Architecture of Canada

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The architecture of Canada is, with the exception of that of Canadian First Nations, closely linked to the techniques and styles developed in Canada, Europe and the United States. However, design has long needed to be adapted to Canada's climate and geography, and at times has also reflected the uniqueness of Canadian culture.

History

First Nations

A group of Haida bighouses

Prior to the arrival of Europeans the

Mi'kmaq, Cree, and Algonquin generally lived in wigwams
. These were wood-framed structures, covered with an outer layer of bark, reeds, or woven mats; usually in a cone shape although sometimes a dome. These groups changed locations every few weeks or months. They would take the outer layer of the wigwam with them, and leave the heavy wood frame in place. The frame could be reused if the tribe returned to the location at a later date.

Further south, in what is today Southern Ontario and Quebec,

long house. These were large structures, several times longer than they were wide holding a large number of people. They were built with a frame of saplings or branches, covered with a layer of bark or woven mats. An example of a long house settlement is within Crawford Lake Conservation Area

On the Prairies the standard form of life was a nomadic one, with the people often moving to a new location each day to follow the bison herds. Housing thus had to be portable, and the tipi was developed. The tipi consisted of a thin wooden frame and an outer covering of animal hides. The structures could be quickly erected, and were light enough to transport long distances.

In the

pit house, thousands of relics of which, known as quiggly holes
are scattered across the Interior landscape. These were structures shaped like an upturned bowl, placed on top of a 3-or-4-foot-deep (0.91 or 1.22 m) pit. The bowl, made of wood, would be covered with an insulating layer of earth. The house would be entered by climbing down a ladder at the centre of the roof.

Some of the most impressive First Nations architecture was that of the settled people of the west coast such as the

joinery skills to construct large houses of redcedar planks. These were large square, solidly built houses. The most advanced design was the six beam house, named for the number of beams that supported the roof. The front of each house would be decorated with a heraldric pole
, the pole and sometimes the house would be brightly painted with artistic designs.

In the far north, where wood was scarce and solid shelter essential for survival, several innovative architectural styles were developed. One of the most famous is the igloo, a domed structure made of snow, which has highly insulative properties. In the summer months, when the igloos melted, tents made of seal skin, or other hides, were used. The Thule adopted a design similar to the pit houses of the BC interior, but because of the lack of wood they instead used whale bones for the frame.

Arrival of the Europeans

Maison de Julien Gendreau (1728), an archetypal example of a rural New France home, in Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans.[1]

The first Europeans to inhabit what would become Canada were the French settlers of the New France settlements of Acadia and Canada. The initial settlements at Port Royal and Quebec City were mostly concerned with defence. Quebec City was divided into the Upper Town, which housed the fortress, Intendant's house, and churches made of stone in imitation of Baroque architecture, while the Lower Town consisted of densely packed structures on narrow streets. In Acadia, buildings were generally more functional, with wood framed walls filled with wattle and daub. This type of construction was common throughout both Acadia and New England in the 17th century.[2]

The de Gannes-Cosby house (1708) in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, was constructed in the Acadian style[3]

The settlers of the rural areas along the St. Lawrence largely came from Normandy, and the houses they built echoed their roots. The surroundings forced enough differences that a unique style developed, and the house of the New France farmer remains a symbol of French-Canadian nationalism. These were rectangular structures of one storey, but with an extremely tall and steep roof, sometimes almost twice as tall as the house below. This roof design perhaps developed to prevent the accumulation of snow. The houses were usually built of wood, though the surviving ones are almost all built of stone. Landmarks in the rural areas were the churches and the mansion of the seigneurs. The seigneurs built much larger homes for themselves, but rarely were the manors ornate. Each parish had its church, often smaller copies of major churches in Quebec City or Montreal. A unique style of French-Canadian church thus developed.

South Shore. The style that developed in the Maritimes was very close to the architecture of New England. Trade links between the two areas were close, and many of the settlers in the Maritimes were from there. Some of the first houses erected in Halifax were actually prefabricated structures assembled in Boston or New York and shipped to the new settlement. Cape Cod style cottages were built throughout the region. However, the influence of the Foreign Protestants was also felt as the architecture of the region also borrowed some techniques and styles from Germany and Switzerland, notably at Lunenburg. Even today, these influences can be seen in modern architecture on the Shobac Campus
in Kingsburg, Nova Scotia.

Growth and expansion

The English speaking population of Canada grew dramatically with the influx of

United Empire Loyalists after the American Revolution. This doubled the population of the Maritimes and brought the first significant European population to what was soon Upper Canada. One of the most popular styles in the pre-revolutionary United States was Georgian
, after the revolution this style fell out of favour due to its association with the colonial regime, but the Loyalists embraced the style as an overt symbol of their loyalty. The style had also, however, fallen out of style in Britain, and Canada was alone in embracing Georgian architecture for much of the early nineteenth century.

