of performing spaces<br />
and related facilities, it included commercial<br />
spaces, restaurants, and a huge<br />
underground parking lot. The style chosen<br />
was Brutalism, a term derived from the<br />
French term béton brut, meaning raw<br />
concrete, and coined in 1954 to describe<br />
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architecture influenced by Le Corbusier’s<br />
unité d’habitation in Marseilles, with its<br />
surfaces of exposed concrete. 60 During<br />
the 1950s, the International style of the<br />
Bauhaus, with its plain smooth surfaces,<br />
large expanses of glass, and floor plans<br />
based on a square or rectangular module,<br />
was the dominant approach to building<br />
design. These values were challenged in<br />
1956 by Peter and Alison Smithson from<br />
England and architect Aldo van Eyck from<br />
the Netherlands, who called themselves<br />
“Team Ten,” at the tenth meeting of<br />
Le Congrès international d’architecture<br />
moderne (CIAM). They took inspiration<br />
from other sources such as utilitarian<br />
buildings, for example warehouses, and<br />
from expressionistic architecture. When<br />
the group later divided up, two separate<br />
movements developed, one of which became<br />
known as Brutalism.<br />
Fig. 28. Architect’s plot plan, showing a plan of<br />
the NAC within the context of never-executed<br />
components of the proposed Parkin Plan,<br />
including a conference centre and a widening<br />
of the canal (above left), a pedestrian<br />
walkway across the canal (top centre) and<br />
an art gallery (right); 1965.| Courtesy of the NAC.<br />
Fig. 30. Main lobby at night, with the grand staircase<br />
on the right and the upper level,<br />
originally a restaurant and now the Panorama<br />
Room, on the left. On the far wall is<br />
projected an image of the corporate symbol<br />
of the NAC, three intertwined hexagons;<br />
1998. | Courtesy of the NAC.<br />
Fig. 29. Interior of main lobby showing the later<br />
addition of the display cases and a glimpse<br />
of the box office foyer through the doors.<br />
The black curtain above the pillars was hung<br />
temporarily for an event. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
Brutalism appeared in <strong>No</strong>rth America in<br />
the late 1950s. Paul Rudolph’s Art and<br />
Architecture Building at Yale, New Haven,<br />
constructed in 1958-1962, was described<br />
as a revolt against the Miesian<br />
“universal space” glass box. 61 An asymmetrical,<br />
seven-storey composition with<br />
vertical towers and concrete walls with<br />
rugged texture and vertical striations,<br />
the building contained thirty-seven levels<br />
of interpenetrating and overlapping<br />
platforms. The then-current interest at<br />
Yale in the relationship of buildings to<br />
the urban landscape was reflected in Rudolph’s<br />
Art and Architecture Building. His<br />
design built on slightly earlier works by<br />
Louis Kahn (such as Richard Laboratories<br />
in Philadelphia, 1957-1962) and by Frank<br />
Lloyd Wright. More or less contemporary<br />
to it was Kahn’s famous Salk Institute, of<br />
concrete and wood, with a plaza framing<br />
the Pacific Ocean. Kahn went on to<br />
design buildings in the Brutalist style in<br />
Asia, while Kenzo Tange (1913-2005), the<br />
most influential architect in post-war<br />
Japan, worked in the style there, designing<br />
megastructures such as the huge Yamanashi<br />
press and broadcasting centre,<br />
with seven towers, built in 1964-1967.<br />
Internationally the style remained popular<br />
for buildings through the 1970s.<br />
Brutalism became popular for buildings<br />
in Canada during the 1960s, when Canadian<br />
architects, like their counterparts<br />
elsewhere before them, were seeking, in<br />
the words of Janet Wright,<br />
to redefine and rethink modern architecture<br />
in terms of humanistic rather than<br />
mechanistic values. In formal terms,<br />
the pristine cubic volumes and the slick,<br />
Fig. 31. View of the balcony lobby of Southam Hall.<br />
In the background is a glimpse of one of the<br />
hexagonal staircases. | Rhona Goodspeed, 2005.<br />
translucent surfaces associated with the<br />
International style were being supplanted<br />
by an architecture of textured surfaces and<br />
complex compositions composed of varied<br />
and irregular masses. 62<br />
Brutalism generally made use of exposed<br />
concrete, expressing the ruggedness and<br />
weight of masonry. Designs often incorporated<br />
block-like geometric shapes and<br />
were frequently irregular. Texture played<br />
a significant role in the style’s aesthetic;<br />
surfaces, of which there were large expanses,<br />
could be of rough, unadorned<br />
poured concrete, or textured to create<br />
different effects, sometimes alluding to<br />
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Fig. 32. Main lobby before the addition of the dais<br />
and partitions for the Donors’ Circle,<br />
and before the blocking in of the skylights;<br />
1980. | Courtesy of NAC.<br />
Fig. 33. The Studio with the original chairs. |<br />
The Canadian Architect, July 1969, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 49,<br />
a building’s interior functions. Brutalist<br />
buildings are often criticized for being<br />
unfriendly and uncommunicative instead<br />
of integrative and protective, as was originally<br />
intended; for example, the location<br />
of the entrance is rarely obvious<br />
to the visitor. Many Brutalist structures,<br />
however, came to be appreciated in time<br />
for their uniqueness or eye-catching appearance.<br />
One well-known Canadian example<br />
of Brutalism is Place Bonaventure<br />
in Montréal, also designed by Affleck,<br />
Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Sise, and constructed in 1964-1968, at a<br />
time when most <strong>No</strong>rth American buildings<br />
were designed for a single purpose. 63<br />
Located on a six-acre site, this multipurpose<br />
building houses a two-level retail<br />
arcade, an exhibition area, five levels of<br />
merchandising mart, an international<br />
trade centre and a four hundred-bedroom<br />
hotel, as well as attractively landscaped<br />
courtyards. The exterior walls are cast-inplace<br />
concrete panels exhibiting a variety<br />
of sandblasted finishes on a reinforced<br />
concrete frame with few windows. Its<br />
weighty and massive appearance and textured<br />
and monolithic surfaces are characteristic<br />
of the Brutalist style.<br />
Brutalism was a style admirably suited<br />
to the function of a theatre, with the<br />
requirement for interior spaces insulated<br />
from outdoors sights and sounds. The<br />
style’s flexibility also made it an appropriate<br />
choice to enclose a range of functions<br />
and to adapt to an irregular site. The<br />
NAC’s irregular, monolithic-like massing<br />
reflected its interior functions and was<br />
dominated by the three main performing<br />
spaces and associated lobbies and stairs<br />
rising out of the series of low-lying terraces<br />
forming the roof of much of the rest<br />
of the building (figs. 4 and 8). A lower,<br />
more regular block-like mass housed the<br />
administrative section on the southeast<br />
at the level of the bridge (figs. 1 and 10).<br />
The precast concrete panels sheathing the<br />
walls were treated in a variety of textures,<br />
corresponding in some areas to interior<br />
functions, with widely spaced fins on the<br />
lobbies, smaller-scaled ribs on theatre sections,<br />
and flat surfaces on service spaces<br />
(fig. 26). According to Janet Wright, “the<br />
architects treated the surface in a variety<br />
of contrasting textures to give the building<br />
the sense of fortress-like solidity and<br />
rugged massing that defined the Brutalist<br />
aesthetic of the 1960s in Canada.” 64 On<br />
the canal side, the ceremonial entrance<br />
was at the second level, while above, on<br />
the next level, a covered walkway provided<br />
access from the terrace to the restaurant<br />
for fine dining for patrons above<br />
(figs. 1 and 14). At the lowest level, to the<br />
south, beneath the descending ramp, was<br />
a more informal restaurant called Le Café<br />
(fig. 10). With its compositional complexity,<br />
created in part by the repeated use of<br />
the hexagon and triangle in various sizes<br />
and forms, the building assumed an organic<br />
quality of constantly shifting views,<br />
as the visitor moved around the building<br />
and along the terraces. 65<br />
The terraces were designed as an integral<br />
part of the building, comprising a range<br />
of spaces that were shaped aesthetically<br />
partly by the landscaping which included<br />
a number of planters, all faced with the<br />
same precast concrete panels, and often<br />
of hexagonal shape. These were to contain<br />
a variety of plantings, including trees,<br />
shrubs and, in summer, flowers (figs. 3<br />
and 16). The terraces were also carefully<br />
designed to create views of some of the<br />
city’s most significant structures: of the<br />
Centre and East blocks of the Parliament<br />
Buildings, of the National War Memorial<br />
on Confederation Square and of the<br />
Château Laurier, emphasizing the NAC’s<br />
role as a place to entertain heads of state<br />
and dignitaries (fig. 27). The constantly<br />
shifting quality of spaces as one moved<br />
through them reflected the Brutalist<br />
aesthetic; they included spaces that are<br />
open and exposed, intimate and secluded,<br />
sunny and shady. Accessible from the<br />
lobbies of the Opera and Theatre, the terraces<br />
allowed members of the audience<br />
to stroll outside during intermissions. Also<br />
accessible from the street, these spaces<br />
were additionally intended to provide a<br />
setting for outdoor concerts in summer.<br />
Further interest was added to the terraces<br />
by means of art. For example, on the<br />
south terrace is a large nine-ton bronze<br />
contemporary abstract sculpture by Québec<br />
sculptor and painter Charles Daudelin<br />
(1920-2001), creator of a number of public<br />
monuments during his career (fig. 16). 66<br />
The Massey Report, which had criticized<br />
the International style for its “poverty of<br />
emotional appeal,” called for “painting<br />
and colour, however, modest in scale,” and<br />
“collaboration of architect, painter, and<br />
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sculptor […] With the modern appreciation<br />
of light, both artificial and daylight,<br />
with broad surfaces of unbroken wall and<br />
a free and open plan in public areas, there<br />
is every opportunity to make the utmost<br />
of the art of painting and sculptor.” 67 The<br />
report went on to encourage the use of<br />
art in the design of buildings. Beginning<br />
in the late 1950s, through the 1960s up<br />
to the present, art has been included<br />
within the designs of modern buildings.<br />
Modern sculpture began to “grace the<br />
otherwise windswept plazas of modern<br />
ensembles.” 68 The incorporation of the<br />
Daudelin on the exterior, as well as of<br />
other pieces of art in the interior, was<br />
an expression of the then-current trend<br />
in modern design to introduce and integrate<br />
art within buildings, to enhance the<br />
architectural design. During these years,<br />
art appeared not only within the lobby<br />
space of buildings, but also as a part of<br />
the basic design concept of a number of<br />
public and commercial buildings, including<br />
theatres of the 1960s. For the NAC,<br />
in order to create a building embodying<br />
the latest and most up-to-date modern<br />
design, a visual arts advisory committee<br />
was set up to select artists and/or works<br />
of art to be included in the centre, all<br />
decisions made in full agreement with<br />
the architect. Included on the committee<br />
were K.M. Fenwick, curator of prints<br />
and drawings at the National Gallery of<br />
Canada, and British Columbia painter Bertram<br />
Charles Binning. The Daudelin was<br />
the only work on the exterior, but there<br />
were glimpses of some of the spiral chandeliers<br />
from the terraces, through the tall<br />
narrow windows.<br />
While the terraces were a highly attractive<br />
feature of the architecture, they<br />
were also central to the integration of the<br />
building with its immediate surroundings<br />
and setting, both visually and functionally.<br />
While the orientation of the NAC<br />
has been criticized for turning its back<br />
on Confederation Square, 69 the architects<br />
took great care to integrate the building<br />
with its surrounding urban space, aesthetically<br />
by means of the terraces and functionally<br />
by means of both the terraces and<br />
the control of pedestrian and traffic flows<br />
around the building. The terraces were intended<br />
to be a part of the cityscape. Fred<br />
Lebensold, commenting on the impact of<br />
the centre, explained that because it was<br />
located in a public square, where it would<br />
have been “unthinkable to impede the<br />
normal flow of pedestrian traffic, the site<br />
was developed as a series of pedestrian<br />
terraces.” 70 These were made accessible<br />
from various points along the street, for<br />
example by means of stairs leading up<br />
from Elgin Street and the bridge, or directly<br />
from the sidewalk. The major eastwest<br />
artery of Queen Street was lined up<br />
with the opening from the sidewalk on<br />
Elgin Street onto the terrace, providing a<br />
functional link for pedestrians over to the<br />
Mackenzie King Bridge, as well as leading<br />
down to the main entrance and box office<br />
foyer (figs. 2-3). Pedestrians heading<br />
towards the centre could also access the<br />
main entrance via the park on the north<br />
(fig. 3), or through the modest entrance<br />
directly on Elgin Street (fig. <strong>15</strong>). Like<br />
some other Brutalist buildings, neither<br />
the main nor the subsidiary entrances to<br />
the NAC were easily identifiable to the<br />
uninitiated (figs. 7 and <strong>15</strong>). 71 The building<br />
was further linked to its urban environment<br />
by facing commercial spaces onto<br />
Elgin Street (fig. 9), used as bookstores<br />
for many years and accessed by doors to<br />
the north and south. In addition, Le Café,<br />
a restaurant on the opposite side of the<br />
building, was accessible from outside at<br />
the level of the canal. Traffic flow around<br />
the building, and vehicular access to it,<br />
were other key, if purely functional considerations<br />
(fig. 2). Located at “the hub<br />
of the city’s traffic plan,” 72 the NAC would<br />
draw thousands of visitors on a regular<br />
basis. The vehicular access to and exit<br />
from the underground parking lot at four<br />
points were designed to disperse traffic<br />
and eliminate traffic jams. 73<br />
To fully understand the design of the<br />
building in relation to its setting, it should<br />
be considered within its original design<br />
context, that of the Parkin Plan, which<br />
was commissioned by the National Capital<br />
Commission and drawn up in 1962, to<br />
develop Confederation Square and renew<br />
the urban core of Ottawa. 74 Fred Lebensold<br />
had stated that “The National Arts<br />
Centre is, of course, only part of the plan<br />
for the redevelopment of Confederation<br />
Square. When the plan is completed the<br />
Centre will be one of the main focal points<br />
of the heart of Ottawa—the physical link<br />
between the city’s eastern and western<br />
parts.” 75 Early models and plans of the<br />
NAC show the building within the context<br />
of this plan, including major changes proposed<br />
but never carried out, such as the<br />
widening of the canal, the replacement<br />
of Union Station with a new conference<br />
centre, the construction of a new art gallery<br />
to the south, and, in some plans, the<br />
construction of a pedestrian walkway<br />
from the NAC terraces to the opposite side<br />
of the canal (fig. 28). The canal had been<br />
identified within the plan as the most important<br />
landscape component in the area;<br />
hence it made sense for the architect to<br />
face the building towards it, as opposed<br />
to towards Confederation Square.<br />
When the NAC opened, the terraces and<br />
the integration of the building with its<br />
site were highly praised.<br />
The outstanding feature of the National Arts<br />
Centre is the way the site has been returned<br />
to the city as an intensively developed park.<br />
The terraces that cover all but the tallest<br />
portions of the complex are open to the<br />
public for strolling and enjoying the views—<br />
both outward towards the city’s landmarks<br />
and inward towards lobbies and cafes. 76<br />
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According to Architectural Record, it was<br />
“masterfully arranged on a difficult triangular<br />
site […] and ingeniously developed<br />
within a triangular module.” 77 And, “this<br />
complex fits right into its environment.<br />
With half of its mass buried in the canal<br />
bank and the rest cropping out in an irregular<br />
series of towers and parapets, the<br />
center follows Ottawa’s Victorian tradition<br />
of romantic landscape and picturesque<br />
building masses.” 78 The relation of the<br />
building to the site remains unchanged.<br />
In its austerity, its plain and closed surfaces<br />
and its consistently dark, sombre<br />
colouring, the Brutalist exterior was an<br />
excellent foil for the interior, which depended<br />
on dramatic spatial sequences,<br />
contrasting lighting effects, and varied<br />
and sometimes colourful pieces of art for<br />
its design. In the words of one critic, the<br />
NAC was, “un ensemble austère mais non<br />
sans force, écran de béton entre l’abri atomique<br />
et le blockhaus du mur de l’Atlantique,<br />
le précieux, le rare, l’exquis étant<br />
à l’intérieur.” 79 “Delight should be the<br />
watchword of anyone designing buildings<br />
for the performing arts,” declared Hazen<br />
Sise, of Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos,<br />
Lebensold, Sise, in a seminar on architectural<br />
requirements for the performing arts<br />
in Canada, sponsored by the Centennial<br />
Commission in June 1964. 80<br />
Going to the theatre or to a concert<br />
ought to be a pleasurable occasion, looked<br />
forward to with anticipation. On entering the<br />
front door one should start a process of<br />
transition from the cares of the real world<br />
into the world of art; one’s surroundings<br />
should prepare one’s mood for enjoyment,<br />
one should walk through a crescendo of<br />
architectural excitement with the hall itself<br />
as culmination. The lights dim and the<br />
curtain goes up. 81<br />
The architect has effectively developed<br />
this principle in the design of the interior<br />
spaces, “gradually detaching [the spectator]<br />
from everyday life” and creating “a<br />
succession of psychological barriers that<br />
cut people off from the street and turn<br />
them into an attentive audience.” 82 The<br />
progression began at the main entrance,<br />
with its austere exterior (or with the escalator<br />
from the parking lot) opening<br />
into the box-office foyer, a contained<br />
one-storey space suitable for meeting<br />
up with fellow theatregoers (figs. 14 and<br />
29). Here, as in all the public spaces of the<br />
building, the walls were sheathed with<br />
panels similar to those on the exterior,<br />
creating a certain continuity between<br />
interior and exterior, and the ceiling was<br />
covered with fibreglass light fixtures,<br />
fibreglass hexagons divided into triangles,<br />
which provided a low light.<br />
Reflecting the Brutalist aesthetic of the<br />
exterior, the interior spaces presented<br />
constantly shifting views to the visitor.<br />
From the box office one glimpsed the<br />
main lobby, through the windows and the<br />
doors. Once entered, this space opened<br />
up, expanding outwards to the left and<br />
right and upwards to two levels in height,<br />
with the upper level open on three sides,<br />
which during the day allowed natural<br />
light to filter in (fig. 30). Directly across<br />
from the box office was the ceremonial<br />
grand staircase to the second level of the<br />
Opera, while to its left were the striking,<br />
two-storey-high cast aluminium doors to<br />
the Salon, beautifully integrated into the<br />
architecture (fig. 17). Here the architect<br />
had borne in mind that these were spaces<br />
for mingling, for seeing others, such as<br />
heads of state and dignitaries, and for being<br />
seen (fig. 30). The doors exhibited an<br />
abstract design in relief, executed by Jordi<br />
Bonet, characteristic of other works he<br />
designed for public spaces. They opened<br />
into the Salon, a hexagonal room panelled<br />
in oak, forty-five feet across and two<br />
stories high, intended for small chamber<br />
recitals (for up to one hundred people)<br />
and receptions, for example for visiting<br />
dignitaries. From here a door opened to<br />
the stairs to the royal box of the Opera,<br />
and access was provided to the Green<br />
Room for the performers, who were also<br />
often received in the Salon.<br />
Approaches to the main performing<br />
spaces were signalled by the lowering of<br />
the ceiling (figs. 20 and 32). The low ceilings<br />
and low lights of the lobbies were<br />
deliberately designed to bring spectators<br />
together. In Fred Lebensold’s words, “I<br />
think there is something most unhappy<br />
about going out into a lobby and being<br />
alone. One of the wonderful things<br />
about the theatre is being with other<br />
people. Lobby space should be gauged<br />
so that while movement is easy, isolation<br />
is impossible.” 83 In total there were<br />
four levels of lobbies for the Opera, all of<br />
which could be accessed by means of tall,<br />
contained hexagonal staircases on either<br />
side (fig. 5). Each one was decorated by<br />
a piece of art by William Martin: a chandelier<br />
of metal and glass suspended from<br />
a skylight at the top, down the centre of<br />
the stairwell; the sculpture lit the stairs<br />
by means of reflected light—natural light<br />