The Georgian style Campbell House in Toronto, built in 1822

In Lower Canada the Georgian style was employed by the English minority, but this minority dominated the commercial and political class. French-Canadian architecture kept many of its traditional forms, but also adopted some English styles. Throughout British North America the Georgian style was mostly used by the middle and upper classes, and also for institutional buildings such as churches and government structures. In rural areas, and among the urban poor, simpler styles dominated. In the Maritimes the New England style cottages continued to be popular. For the first settlers in Ontario the

Ontario Style House, which consisted of a rectangular wood building with the main gable
over the short sides, and a smaller gable over the main entrance.

The pattern of building in the west was very different. The first settlements in much of the West were the forts of the

grain elevators
, and the banks which competed with each other by building ever more ornate structures.

While there is little wood native to the prairies, the railway enabled it to be imported at relatively low cost. It was still common to build a first temporary home out of sod. For those who were unsure of how to build a home, an industry of predesigned and prefabricated homes sold by catalogue developed. A settler could simply order plans for a few dollars, or also order the precut lumber, and premade doors and windows. The Eaton's catalogue of 1910 offered homes from a shack for $165 to a nine-room house for $1,025. These structures were erected across the prairies.

For some immigrants to the prairies, most notably the Ukrainians, there was not enough capital to buy a predesigned home, but since the immigrants were highly experienced with farming on the very similar Ukrainian steppe, houses identical to the peasant cottages of Eastern Europe were built across the

prairies. These cottages had characteristic flared thatched roofs and white plaster walls. Even more notable were the onion domed Ukrainian churches built across the prairies. Other groups such as the Hutterites and Doukhobors
also built unique structures. In the long run, however, the second and third generation immigrants tended to embrace the more British styles: the churches remained distinctly Eastern, but the houses largely conformed to the rest.

Victorian architecture

See also: Victorian_architecture § Canada
St. Michael's Cathedral
in Toronto, built in 1845–1848

Victorian styles of architecture dominated in Canada from the mid-nineteenth century up to the

Gothic Revival style, which first came to Canada in the 1830s. This became the dominant architectural style for churches, especially Anglican and Roman Catholic ones, which both embraced Gothic Revival as evidence of their conservatism. It also was used for scholastic structures, such as universities and some houses. The bay-and-gable was a housing form that emerged in 19th century Toronto, that incorporated Gothic Revival elements throughout its front façade.[4] Some of the most prominent Gothic Revival structures are the original Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, by noted architect Thomas Fuller who in 1881 was appointed Chief Dominion Architect. The Chief Dominion Architect(s) designed a number of prominent public buildings in Canada including post offices, armouries and drill halls: Thomas Seaton Scott (1871–1881); Thomas Fuller (1880–1897); David Ewart (1897–1914); Edgar L Worwood (1914–1918); Richard Cotsman Wright (1918–1927); Thomas W. Fuller (1927–1936), Charles D. Sutherland (1936–1947); and Joseph Charles Gustave Brault (1947–1952) [5]

Other revived styles also became prominent.

Tudor Style became quite popular, especially on the West Coast. Neoclassicism and Beaux-Arts architecture became the dominant style for banks and government buildings, with the latter style being frequently used from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1930s for monumental public buildings such as Toronto's Union Station by John M. Lyle and structures like the massive Princes' Gates at Exhibition Place
in Toronto.

Canadian styles

In the period after the

Second World War
, though it had been under construction until 1929 (its predecessor was Italian Renaissance, a common style in late Victorian and Edwardian British Columbia).

The "Chateaux-style" Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta

The desire for a unique Canadian style also led to a revival of the

Neo-Gothic style during the interwar period. In part because of the prominence of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and the CPR's "railway Gothic", Gothic architecture had become closely associated with Canada and while the United States embraced Art Deco Canadian architects returned to the Middle Ages for inspiration, by way of John Ruskin's writings on Neo-Gothic, the most Victorian of all styles. When the Centre Block
of the Parliament Buildings burnt down in 1916 it was rebuilt in a similar Gothic style to that that had been used fifty years earlier. At the same time, Modernism inspired the Gothic style employed, and the Neo-Gothic buildings of the era often saw more sparse ornamentation and incorporated steel frames in their construction.

Modernist period

Marine Building lobby (Vancouver), 2018

At the same time developments, especially those in United States, were not ignored. Toronto closely followed Chicago and New York as the home of skyscrapers employing new steel framed construction and elevators. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Toronto's influence on other Canadian cities, largely because of the control of capital (especially banks) meant that Western Canadian cities, particularly Vancouver, became filled with lesser versions of their counterparts in Toronto (e.g. TD Tower (Vancouver), Bentall Centre (Vancouver)) which displaced the city's older and distinctly Edwardian flavor.

Modernism appeared in a number of guises. In the 1920s and 1930s the banks and insurance companies embraced

Queen Anne
and emulations of Californian Spanish and other distinctly western North America styles were common.

In Vancouver during the 1950s and 1960s, Modernist architectures inspired by

Vancouver Special
, a two-story stuccoed box which took up most of a city lot, and typically featured two suites, one upstairs and one downstairs.