during the day and floodlights installed<br />
beneath the skylight at night (fig. 22). The<br />
tall centrally lit space helped dramatize<br />
the more open, more diffusely lit space<br />
of the lobbies. From the second to the<br />
fourth level on the north, there were<br />
views of Confederation Square and the<br />
Parliament Buildings from the lobbies (the<br />
concrete fins on the exterior were angled<br />
in their direction; fig. 26), and the lobbies<br />
were opened up vertically by a well<br />
down to the lowest level (fig. 31). On the<br />
opposite side, to the south, on all levels,<br />
were oak bars; behind them tapestries<br />
decorated the walls (fig. 23).<br />
Leading from either side of each lobby<br />
were sparsely decorated collector aisles,<br />
which narrowed as they led downwards to<br />
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Fig. 34. Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island;<br />
built in 1964; Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Sise, architect.<br />
Main elevation above, terrace on lower right, and interior views from<br />
Memorial on lower left. | Reproduced from Geneviève Charrois, “Le Centre des arts de la<br />
Confédération,” HSMBC, Submission Report 2002-45.<br />
Fig. 35. Place des arts, Montréal, Québec, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier; built in 1963, Affleck,<br />
Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud, Sise, architect. | Journal of the Royal<br />
Architectural Institute of Canada (JRAIC), <strong>No</strong>vember 1964, p. 123.<br />
single-storey tinted-glass doors, indicated<br />
by single vertical rows of lights. The spectator<br />
was unconsciously prepared by these<br />
plain and confined spaces for the theatrical<br />
climax of the architectural composition,<br />
the Opera (fig. 11). The Opera was<br />
the most highly praised of the performing<br />
spaces, with its plush red carpets and rows<br />
of seats arranged in “continental” style,<br />
that is with no aisles in the centre. Helping<br />
to draw the eye upwards, lights were<br />
placed in vertical lines and spaced increasingly<br />
further apart as they neared the<br />
ceiling, in order to increase the sense of<br />
height. These strips of lights also helped<br />
balance the horizontal lines of the hall, created<br />
by the balustrades of the mezzanine,<br />
amphitheatre and balcony, and of the<br />
boxes (fig. 25). The dramatic ceiling composition,<br />
a circular pattern of black and<br />
white panels and strips with suspended<br />
lights effectively camouflaged the catwalk<br />
above. The side walls were of tinted glass,<br />
with the vertical metal diffusers adding a<br />
subtle aesthetic appeal, though designed<br />
for acoustical purposes. The outstanding<br />
single feature was the luxurious stage curtain<br />
designed by Micheline Beauchemin,<br />
with its large billowing panels of solid vibrant<br />
colours, made of cotton, nylon, and<br />
plastic fibres (fig. 11).<br />
The Theatre lobby, to the south, was<br />
also accessible from the main foyer and<br />
opened up through three levels (though<br />
the Theatre itself possessed only two levels).<br />
Just inside the entrance to the lobby,<br />
applied to the precast concrete wall also<br />
rising through three levels, was a brushed<br />
aluminium relief sculpture by Montréal<br />
sculptor Gino Lorcini (fig. 19). The two<br />
levels of the Theatre itself were accessed<br />
by hexagonal staircases similar to those<br />
of the Opera, with similar glass sculptures<br />
in the centre. To the south of the Theatre<br />
was the lobby space for the Studio; here<br />
again were tapestries decorating the walls<br />
above the bar. In the centre of this space<br />
was a sculpture designed by Montréal<br />
industrial designer Julien Hébert. Set<br />
within a hexagonal water fountain, it rose<br />
through two levels, to a skylight (fig. 20).<br />
Just to the east was the entrance to the<br />
Studio (fig. 5) and, in front of it, a balustrade<br />
overlooking the floor below and<br />
providing a view on the opposite wall of<br />
a large abstract mural on three levels, in<br />
strong bright colours, by Canadian painter<br />
William Ronald (figs. 20-21).<br />
Care was also taken in the design for the<br />
layout of the non-public areas for performers.<br />
Backstage, the three performing<br />
spaces were connected by a series of<br />
service spaces at the same level, linking<br />
them to the trucking lane at the stage<br />
door (fig. 2). The dressing rooms were arranged<br />
hexagonally around the Theatre<br />
and near to the Opera, a design very convenient<br />
for performers. A large scenery<br />
shop between the stages of the Theatre<br />
and Opera was linked to both by proscenium-high<br />
metal doors. (The shop was<br />
also designed to serve a mobile theatre<br />
berthed in the truck dock.) It is reported<br />
that performers are generally happy with<br />
the design of these spaces. 84<br />
Both the exterior and the interior of<br />
the building have remained unchanged<br />
except for very minor details. The interior<br />
of the NAC is stunning for its public<br />
areas, for its successions of spaces, for the<br />
variety of attractive views, for its finely<br />
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Fig. 36. Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba; built in 1969-1970, Number<br />
Ten Architectural Group, architect. | [http://canada.archiseek.com/manitoba/winnipeg/<br />
downtown/market_avenue/manitoba_theatre_centre_lge.html], accessed April 2005.<br />
Fig. 37. Grand Théâtre de Québec, Quebec; Victor Prus, architect, built in 1964-1971.<br />
Main elevation and entrance. | Nicholas Goodspeed, 2005<br />
finished details, for the effective use of<br />
contemporary art to enhance the interior<br />
spaces, and for the performing spaces<br />
themselves, especially the Opera. The motifs<br />
of the hexagon and triangle are used<br />
effectively and imaginatively to create an<br />
interior that brings people together and<br />
an exterior well suited to its irregular site.<br />
These motifs, due to their unusual geometry,<br />
had also posed an unusual challenge<br />
in construction, with the execution of the<br />
various components in concrete, plaster,<br />
and wood. All details were carefully<br />
planned and executed, and contributed<br />
to the creation of unity throughout the<br />
building. <strong>No</strong> expense was spared by the<br />
federal government in the design or execution<br />
of the NAC, from the larger planning<br />
concepts, the complex but effective<br />
floor plans, down to the fine details.<br />
The critics were full of praise for the interior<br />
spaces. According to an English critic,<br />
The key to the whole drama is that an<br />
opera house auditorium must be theatrical<br />
to succeed whereas a theatre auditorium<br />
must not. At Ottawa everything is cunningly<br />
composed, even the restaurant, so that the<br />
right dramatic lead is established for entry to<br />
the grand salle de l’opera. At this moment for<br />
the first time height isn’t only allowed to take<br />
over, but […] is encouraged to do so. 85<br />
Verticals in the Opera continue up and<br />
lose themselves beyond the ceiling. 86<br />
Praise for the contemporary art was not<br />
universal, but one writer described it as<br />
“a striking display of modern art incorporated<br />
into the design of the whole.” 87<br />
Many comments were written praising the<br />
building as a whole. According to architect<br />
Jules Gauvreau in Vie des Arts, the NAC,<br />
“présente l’incontestable avantage d’une<br />
homogénéité inexistante dans la plupart<br />
des autres centres comparables, récemment<br />
construits,” and the building is “une<br />
incontestable réussite architecturale.” 88<br />
Macy DuBois in The Canadian Architect<br />
wrote: “The Federal Government has<br />
produced a good piece of work. It is the<br />
best building in Ottawa; it is better than<br />
anything of its size and function I have<br />
seen in Canada; and it is better than most<br />
such buildings anywhere in the world.” 89<br />
In the opinion of Janet Wright, “the National<br />
Arts Centre introduced the idea<br />
that important federal buildings could<br />
serve as a showcase for the best in Canadian<br />
architecture.” 90 And in the words of<br />
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau,<br />
It is the culmination of years of work by<br />
many different organizations and individuals<br />
[…] In its design and construction, the<br />
Centre has drawn on skills and experience<br />
acquired during an active decade of work<br />
on similar buildings in all parts of Canada.<br />
Clearly, it has surpassed its predecessors<br />
in versatility and comprehensiveness. It will<br />
stand comparison with the world’s best. 91<br />
Conclusion<br />
To summarize, the NAC illustrates or<br />
represents all three cultural phenomena<br />
described in the guideline for evaluating<br />
built heritage of the modern era. First, the<br />
NAC is an outstanding illustration of the<br />
changing social and political conditions<br />
with respect to the performing arts in Canada<br />
as the only performing arts centre in<br />
the country which was fully subsidized by<br />
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the federal government. From a political<br />
point of view, it is a significant addition<br />
to Canada’s capital as a national ceremonial<br />
meeting place for heads of state<br />
and visiting dignitaries. Second, in terms<br />
of technological advances, it represented<br />
state-of-the-art technology for lighting<br />
and acoustics, especially in the Opera Hall,<br />
and in terms of adaptability, it introduced<br />
either unprecedented or state-of-the-art<br />
flexibility for all three performing spaces.<br />
Third, the building was an outstanding<br />
new expression of form for its design in<br />
the Brutalist style, epitomizing the architectural<br />
aesthetic of the 1960s in Canada;<br />
for its successful integration into its important<br />
site on Confederation Square in<br />
downtown Ottawa; for the outstanding<br />
design of its interior spaces; for the successful<br />
integration of a number of contemporary<br />
works of art with the architecture;<br />
and for the Opera, or Southam Hall, of<br />
particular note for its aesthetics.<br />
Integrity<br />
The structure and appearance of the NAC<br />
are virtually the same as when built, both<br />
on the exterior and in the interior. An<br />
unsympathetic addition to the terrace<br />
at street level is the large pillar at the<br />
northwest corner: while it is covered<br />
in the same concrete aggregate as the<br />
building, it is not well integrated with<br />
the site and it blocks the view of some of<br />
the Confederation Square buildings from<br />
a part of the terrace. Inside the building,<br />
changes are minor and reversible, such as<br />
the addition of display cases (fig. 29) and<br />
the blocking over of several skylights in<br />
the main foyer, the installation of partitions<br />
for the donors’ circle at the rear<br />
of the Southam Hall lobby, the addition<br />
of a bar and other moveable counters in<br />
the main foyer, all finished in materials<br />
resembling those original to these spaces.<br />
The carpeted (wood) stairs up to the main<br />
staircase have been extended and a dais<br />
and universal ramp have been added. The<br />
corridor leading from the Elgin Street entrance<br />
to the box office has been slightly<br />
altered and completely enclosed, whereas<br />
it had been partially open originally. 92<br />
The performing spaces are unaltered in<br />
appearance except for the Theatre. Here<br />
the changes are relatively minor, comprising<br />
mainly the installation of new seats<br />
of a slightly different colour and in a<br />
slightly new arrangement with wider<br />
rows and handrails, to accommodate an<br />
aging population. This has resulted in a<br />
slight reduction of seat numbers in the<br />
centre of the Theatre when the proscenium<br />
is used. In addition, the vomitory has<br />
been somewhat enlarged, to allow for<br />
greater access by the performers. As already<br />
mentioned, the Studio has had new<br />
(moveable) seats installed, but its character<br />
and flexibility as an experimental<br />
performing space are unchanged. For all<br />
performing spaces, apart from the stages,<br />
where technological advances have been<br />
embraced, much of the equipment is original<br />
to the building’s construction. However,<br />
the acoustics of Southam Hall have<br />
been augmented electronically to meet<br />
today’s needs. 93<br />
All the performing spaces, including the<br />
Salon, continue to house their original<br />
functions. Changes to functions elsewhere<br />
include the replacement of the original<br />
bookstores on Elgin Street by the Fourth<br />
Stage. The space which housed Le Restaurant,<br />
the original formal restaurant,<br />
is now divided into the Fountain and Panorama<br />
rooms, which are used for rental<br />
functions, such as dinners and receptions.<br />
Le Café, originally used for casual dining,<br />
now provides fine dining for patrons. In<br />
the summer, Le Café opens onto a terrace<br />
parallel to the canal, which was not the<br />
case originally. The interior space just to<br />
the west of Le Café is now the location of<br />
a small restaurant called the Oasis, which<br />
is a new use.<br />
Comparative Context<br />
The NAC is one of a number of performing<br />
arts centres built across Canada<br />
from 1959 to 1970, of which sixteen are<br />
listed in the appendix. The Board recommended<br />
the Confederation Centre of the<br />
Arts in Charlottetown for national designation<br />
because<br />
as one of a number of cultural complexes<br />
built in the 1960s and 1970s in Canada,<br />
and as a memorial to the Fathers of<br />
Confederation, it is an outstanding example<br />
of a national institution dedicated to the<br />
performing arts; when it was built in 1964,<br />
it was highly innovative in its stage design<br />
and acoustics, and featured state-of-the-art<br />
lighting and construction techniques; and<br />
it is a distinguished example of Brutalist<br />
architecture in Canada, which, for its era,<br />
is well-integrated with the city. 94 (fig. 34)<br />
The NAC was one of two arts centres built<br />
in Canada at the time that made use of<br />
federal funds, and it is the only one built<br />
entirely with federal funding. 95 In terms<br />
of design and function, the NAC is the<br />
only performing arts centre of the period<br />
designed and built from the start to<br />
house three major performing spaces. The<br />
other examples were originally designed<br />
either to house a single performing<br />
space, to house a performing space plus<br />
an additional function, or to house two<br />
performing spaces.<br />
Among the examples listed in the appendix,<br />
five were built with a single auditorium<br />
(including the required associated<br />
spaces). 96 The remainder included additional<br />
performing spaces and/or functions as<br />
well. The Hummingbird Centre in Toronto,<br />
built in 1960, combined the largest auditorium<br />
of the period, for an audience of<br />
three thousand two hundred, with several<br />
spaces for exhibiting art. The Queen Elizabeth<br />
Theatre in Vancouver, built in 1959,<br />
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housed a large hall with two thousand<br />
nine hundred and thirty-one seats and<br />
an art gallery. Place des Arts in Montréal<br />
included five performing spaces linked to<br />
each other underground; however, each<br />
one was built successively, beginning with<br />
a large performing hall for an audience of<br />
two thousand nine hundred and eightytwo<br />
(formerly the Grande Salle, now the<br />
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier), constructed in 1963;<br />
all the others were later additions (fig. 35).<br />
These three centres all have halls that are<br />
significantly larger than the Opera, or<br />
Southam Hall at the NAC. In contrast to<br />
Place des Arts, the NAC was designed and<br />
constructed as a whole.<br />
The two centres with auditoriums closest<br />
in size to Southam Hall in Ottawa are those<br />
in Saskatoon and Regina, each with one<br />
medium-sized performance hall combined<br />
with a congress centre. The Saskatoon<br />
Centennial Auditorium, built in 1964-1968,<br />
holds an audience of two thousand and<br />
three, while the Saskatchewan Centre of<br />
the Arts in Regina, built in 1970, has a hall<br />
with a seating capacity of two thousand<br />
and twenty-nine. The Cleary International<br />
Centre in Windsor, which opened in 1960,<br />
housed a smaller auditorium of one thousand<br />
two hundred and eleven seats as<br />
well as a convention centre and exhibition<br />
space. When it was reopened in 1991 after<br />
renovations, the auditorium was slightly<br />
enlarged but not substantially altered. The<br />
St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre in St.<br />
John’s, Newfoundland, built in 1967, includes<br />
a main performing space for one<br />
thousand seats and a small theatre for an<br />
audience of seventy-five. In addition, the<br />
building housed a library and an art gallery.<br />
<strong>No</strong>ne of these buildings was designed<br />
to accommodate the variety of performances<br />
as was the NAC, with its multipurpose<br />
medium-sized auditorium, as well as<br />
a theatre and an experimental studio, not<br />
to mention the smaller Salon, designed for<br />
small concerts as well as receptions.<br />
Stylistically, three arts centres in Canada<br />
have been identified which are comparable<br />
to the NAC for their designs in the<br />
Brutalist style. The Manitoba Theatre Centre<br />
(MTC), built in 1969-1970, is a relatively<br />
modest theatre that is significantly smaller<br />
in size than the NAC, housing only one<br />
performing space, designed for theatre<br />
(fig. 36). 97 Apart from the fly tower, the<br />
building is two storeys high, while the NAC<br />
is built on a number of levels. Characteristic<br />
of Brutalist buildings, the Manitoba<br />
centre is asymmetrical with four different<br />
elevations and the main entrance at<br />
one side, and is constructed of exposed<br />
concrete. Largely rectangular in plan and<br />
occupying a rectangular site, the building<br />
possesses an overall massing that is much<br />
simpler and more block-like than that of<br />
the NAC. The MTC’s raw concrete surfaces<br />
are carefully—even delicately—expressive<br />
of the wooden formwork that was used to<br />
create the walls. Various internal functions<br />
are expressed on the exterior through advancing<br />
and receding volumes, and in particular<br />
by expanses of glass fronting the<br />
public lobby areas. At the NAC, the precast<br />
concrete exterior panel finishes vary<br />
on the exterior to correspond with the<br />
functions of the interior spaces. The MTC<br />
was deliberately scaled to be compatible<br />
with its neighbour down the block, the<br />
1912 Pantages Theatre, though not necessarily<br />
with the multi-storey warehouses in<br />
the immediate vicinity. The NAC is a much<br />
more complex example of Brutalist architecture,<br />
carefully adapted to its irregular<br />
site, and exhibits a much greater integration<br />
with its setting.<br />
A second example of a theatre in the<br />
Brutalist style is the Grand Théâtre de<br />
Québec in Québec City, built in 1964-1971<br />
to designs by Victor Prus. This building<br />
houses two performing spaces—a formal<br />
multipurpose auditorium for ballet, opera,<br />
and theatre for a medium-size audience of<br />
one thousand eight hundred, as well as a<br />
studio, which is adaptable as a performing<br />
space and could seat five hundred (fig. 37).<br />
The building also has an area for outdoor<br />
performances in the rear. Again, this is a<br />
smaller building than the NAC, with fewer<br />
performing spaces, both of which are<br />
smaller than their equivalents at the NAC.<br />
Generally the plan of the Grand Théâtre<br />
is rectangular, with truncated corners on<br />
the front elevation where windows occupy<br />
the full height of the building; these are<br />
the locations of the main entrances. The<br />
main elevation is more or less symmetrical<br />
except for the fly tower and performing<br />
space seen rising above it. All four elevations<br />
exhibit tall panels of smoothly finished<br />
concrete, projecting outwards near<br />
the top and divided into bays of equal<br />
width by columns. Windows, of which<br />
there are few, are at ground level, except<br />
those at the corners.<br />
Like the NAC, the building incorporates<br />
art into the design: a large mural by Jordi<br />
Bonet, over twelve thousand square feet<br />
in area, was sculpted into the cement in<br />
the lobby of the auditorium. 98 Its exterior<br />
exposed concrete surfaces and even<br />
its use of concrete for the mural inside<br />
is an expression of the Brutalist style;<br />
as a whole it is not, however, nearly as<br />
complex or ambitious in its design as the<br />
NAC, with its complete asymmetry, shifting<br />
views and overall complexity. Further<br />
the NAC includes a larger number and<br />
greater variety of works than the Québec<br />
theatre. The Grand Théâtre may be<br />
described as a conservative interpretation<br />
of Brutalism, as it recalls the modern<br />
International style in its reliance on<br />
a certain regularity in plan, its rhythmic<br />
bays, visible supports, truncated corners<br />
and continuous window design rising the<br />
full height of the building at the corners.<br />
<strong>No</strong> particular effort appears to have been<br />
made to integrate the Grand Théâtre with<br />
its surroundings, though it is generally<br />
harmonious in scale with its neighbours.<br />
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The NAC, in contrast, has a terrace which<br />
effectively carried this integration out in<br />
terms of pedestrian access and attractive,<br />
highly symbolic views.<br />
The Confederation Centre for the Arts,<br />
built in 1964 in the Brutalist style to designs<br />