The movements and styles popular in the United States and Britain were not totally ignored in Canada. Several landmark

Spanish Colonial
styles.

International style

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Toronto-Dominion Centre

After the Second World War, the desire for unique Canadian styles faded as the

International Style
came to dominate the Canadian scene in the 1950s through 1970s. Many of the most prominent Canadian projects of this period were designed by foreigners, who won open contests. Prominent Modernists such as
Place Victoria
, were large enough to dominate the skyline.

The first phase of the

Skytrain
rapid transit system relied on modern minimalist designs from its beginning in 1985, with some design variation and artwork in terms of the stations in the system which have been added since its opening.

The Modernist styles had mixed results when applied to residential structures, such as the large

shopping malls that became the commercial, and often social, centres of these suburban areas. The West Edmonton Mall was the world's largest mall for a 23-year period from 1981 until 2004.[6]

While the glass towers of the International Style skyscraper were at first unique and interesting, the idea was soon repeated to the point of ubiquity. Architects attempted to put new twists into such towers, such as the Toronto City Hall. By the 1970s an international backlash was underway against Modernism, and Canada was one of its centres. Prominent critics of Modern planning such as Jane Jacobs and George Baird were based in Canada.

Late and postmodernism

The Bow

The 1970s represented a turning point away from the International Style and Modernist planning. Brutalist architecture had been seen in Canada prior to the decade, but became more dominant in the 1970s with the backlash against the International Style. The style emphasized the reflection of the functional components of the interior in the exterior, along with geometric and sculptural uses of concrete on the interior and exterior of the building. It was a style used focally for institutional buildings for government, academic, and cultural uses, but also for high-rise residential and commercial buildings. At the same time, urban activists, architects and governments increasingly moved to influence development in favour of heritage preservation, historic view, corridor preservation, and contextual sensitivity in scale and materials.

The new Canadian architecture once again turned to the past. A prominent heritage preservation movement developed, and most cities today have heritage districts of restored structures. Old factories and warehouses, rather than be demolished, have been refurbished, such as the

Massey College is a notable early example completed in 1963. It adds strong Gothic influences to a Modern concrete, brick, and glass aesthetic. The CAMH Research Centre by KPMB Architects
, proposed to be completed by 2027, echoes the past of Queen Street West and Shaw Street, revitalizing the site that was originally known as the Provincial Lunatic Asylum from the mid-19th century until 1976.

Postmodern architecture was the mainstream style in Canada by the 1980s. Postmodernity in architecture is generally thought to be heralded by the return of "wit, ornament and reference" to architecture in response to the formalism of the International Style of Modernism and perceived problems with the style. The functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the Modernist movement were replaced by unapologetically diverse aesthetics: styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space abound. Architects produced what they perceived to be more meaningful buildings with pluralism, double coding, flying buttresses and high ceilings, irony and paradox, and contextualism. Skyscrapers like 1000 de La Gauchetière in Montreal, Brookfield Place in Toronto, and Bankers Hall in Calgary define the style in terms of high-rise corporate architecture. These towers feature combinations of International Style design features with ornamental and potentially symbolic references to past architectural styles such as Art Deco, with pronounced base, middle, and top sections, and prominent atrium common spaces.

Mississauga City Hall

The Mississauga Civic Centre, completed in 1987, is an important example of public architecture in the style. It makes reference to local farm architecture around the suburban area of Mississauga as well as a clocktower—a feature associated with traditional city centres. It exhibits references to past architectural ideas, yet is decidedly untraditional. The Vancouver Public Library similarly evokes Postmodern aesthetic ideals, though references a different architectural past, demonstrating the eclectic nature of the style in Canada.

The Embassy of Canada, Tokyo, completed in 1991, and designed by Raymond Moriyama, is an example of government architecture located outside of Canada.

The Royal Ontario Museum, with its 2007 "Crystal" addition

Postmodernism visibly declined by the 2000s, when architecture in Canada became more varied. Lowrise residential subdivision architecture became more strongly focused on imitating traditional styles from the likes of the Georgian and Victorian eras, though low-rise infill projects in cities demonstrated an increased popularity of the Modern aesthetic. High-rise architecture generally turned to new variations on the International Style.

X Condominium
in Toronto.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Gendreau House". www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Culture et communications Québec. 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Sinclair Inn / Farmer's Hotel National Historic Site of Canada". www.pc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  3. ^ Parks Canada Agency, Government of Canada (2023-08-03). "de Gannes-Cosby House — National historic site designation - de Gannes-Cosby House National Historic Site". parks.canada.ca. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  4. ISBN 9780771059896
    .
  5. ^ "A. Public Work Architects | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada". Archived from the original on 2015-06-24. Retrieved 2015-05-31. List of Dominion Architects of Canada
  6. ^ Eastern Connecticut State University (January 2007). "World's Largest Shopping Malls". Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2008-07-29.

Further reading

External links

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