by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos,<br />
Lebensold, Sise, was designated a<br />
National Historic Site of Canada in 2003<br />
(fig. 34). Of all the arts centres built in<br />
Canada, it is the most comparable to<br />
the NAC in terms of its fine design in<br />
the Brutalist style and its generally large<br />
scale. 99 The Charlottetown building is<br />
usually described as a complex, in that<br />
it houses several functions: a memorial<br />
space to the Fathers of Confederation, a<br />
theatre for a fairly small audience of one<br />
thousand, a library and an art gallery. The<br />
building, like the NAC, takes inspiration<br />
both from Brutalist principles and from<br />
its urban, downtown setting, next to<br />
Province House—though the focal point<br />
in the design was the memorial, rather<br />
than the performing space, a contrast to<br />
the NAC. The finely designed Confederation<br />
Centre for the Arts is composed of<br />
four visually distinct but similarly scaled<br />
pavilions which rise above, and are connected<br />
below a single-level terrace, not<br />
far from street level. The scale of the<br />
centre is conditioned by that of Province<br />
House, including the centre’s pavilions<br />
which are the same height as Province<br />
House. The floor plan is arranged in a<br />
horseshoe around the memorial, with<br />
the different functions housed in each<br />
pavilion. Windows are few, designed vertically<br />
and located at the corners of each<br />
pavilion except for the memorial, where<br />
the roof is entirely of glass and a second<br />
large window effectively frames the side<br />
elevation of Province House.<br />
Typical for Brutalist buildings of the era,<br />
the Charlottetown centre is constructed<br />
of concrete, but in this case it is sheathed<br />
in smoothly finished sandstone, the same<br />
sandstone used in the construction of<br />
the legislative building. A few examples<br />
of modern sculpture are located on the<br />
terrace. The inside of the building also<br />
makes use of sandstone for portions of<br />
the walls, though marble is used in the<br />
memorial. Originally there were several<br />
murals inside, but they did not all survive.<br />
The works of art inside appear to be associated<br />
with the art gallery rather than<br />
with a design to integrate them with the<br />
architecture. The interior of the Charlottetown<br />
complex is a great contrast to the<br />
interior of the NAC. The smooth straight<br />
lines of the interior, the generally rectilinear<br />
floor plans, the clarity of the design<br />
and the use of materials create a purity<br />
in the design and a still, contemplative<br />
atmosphere, appropriate to the memorial<br />
as well as to the gallery and the library.<br />
The NAC, with its overall irregular design<br />
and its changing spaces and shifting views,<br />
was designed to create specific effects appropriate<br />
for a performing centre, such as<br />
psychologically preparing the audience for<br />
a performance. The impetus behind the<br />
design of the NAC was the creation of<br />
spaces for the performing arts, and the<br />
building is characterized by varied, dynamic,<br />
and theatrical spaces which express<br />
their differing needs. The design of the<br />
NAC is more complex than the Charlottetown<br />
centre, as it relies on the more unusual<br />
motifs of the hexagon and triangle,<br />
on contrasting massing and shapes, on the<br />
use of differing textures, and the incorporation<br />
of a variety of works of art within<br />
the overall design of the architecture. The<br />
Opera Hall of the NAC represents an unusually<br />
satisfactory collaboration between<br />
architect and acoustician when compared<br />
to other arts centres in the country. Further,<br />
the Opera at the NAC appears to have<br />
been a fairly rare example for its time of a<br />
multipurpose hall, representing the trend<br />
towards a medium-sized hall.<br />
Current Status<br />
a) Threat(s)<br />
Funding constraints allow the NAC<br />
to deal only with immediate building<br />
needs. Funding for capital repairs is allocated<br />
first to repairs involving health and<br />
safety, major building code issues, and<br />
operational sustainability. In the medium<br />
term, however, precast and structural<br />
component failures present an increased<br />
operational risk of shutdown. 100 In addition,<br />
much of the equipment original to<br />
the building’s construction is nearing the<br />
end of its lifespan. 101<br />
b) Other Designations<br />
When the building opened, two bronze<br />
plaques, one in French and one in English,<br />
were placed in the central lobby of the<br />
building. The texts were written by two<br />
well-known Canadian authors. Robertson<br />
Davies wrote the English version and<br />
Robert Choquette the French version. The<br />
text in English reads:<br />
Part of the land on which the National<br />
Arts Centre is built was given to Ottawa<br />
for a marketplace by Nicholas Sparks in<br />
1848. The city’s generous gift of land to<br />
the people of Canada is historically apt, for<br />
a town hall was raised here which served<br />
also as a theatre and a concert room from<br />
1849 until 1865; and on a nearby site,<br />
from 1897 until 1928, stood the Russell<br />
Theatre, in which the most eminent plays<br />
and players of English, French and American<br />
theatre were seen. Thus the stage of<br />
our inherited tradition in theatre, music<br />
and dance becomes the stage where the<br />
native growth in these arts is cherished,<br />
and honour done to those living, dead or<br />
yet to be born who serve us honourably, as<br />
musicians and artists of the theatre. This<br />
superscription was unveiled by her majesty<br />
Queen Elizabeth II, on the fifth day of July,<br />
in 1967, the centennial year of Canada’s<br />
Confederation, before it was placed here.<br />
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In 1970, the NAC was the recipient of a<br />
Massey Medal for architecture. 102<br />
c) Community Value<br />
“The marvellous building on Confederation<br />
Square brings for the first time to<br />
our doorsteps the performing arts at their<br />
best,” wrote the editor of the Ottawa<br />
Citizen on the day of the opening. 103 The<br />
construction of the NAC, with its variety<br />
of performing spaces and wide range of<br />
performances, from the time it was built<br />
until the present, has made possible the<br />
appreciation and enjoyment of the performing<br />
arts for the citizens of the national<br />
capital area. Known by everyone in<br />
the community who is interested in the<br />
arts and beyond, it is attended regularly<br />
by thousands. The NAC is without doubt<br />
one of the most important buildings in<br />
the city to a large number of the city’s<br />
inhabitants, all of whom would agree<br />
that Ottawa would not be the same<br />
without it. The NAC also provides spaces<br />
for additional functions, such as art exhibits,<br />
graduations, and social events. It<br />
is currently busy six days and evenings a<br />
week.<br />
NOTES<br />
1. These points are: from the ramp on the east<br />
side of the building, near the main entrance;<br />
just north of the bridge at the level of the<br />
canal, at the east corner; just south of the<br />
south ramp to the Mackenzie King Bridge,<br />
from the east side of Elgin Street; from Albert<br />
Street, through the Albert Street tunnel, just<br />
west of Elgin Street (figs. 2-3).<br />
2. According to this guideline, “A building,<br />
ensemble or site that was created during<br />
the modern era may be considered of significance<br />
if it is in a condition that respects<br />
the integrity of its original design, materials,<br />
workmanship, function, and/or setting,<br />
insofar as each of these was an important<br />
part of its overall intentions and its present<br />
character; and it is an outstanding illustration<br />
of at least one of the three following cultural<br />
phenomena and at least a representative<br />
if less than outstanding illustration of the<br />
APPENDIX 103<br />
CITY NAME DATE ARCHITECT(S)<br />
Vancouver B.C. Queen Elizabeth Theatre 1959<br />
Affleck, Desbarats,<br />
Dimakopoulos, Michaud,<br />
Lebensold, Sise<br />
Edmonton, Alta. Jubilee Auditorium 1954-1957 Public Works<br />
Calgary, Alta. Jubilee Auditorium 1954-1957 Public Works<br />
Saskatoon, Sask.<br />
Regina, Sask.<br />
Saskatoon Centennial<br />
Auditorium<br />
Saskatchewan Centre<br />
of the Arts<br />
1964-1968<br />
Winnipeg, Man. Centennial Concert Hall 1967<br />
Winnipeg, Man. Manitoba Theatre Centre 1969-1970<br />
Kerr Cullingworth Riches<br />
Associates Architects;<br />
Affleck, Desbarats,<br />
Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Sise<br />
1970 Izumi, Arnott and Sugiyama<br />
Smith Carter, Moody, Moore,<br />
G.B.R. Architects<br />
Number Ten Architectural<br />
Group<br />
Stratford, Ont. Festival Theatre 1957 Rounthwaite & Fairfield<br />
Toronto, Ont.<br />
Hummingbird Centre for the<br />
Performing Arts (O’Keefe<br />
Centre)<br />
1960<br />
Windsor, Ont. Cleary International Centre 1960<br />
Ottawa, Ont. National Arts Centre 1964-1969<br />
Montréal, Qué. Place des arts 1963<br />
Québec, Qué. Grand Théâtre de Québec 1964-1971 Victor Prus<br />
Earle C. Morgan and Page<br />
and Steel<br />
Douglas C. Johnson and<br />
Cunningham McWhinnie<br />
Affleck, Desbarats,<br />
Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Sise<br />
(Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier)<br />
Affleck, Desbarats,<br />
Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Michaud, Sise<br />
Fredericton, N.B. The Playhouse 1964 [information unavailable]<br />
Charlottetown, P.E.I.<br />
St. John’s, Nfld.<br />
Confederation Centre for the<br />
Arts<br />
St. John’s Arts and Culture<br />
Centre<br />
1964<br />
1967<br />
Affleck, Desbarats,<br />
Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Sise<br />
Affleck, Desbarats,<br />
Dimakopoulos, Lebensold,<br />
Sise<br />
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other two cultural phenomena of its time:<br />
a) changing social, political, and/ or economic<br />
conditions; b) rapid technological advances;<br />
c) new expressions of form, and/or responses<br />
to functional demands.”<br />
3. Unless otherwise indicated, this section on<br />
the Massey Commission is based mainly on:<br />
Kallmann, Helmut, “Massey Commission,”<br />
The Canadian Encyclopedia, [http://www.<br />
thecanadianencyclopedia.com], accessed<br />
January 21, 2005; Litt, Paul, 1992, The Muses,<br />
the Masses, and the Massey Commission, Toronto,<br />
University of Toronto Press; and Royal<br />
Commission on National Development in the<br />
Arts, Letters and Sciences (1949-1951), [http://<br />
www.collectionscanada.ca/massey/h5-400-e.<br />
html#content], accessed March 11, 2005.<br />
4 . Kallmann, op. cit.<br />
5. See Royal Commission on National Development<br />
in the Arts, Letters and Sciences,<br />
op. cit.<br />
6. “The Theatre,” Royal Commission on National<br />
Development in the Arts, Letters and<br />
Sciences, p. 3.<br />
7. Id. p. 6.<br />
8. Id. p. 10.<br />
9. “Ballet,” [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/<br />
massey/h5-400-e.html#content], p. 3 accessed<br />
March 11, 2005.<br />
10. “Music,” ibid.<br />
11. Grace, Gerry, 2001, “The National Arts Centre:<br />
A Brief History,” unpublished manuscript<br />
on file, NAC Archives, December, p. 2; and<br />
Décary, Robert, 1986, “The National Arts<br />
Centre: A History of the Events Leading to<br />
its Creation,” Final Draft, on file at the Parliamentary<br />
Library, Ottawa, p. 1-3.<br />
12. Other high schools used for performances<br />
included Glebe Collegiate and Ottawa Technical<br />
High School (See, for example, Grace,<br />
p. 1).<br />
13. Grace, p. 1.<br />
14. Dominion Consultants Limited, 1963, “A<br />
National Centre for the Performing Arts:<br />
A Study Prepared for the National Capital<br />
Arts Alliance,” October. This study is often<br />
referred to as the Brown Book.<br />
<strong>15</strong>. Grace, p. 2.<br />
16. The report made detailed recommendations<br />
for the requirements of such a centre, which<br />
they stated needed an opera hall, a theatre,<br />
a studio, and a small reception/performing<br />
area. The sizes of the performing spaces as<br />
built appear to have been influenced by the<br />
findings of the Brown Book (Dominion Consultants<br />
Limited, op. cit.).<br />
17. Décary, p. 13.<br />
18. Ibid.<br />
19. Id., p. 17.<br />
20. The NCAA considered sixteen sites in their<br />
report using ten criteria, and recommended<br />
that the centre be built at Sussex and St. Patrick<br />
streets. The site chosen was not among<br />
those that they considered (Dominion Consultants<br />
Limited, p. 54-65).<br />
21. Décary, p. 50.<br />
22. Architectural Requirements for the Performing<br />
Arts in Canada, 1964, A Seminar<br />
Sponsored by the Centennial Commission,<br />
Ottawa, The Parliament Buildings, June 1-2,<br />
1964, Ottawa, Roger Duhamel, p. 3.<br />
23. Submission from the National Arts Centre<br />
Corporation, to the Executive Secretary, Historic<br />
Sites and Monuments Board of Canada<br />
(HSMBC), n.d., p. 3.<br />
24. Frazer, Robbin, 1971, “The Stradivarius of<br />
Arts Centres,” Performing Arts in Canada,<br />
March.<br />
25. Wright, Janet, 1997, Crown Assets: The Architecture<br />
of the Department of Public Works,<br />
1867-1967, Toronto, University of Toronto<br />
Press, p. 265.<br />
26. Décary, p. 45.<br />
27. Id., p. 19.<br />
28. The original plan for the Stratford Festival<br />
Theatre to be winter resident as the Stratford<br />
National Theatre, and the Théâtre du<br />
Capricorne, a new ensemble established for<br />
a resident French theatre, did not work out.<br />
29. Globe & Mail, April 4, 1973; and La Presse,<br />
April 11, 1973.<br />
30. Gerry Grace, Curator, NAC; e-mail to author,<br />
April 11, 2005.<br />
31. CBC Times, May 31-June 6, 1969, vol. 21,<br />
no. 49, p. 3.<br />
32. Bob Allen, head sound engineer, NAC; conversation<br />
with the author, March <strong>15</strong>, 2005.<br />
33. The Canadian Architect, July 1969, vol. 14,<br />
no. 7, p. 32.<br />
34. Johnson, Russell, 1969, “Acoustic Problems,”<br />
The Canadian Architect, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 62.<br />
35. Johnson had founded and become principal<br />
consultant of BBN’s Theatre Planning and<br />
Consulting Division and technical coordinator<br />
for concert hall and opera house design. In<br />
1970, the year after the NAC opened, Johnson<br />
founded ARTEC, of world renown in the<br />
field of all technical aspects of performing<br />
arts spaces design.<br />
36. The volume of sound is directly proportional<br />
to the size of an auditorium; for example,<br />
a large auditorium allows for less available<br />
sound than a smaller one.<br />
37. Canadian Building News, 1969, no. 3, p. 4.<br />
38. This was put together with pieces suspended<br />
from either side of the ceiling and walls, or<br />
towers, on wheels, that could be moved inwards.<br />
Twenty-eight feet tall and ten feet<br />
wide, these towers were rolled onstage and<br />
locked in position for performances.<br />
39. The curtains were to be retracted for organ<br />
recitals and symphony concerts and extended<br />
for musical comedy and lectures.<br />
40. Bob Allen, conversation with the author,<br />
March <strong>15</strong>, 2005.<br />
41. The Canadian Architect, July 1969, vol. 14,<br />
no. 7, p. 63.<br />
42. This sound-reverberation system was used for<br />
the performance of electronic music, for special<br />
effects with film exhibition, for theatrical<br />
effects, for opera and musical comedy, and<br />
for certain popular music attractions.<br />
43. Johnson, p. 62.<br />
44. Id., p. 32.<br />
45. La Technique des travaux, January-February<br />
1971, no. 327, p. 3.<br />
46. “The resulting sound has that dry, ‘hi-fi stereo<br />
quality’ which music critics cannot agree on.”<br />
(Dixon, John Morris, 1969, “Cultural Centre<br />
Canadian Style,” Forum, October, p. 51.)<br />
Bob Allen, currently head sound engineer,<br />
worked at the NAC from the time shortly<br />
after it opened. He stated that the acoustics<br />
were “great” and could not name a centre<br />
in Canada with a multipurpose hall which he<br />
thought had better acoustics at the time.<br />
47. Bob Allen, conversation with the author,<br />
March <strong>15</strong>, 2005.<br />
48. Gerry Grace, Archivist, NAC, site visit,<br />
March <strong>15</strong>, 2005.<br />
49. The Canadian Architect, July 1969, vol. 14,<br />
no. 7, p. 32.<br />
50. Paul Hennig, director of Production Operations,<br />
NAC; conversation with the author,<br />
April 20, 2005.<br />
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51. This section on the Studio is based on Hennig,<br />
id.; and CBC Times, May 31-June 6, 1969,<br />
vol. 21, no. 49, p. 3.<br />
52. Dixon, p. 51.<br />
53. DuBois, Macy, 1969, “Critique,” The Canadian<br />
Architect, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 46.<br />
54. Hennig, April 20, 2005.<br />
55. Frazer, op. cit.<br />
56. For example, see Terry J. Waller, 1968, “The<br />
National Arts Centre,” Plywood World, vol. 8,<br />
no. 3, p. 1; and 1971, La Technique des Travaux,<br />
January-February, no. 327, p. 3.<br />
57. Wright, p. 265.<br />
58. Ibid.<br />
59. Waller, p. 4.<br />
60. Banham, Reyner, 1966, The New Brutalism,<br />
London, England, The Architectural Press<br />
London, p. 16 and 21-22.<br />
61. For Brutalism, see Tzonis, Alexander, Liane<br />
Lefaivre, and Richard Diamond, 1995, Architecture<br />
in <strong>No</strong>rth America Since 1960, Boston<br />
/ New York / Toronto / London, A Bullfinch<br />
Press Book, Little, Brown and Company, esp.<br />
p. 22-24 and 82-84; Khan, Hasan-Uddin, 2001,<br />
Le Style International : Le Modernisme dans<br />
l’architecture de 1925 à 1965, Cologne, Taschen;<br />
and Maitland, Leslie, Jacqueline Hucker,<br />
and Shannon Ricketts, 2004 [2 nd ed.], A Guide<br />
to Canadian Architectural Styles, Peterborough,<br />
Ontario, Broadview Press, p. 203-209.<br />
62. Wright, p. 265.<br />
63. For Place Bonaventure, see Kalman, Hal, 1994,<br />
A History of Canadian Architecture, vol. 2, Toronto,<br />
Oxford University Press, p. 832; and<br />
Tzonis et al., p. 120-123.<br />
64. Wright, p. 265.<br />
65. Ibid.<br />
66. Charles Daudelin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/<br />
wiki/Charles_Daudelin], accessed March 17,<br />
2005.<br />
67. Quoted in Bronson, Susan, 1997, Built Heritage<br />
and the Modern Era: Overview, Framework<br />
for Analysis, and Criteria for Evaluation,<br />
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada,<br />
Appendix 6, p. 10, [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/massey/index-e.html].<br />
68. Ibid. See also Wright, op. cit.<br />
69. For example, Janet Wright and Dana Johnson,<br />
“Confederation Square, Ottawa, Ontario,”<br />
Agenda Paper, HSMBC, 1984-17.<br />
70. CBC Times, May 31-June 6, 1969, vol. 21,<br />
no. 49, p. 3. The idea for terraces with views<br />
of the Parliament Buildings and having space<br />
for concerts appears to have originated with<br />
the Brown Book (see p. 68).<br />
71. This is a feature of the NAC often criticized.<br />
But one may also consider the following comment:<br />
“One has only to compare the National<br />
Arts Centre with Toronto’s O’Keefe Centre,<br />
however, to recognize the virtues of avoiding<br />
a bombastic entrance, unused during most<br />
working days, but standing like an unbeaten<br />
drum waiting for its brief use.” (DuBois,<br />
p. 44)<br />
72. Wright and Johnson, p. 226.<br />
73. Dixon, p. 46.<br />
74. The inclusion of the NAC within the Parkin<br />
plan was mentioned by Pearson in 1963 (Décary,<br />
p. 14). For the plan, see John B. Parkin<br />
Associates, 1962, Confederation Square<br />
Development: A Proposal to the National<br />
Capital Commission, vol. 1, December; and<br />
John B. Parkin and Associates, 1967, “Confederation<br />
Square Development: A Proposal to<br />
the National Capital Commission,” March 1,<br />
Ottawa Public Library.<br />
75. CBC Times, May 31-June 6, 1969, vol. 21,<br />
no. 49, p. 3.<br />
76. Dixon, p. 52.<br />
77. “A Performing Arts Center for an Urban Redevelopment,”<br />
Architectural Record, December<br />
1964, p. 20.<br />
78. Dixon, p. 48.<br />
79. “Le Centre national des arts ouvre ses portes<br />
ce soir,” Le Devoir, May 31, 1969.<br />
80. Architectural Requirements for the Performing<br />
Arts in Canada, p. 14.<br />
81. Ibid.<br />
82. As described in the Brown Book, where it<br />
says, in full, that the “theatre-temple […]<br />
must be given an interior which […] reflecting<br />
the expectations of the theatre-goer, will<br />
gradually detach him from everyday life to<br />
lead him to the auditorium in a psychological<br />
state favourable to the performance he is going<br />
to see. The architecture of the various<br />
corridors, cloakrooms, foyers and lobbies<br />
becomes […] a succession of psychological<br />
barriers that cut people off from the street<br />
and turn them into an attentive audience.<br />
The sequence provided by the entrance halls,<br />
cloakrooms, staircases and lobbies leading towards<br />
the auditorium, and inversely, from the<br />
auditorium to the foyers during the interval,<br />
should have a scheme of development which<br />
would help to establish first an atmosphere<br />
of concentration and an ‘inner gravity’ and<br />
then the encouragement of conversation<br />
during the interval.” (Dominion Consultant<br />
Associates Limited, p. 67-68.)<br />
83. “Building /A Discussion,” RAIC (Royal Architecture<br />
Institute of Canada) Journal, 1963,<br />
vol. 40, no. 11, p. 54.<br />
84. Site visit, March 2005.<br />
85. Bentham, Frederick, 1970, “National Arts<br />
Centre, Ottawa,” TABS, no. 1, p. 20.<br />
86. Ibid.<br />
87. CBC Times, May 31-June 6, 1969, vol. 21,<br />
no. 49, p. 3.<br />
88. Gauvreau, Jules, 1969, “Au seuil d’une Époque<br />
<strong>No</strong>uvelle… l’Architecture,” Vie des Arts,<br />
vol. 56, p. <strong>15</strong>.<br />
89. DuBois, p. 48.<br />
90. Wright, p. 265.<br />
91. “Hexagon,” unpublished manuscript, on file<br />
at NAC, p. 18.<br />
92. Gerry Grace, site visit, March <strong>15</strong>, 2005.<br />
93. Ibid.<br />
94. HSMBC, “Minutes,” December 2002.<br />
95. Charrois, Geneviève, “Centre des arts de la<br />
Confédération, Submission Report, HSMBC,<br />
2002-45, p. 7; and Gordon Fulton, director,<br />
Historical Services Branch, Parks Canada, conversation,<br />
March 4, 2005.<br />
96. Description of comparatives is largely based<br />
on Charrois, op. cit.<br />
97. See Maitland et al., p. 206.<br />
98. “Site officiel de Jordi Bonet,” [http://www.<br />
jordibonet.com], accessed March 17, 2005.<br />
99. This analysis is based on Charrois, op. cit.; and<br />
Charrois, conversation with the author, April<br />
2005.<br />
100. “Submission from the National Arts Centre<br />
Corporation,” January 2004.<br />
101. Ibid.<br />
102. “Massey Medals for Architecture,” Architecture<br />
Canada, 1970.<br />
103. Young, Christopher, 1969, “A City Grows Up,”<br />
Saturday Citizen, May 31, 1969.<br />
104. This chart was drawn up by Charrois, p. <strong>15</strong>.<br />
96 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
Des régimes D’authenticité<br />
essai sur la mémoire patromoniale<br />
Lucie K. Morisset<br />
24 $<br />
«L ’ auteure décrypte les étapes qui mènent au classement du château<br />
ramezay, à montréal, en 1929, après celui de divers autres lieux symboliques<br />
(vieille basilique de Québec, maison des Jésuites à sillery, etc.). elle dresse un<br />
parallèle convaincant avec la France, pointe les différences de législation, livre<br />
une histoire précise des protagonistes à l’origine de ce système spécifique de<br />
représentations et insiste sur l’importance du bilinguisme pour la valorisation<br />
naissante. »<br />
Jean-Yves Andrieux<br />
<strong>No</strong>s livres soNt eN veNte<br />
chez votre libraire…<br />
ou au www.puq.ca
Directives aux auteurs<br />
Mise en forme du texte<br />
• Titre principal de l’article : minuscules gras.<br />
• Aucune mise en forme du texte ou des pages (police utilisée<br />
dans tout le texte : 12 points, style « normal » ; pas de caractères gras,<br />
soulignés, italiques, capitales, petites capitales), sauf pour les titres :<br />
niveau 1 – gras ; niveau 2 – souligné ; niveau 3 – italique ; les mots<br />
étrangers sont aussi en italique ; les citations longues sont en retrait.<br />
• Aucun espace entre les paragraphes (un seul retour d’un paragraphe<br />
à un autre).<br />
Position des différents corps de texte<br />
• Les références bibliographiques sont comprises dans les notes<br />
de fin de document ; s’il y a des références additionnelles, celles-ci<br />
sont placées à la fin du texte, précédées du titre « Bibliographie<br />
complémentaire ».<br />
• Les légendes des illustrations sont placées à la fin du texte,<br />
après la bibliographie.<br />
• Le nom du(des) auteur(s) vient tout de suite après le titre principal<br />
et une(des) courte(s) notice(s) biographique(s) est(sont) placée(s)<br />
au tout début du texte.<br />
• Les citations courtes sont insérées dans le texte, entre guillemets ;<br />
les citations longues sont composées légèrement en retrait dans un<br />
paragraphe indépendant (en alphabet romain; en italique seulement<br />
si en langue autre que celle de l’article).<br />
Format des références<br />
Le format des références utilisé dans la revue Architecture au Canada<br />
est le suivant :<br />
• <strong>No</strong>tes de fin de document, avec appels de note automatiques.<br />
• La référence à un ouvrage ou à un article (format américain) n’est pas<br />
donnée dans le texte ; on suit plutôt le modèle européen, c’est-à-dire un<br />
appel de note dans le texte et le détail en note de fin (voir exemples).<br />
• Dans la note de fin, l’appel 1 est suivi d’un point et d’une marque de<br />
tabulation.<br />
1. [TAB] Exemple de note de fin. Les références sont présentées de la<br />
même façon dans les notes de fin et la bibliographie complémentaire<br />
(le cas échéant) : les segments de la référence sont tous séparés par<br />
une virgule. À remarquer qu’ici l’appel, suivi d’une tabulation, n’est pas<br />
en exposant : <strong>No</strong>ppen, Luc et Lucie K. Morisset, 2000, L’architecture de<br />
Saint-Roch : Guide de promenade, Québec, Ville de Québec.<br />
La référence complète (voir les exemples) est utilisée pour la première<br />
occurrence. Dans les entrées suivantes, on utilise le format abrégé,<br />
peu importe le type de référence : auteur(s), numéro de page :<br />
Mercier, p. 122.<br />
• S’il y a plus d’une référence du même auteur, on insère l’année :<br />
Mercier, 2000, p. 122.<br />
• Et s’il y a plus d’une référence du même auteur la même année,<br />
on ajoute les premiers mots du titre :<br />
Mercier, 2000, L’usage urbain…, p. 122. OU<br />
Gagnon, 1998, « De Lower St. Lawrence à Charlevoix… », p. 16.<br />
Bibliographie complémentaire<br />
Exceptionnellement, s’il y a des références additionnelles importantes<br />
auxquelles on ne réfère pas dans le texte, on pourra ajouter une<br />
« Bibliographie complémentaire » en suivant la même présentation<br />
que celle des notes de fin (voir la section « Exemples de références »).<br />
Exemples de Format des références<br />
Livre / 1 auteur<br />
Churchill, Gilbert A., [7 th ed.] 1999, Marketing Research: Methodological<br />
Foundations, Fort Worth, The Dryden Press.<br />
Livre / 2 auteurs et plus<br />
<strong>No</strong>ppen, Luc et Lucie K. Morisset, 2000, L’architecture de Saint-Roch :<br />
Guide de promenade, Québec, Ville de Québec.<br />
Chapitre de livre<br />
Mercier, Guy, 2000, « L’usage urbain de la nature : conflit et ralliement.<br />
L’exemple du quartier Saint-Roch à Québec », dans Jean-Pierre Augustin<br />
et Claude Sorbets (dir.), Sites publics, lieux communs. Aperçus sur<br />
l’aménagement de places et de parcs au Québec, Bordeaux, Maison<br />
des sciences de l’homme d’Aquitaine, p. 119-136.<br />
Article de revue scientifique<br />
Gagnon, Serge, 1998, « De Lower St. Lawrence à Charlevoix :<br />
l’émergence d’un haut lieu de villégiature de la bourgeoisie marchande<br />
canadienne », Téoros, vol. 17, no 1, p. <strong>15</strong>-22.<br />
Article de journal<br />
Beaubien, Claude, Jr., 1973, « Pour la conservation de la maison Van<br />
Horne », La Presse, 22 août, p. 8.<br />
Rapport<br />
Poullaouec-Gonidec, Philippe, Michel Gariépy, François Tremblay, Bernard<br />
Saint-Denis, Christiane Montpetit et Julie Tellier, 1999, Balisage des<br />
enjeux de paysage concernant trois filières de production d’électricité,<br />
Rapport de recherche de la Chaire en paysage et environnement,<br />
Montréal, Université de Montréal.<br />
Thèse ou mémoire<br />
Sabourin, Cécile, 1985, Le tourisme dans les régions rurales du Québec :<br />
bilan et perspectives, thèse de doctorat en droit et économie du tourisme,<br />
Université de droit, d’économie et des sciences d’Aix-Marseille III.<br />
Référence Internet<br />
Julius Shulman, Modernity and the Metropolis, exposition tenue<br />
au J.P. Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 11 octobre 2005-22 janvier 2006,<br />
[http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/shulman/], consulté le <strong>15</strong> août 2008.<br />
Litt, Paul, 1992, The Muses, the Masses, and the Massey Commission,<br />
Toronto, University of Toronto Press ; et Royal Commission on National<br />
Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences (1949-1951),<br />
[http://www.collectionscanada.ca/massey/h5-400-e.html#content],<br />
consulté le 11 mars 2005.<br />
JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong><br />
99
Guidelines for Authors<br />
TEXT EDITING<br />
• Main title of article: bold lower case.<br />
• <strong>No</strong> formatting of text or pages (use 12-point font, “normal style,”<br />
throughout the text; no bold, underline, italics, capitals, or small<br />
capitals), except for titles: level 1 – bold; level 2 – underlined;<br />
level 3 – italics; use italics also for foreign words; long quotations<br />
are indented.<br />
• <strong>No</strong> extra space between paragraphs (one return only after each<br />
paragraph).<br />
POSITION OF THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE TEXT<br />
• Bibliographic references are included in endnotes; if there are<br />
additional references, these are placed at the end of the paper, under<br />
the title “Complementary Bibliography.”<br />
• Illustration captions are at the end of the text, after the bibliography.<br />
• Author’s name(s) is(are) placed immediately after the main title;<br />
short biographical note(s) is(are) directly at the beginning of the<br />
article.<br />
• Short quotations are included in the paragraphs, preceded and<br />
followed by quotations marks; long quotations are indented<br />
independent paragraphs (roman alphabet; use italics only if<br />
language differs from that of article).<br />
REFERENCE FORMAT<br />
The following format is used in Architecture in Canada for the<br />
references:<br />
• Endnotes with automatic endnote marks.<br />
• References to articles or documents (American style) are not cited<br />
within the text; the European style is used: endnote marks in the<br />
text with details in endnotes (see examples).<br />
• In endnotes, reference marks 1 are followed by a period and tab<br />
mark.<br />
1. [TAB] Endnote example. References are written in the same<br />
manner both for endnotes and complementary bibliography (if the<br />
need arises): all segments of a reference are separated by commas.<br />
<strong>No</strong>te here that the endnote mark, followed by a tab, is not in<br />
superscript: Churchill, Gilbert A., [7 th ed.] 1999, Marketing Research:<br />
Methodological Foundations, Fort Worth, The Dryden Press.<br />
The complete reference is used for the first occurrence. For the<br />
following occurrences, the same abbreviated format us used for all<br />
types of references: author(s), page number:<br />
Mercier, p. 122.<br />
• If more than one reference by the same author, insert year:<br />
Mercier, 2000, p. 122.<br />
• Finally, if more than one reference by the same author in the same<br />
year, the italicized first words of the title are included:<br />
Mercier, 2000, L’usage urbain…, p. 122. OR<br />
Fripp, 1899, “The Influence of the Modern Christian Church…,” p. 9.<br />
Complementary Bibliography<br />
Exceptionally, if there are additional important documents not<br />
referred to in the text, these are inserted at the end, under the title<br />
“Complementary Bibliography,” using the same presentation as the<br />
endnotes (see section “Reference Format Examples”).<br />
REFERENCE FORMAT EXAMPLES<br />
Book / 1 author<br />
Churchill, Gilbert A., [7 th ed.] 1999, Marketing Research:<br />
Methodological Foundations, Fort Worth, The Dryden Press.<br />
Book / 2 or more authors<br />
<strong>No</strong>ppen, Luc et Lucie K. Morisset, 2000, L’architecture de Saint-Roch :<br />
Guide de promenade, Québec, Ville de Québec.<br />
Book chapter<br />
Farber, Carole, 1983, “High, Healthy, and Happy: Ontario Mythology<br />
on Parade,” In Frank E. Manning (ed.), The Celebration of Society:<br />
Perspectives on Contemporary Cultural Performance, Bowling Green<br />
(OH), Bowling Green University Popular Press / London, Congress of<br />
Social and Humanistic Studies, University of Western Ontario, p. 33-50.<br />
Scientific paper<br />
Fripp, R. Mackay, 1899, “The Influence of the Modern Christian Church<br />
upon the Ecclesiastical Architecture of the Dominion,” Canadian<br />
Architect and Builder, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 9.<br />
Newspaper article<br />
Carter, David Giles, “New Uses for our Landmarks Might Be a Way of<br />
Saving Them,” The Gazette, July 13, 1973, p. 7.<br />
Report<br />
Hammer and Company Associates, 1968, An Economic and Social<br />
Study of the Vieux Carré, New Orleans, Louisiana, Vieux Carré<br />
Demonstration Study Report Series, no. 4, New Orleans (LA), Bureau<br />
of Governmental Research, Washington (DC), Associates.<br />
Thesis or dissertation<br />
Galas, Walter, 1996, Neighborhood Preservation and Politics in New<br />
Orleans: Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents and Associates,<br />
Inc. and City Government, 1938-1983, master’s thesis in Urban and<br />
Regional Planning, College of Urban and Public Affairs, University<br />
of New Orleans.<br />
Internet reference<br />
Julius Shulman, Modernity and the Metropolis, exposition tenue<br />
au J.P. Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 11 octobre 2005-22 janvier 2006,<br />
[http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/shulman/], accessed August <strong>15</strong>,<br />
2008.<br />
Litt, Paul, 1992, The Muses, the Masses, and the Massey Commission,<br />
Toronto, University of Toronto Press ; et Royal Commission on National<br />
Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences (1949-1951),<br />
[http://www.collectionscanada.ca/massey/h5-400-e.html#content],<br />
accessed March 11, 2005.<br />
100 JSSAC | JSÉAC 34 > N o 1 > <strong>2009</strong>
call for PAPERS | appel à textes<br />
Editorial Statement<br />
Politique éditoriale<br />
The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada is a bilingual<br />
refereed publication whose scope encompasses the entire spectrum of Canadian<br />
architecture from all historical periods and all cultural traditions. In addition to<br />
historical, cultural, and æsthetic inquiries, the Journal also welcomes articles<br />
dealing with theoretical and historiographical issues generally relevant to the<br />
study of Canadian architecture and architectural practice. Discussions of current<br />
methodological issues, for example, fall within the scope of the Journal, as do critical<br />
issues of preservation and restoration.<br />
Articles should be original and provide a new contribution to scholarship, whether they<br />
are mainly factual and documentary or whether they develop a new interpretation on<br />
a specific theme. It is the aim of the Journal to forward the understanding of Canadian<br />
architecture in as many ways as possible.<br />
Le Journal de la Société pour l’étude de l’architecture au Canada est une revue bilingue<br />
avec comité de lecture dont le champ englobe l’architecture canadienne de toutes les<br />
périodes historiques et toutes les traditions culturelles. En plus d’articles de nature<br />
historique, esthétique, ou culturelle, le Journal accepte aussi les textes traitant de<br />
questions théoriques ou historiographiques pertinentes à l’étude de l’architecture et<br />
de la pratique architecturale au Canada. L’examen des questions méthodologiques<br />
d’actualité, par exemple, fait partie du champ couvert par le Journal, tout comme les<br />
débats de conservation et de restauration.<br />
Les textes soumis au Journal doivent apporter une contribution scientifique originale,<br />
que ce soit par le biais d’informations factuelles jusqu’alors inconnues ou encore par<br />
le développement d’une nouvelle interprétation concernant un thème particulier.<br />
L’objectif du Journal est de promouvoir une meilleure compréhension de l’architecture<br />
canadienne par le plus grand nombre de voies possibles.<br />
Submissions to the Journal are encouraged and welcomed from SSAC members and<br />
non-members alike. Please send proposed articles, relevant to the study of Canadian<br />
architecture, to:<br />
Prof. Luc <strong>No</strong>ppen, editor<br />
Journal of the SSAC<br />
Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage<br />
Institut du patrimoine<br />
Université du Québec à Montréal, CP 8888, succ. centre-ville<br />
Montréal QC H3C 3P8<br />
e-mail : noppen.luc@uqam.ca<br />
phone : (514) 987-3000 x-2562 | fax : (514) 987-6881<br />
Le Journal invite tous les chercheurs en architecture canadienne, qu’ils soient membres<br />
de la SÉAC on non, à soumettre leurs articles. On peut soumettre un article en<br />
l’envoyant à :<br />
Prof. Luc <strong>No</strong>ppen, rédacteur<br />
Journal de la SÉAC<br />
Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain<br />
Institut du patrimoine<br />
Université du Québec à Montréal, CP 8888, succ. centre-ville<br />
Montréal (QC) H3C 3P8<br />
courriel : noppen.luc@uqam.ca<br />
tél. : (514) 987-3000 p-2562 | téléc. : (514) 987-6881<br />
Submission of Articles in English<br />
Soumission d’articles en français<br />
Authors should send to the editor a copy of their manuscript, prepared according to the<br />
guidelines of the Journal. Although articles in the “Analyses” section usually comprise<br />
7000 words and fifteen to twenty illustrations, shorter or longer articles may be considered<br />
for the other sections: “Essays” can comprise 2500 to 3500 words and five to<br />
ten illustrations. Reports may vary in length as they are preferably published integrally.<br />
The necessary permission to publish must have been secured from the organization for<br />
which reports were intended.<br />
Authors must submit their article on an electronic medium or by email. Illustrations<br />
should accompany the manuscript. These consist of photographic prints, slides or,<br />
preferably, digital files (360 dpi, 4” x 6” minimum, TIFF or EPS format), on CD-ROM.<br />
Photocopies or facsimiles are acceptable only for line drawings. It is the responsibility<br />
of the author to obtain the required reproduction authorizations for the illustrations<br />
and to pay copyright fees when necessary. SSAC and the editor of the Journal decline<br />
responsibility in that matter. All illustrations should have captions, including, where<br />
applicable, subject, date, and name of architect, author or source. Illustrations will be<br />
returned to authors.<br />
All manuscripts are submitted for review to the SSAC’s Editorial Review Panel who<br />
reports to the editor. The editor informs authors of the decision, no later than sixty days<br />
after initial submission; the editor also ensures that the requested modifications have<br />
been made before the final acceptance and proposition of the publication date. Authors<br />
will receive three copies of the issue in which their article is published.<br />
Les auteurs doivent faire parvenir au rédacteur un manuscrit présenté selon les règles<br />
de la revue. Habituellement, un article de la section « Analyses » compte environ 7000<br />
mots et de quinze à vingt illustrations ; pour la section « Essais » on pourra cependant<br />
considérer des textes de longueur différente : 2500 à 3500 mots et de cinq à dix illustrations.<br />
Par ailleurs, la longueur des « Rapports » peut varier puisque la revue les publie,<br />
de préférence, intégralement. Les rapports doivent être soumis avec l’autorisation de<br />
l’organisme à qui ils ont été destinés.<br />
Les textes sont soumis en format électronique (sur support informatique ou transmis par<br />
courriel). Les illustrations doivent être soumises en même temps que le manuscrit. Ce<br />
sont des photographies ou des diapositives ou, de préférence, des fichiers numériques<br />
(résolution 360 ppp au format minimal de 10 x <strong>15</strong> cm, format TIFF ou EPS), sur CD-ROM.<br />
Les photocopies et les fac-similés ne sont acceptés que pour les dessins au trait. Les<br />
auteurs doivent fournir des illustrations libres de droits ; le cas échéant, il leur appartient<br />
d’obtenir les autorisations nécessaires et de défrayer les droits de publication. La<br />
SÉAC et le rédacteur de la revue déclinent toute responsabilité en cette matière. Toutes<br />
les illustrations doivent être accompagnées d’une légende comprenant, normalement,<br />
l’identification du sujet, la date, le nom de l’architecte, l’auteur ou la provenance de<br />
l’image. Les illustrations seront retournées aux auteurs.<br />
Tous les manuscrits sont évalués par le comité de lecture qui fait rapport au rédacteur.<br />
Le rédacteur transmet l’avis du comité aux auteurs, au plus tard soixante jours après<br />
la soumission initiale ; il s’assure que les modifications requises sont apportées avant<br />
d’accepter le texte et de proposer une date de publication. Les auteurs recevront trois<br />
exemplaires du numéro de la revue dans lequel leur texte est publié.
Le Forum canadien de recherche publique sur le patrimoine, réseau stratégique de recherche<br />
d’observation, d’information et de concertation, subventionné par le CRSH (2008-20<strong>15</strong>) et logé à l’Institut<br />
du patrimoine de l’UQAM, aspire à réunir décideurs et chercheurs de tous milieux dans la conception<br />
d’un dialogue entre l’expertise (qui choisit le patrimoine) et ces collectivités (qui le vivent), en rendant<br />
disponibles les résultats de la recherche et en intégrant celles sur le patrimoine et sur les représentations<br />
culturelles, la décision et l’utilisation (par le public) du patrimoine, afin d’à la fois résoudre des problèmes<br />
multisectoriels et pancanadiens et d’être en mesure de décliner une force nationale pour résoudre des<br />
problèmes locaux. Cela sera fait, d’abord, autour de trois grands « chantiers », problèmes prépondérants<br />
qui recouvrent nos expertises et nos préoccupations : l’avenir du « patrimoine religieux », celui du<br />
patrimoine moderne et, dans une perspective plus théorique, la formation de la mémoire patrimoniale<br />
des Canadiens.<br />
The Canadian Forum for Public Research on Heritage, a strategic knowledge cluster and network for<br />
research, observation, information, and cooperation, with SSHRC’s support (2008-20<strong>15</strong>) and hosted by<br />
UQAM’s Institut du patrimoine, hopes to bring together decision makers and researchers in all areas<br />
for dialogue among experts (those who designate heritage) and the local communities (those who live<br />
it). To do so, it makes results available and integrates research on heritage and cultural representations,<br />
decisions, and the public use of heritage in order to both solve multisectoral and Canada-wide problems<br />
and build a national force to solve local problems. To begin, the focus will then be placed on three main<br />
areas/critical problems in our areas of expertise and concerns: “religious heritage”, “modern heritage”,<br />
and, in a more theoretical vein, “canadian heritage memory”, e.g., understanding heritage through its<br />
narratives and as etched on the memory of Canadians.<br />
www.patrimoine-canada.ca<br />
Photo : Le Royal Ontario Museum (Thomas Coomans).<br />
Forum canadien de recherche<br />
publique sur le patrimoine<br />
Canadian Forum for Public<br />
Research on Heritage