The NOSTerminal Grain Elevator in the Port of Montreal: Monument in a Shifting Landscape Nathalie W. Senécal The Department of Art History Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts at Concordia University Montreai, Quebec, Canada O Nathalie H. Senécal, 2001 National Libraiy Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 ofcmada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibiiographic Services secvices bibliographiques The author has granted a non- L'autem a accordé une licence non exclrisive iicence allowing the excIuSive parnettant B la National Library of Canada to BÏbliothèque nationale du Canada de repradpce, loan, disûibute or seIl reproduire, prêter, cbûi'b~erou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. La forme de mkr~fiche/nim.de reproduction sur papier on sur format électroniquee. The author retains ownership of the L'autem conserve la propriété du copyright in tbis thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts hmit Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantieIs may be priated or otherwike de ceiIe-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. iii Abstract The No. 5 Elevator and the Port of Montreal: Monument in a Shifting Landscape The No. 5 terminal elevator in the port of Montreal is the last of a group of colossal machines for moving and storing grain that once hed the waterhnt in fiont of Old Montreal. The tenninal elevators of the port of Montreai were the culmination-point of the national infiastructures of grain shipping that helped to make Montreal the most important grain-exportllig port in the world during the 1920s and 1930s. Built and expandeci in stages between 1903 and 1958, elevator No. 5 was ultimately shut dom in the winter of 1994. Since then, it has remained unused within the setting of the ''Vieux Port" - the beautified and reclaimed harbour land relandscaped for leisure and tourism and opened in 1992 to coincide with Montreai's 350' anniversary. The public dialogue over what can or should be done with a derelict structure of this scale and nature has evolved into an exploration of the artistic and civic possiiilities of an obsolete industrial structure. This thesis is a "critical biography" of this building. It traces its built and iconographie history, examines its role in the chanping landscape of the port, and delves into the issues of perception, preservation and interpretation of elevator No. 5. Ce travail est dédié à la mémoire d'Hubert Senécal (1936-1998) et de Jacques Senécal (1901-2000). Acknowiedgements A numba of people contnbued in important ways to this thesis. First, I would like to thank my family, my parents Hubert and Mary Senécal, my sister Elisabeth, and my brother François, each of whom unfailingiy gave help and encouragement when it was most needed. Dr. Jean Bélisle, who teaches by example, was a wise and thoughtfid guide through the intricacies of industrial architecture, both in the classroorn and in the field. &.Catherine Mackenzie gave me teasing encouragement to pumie this "strange" topic. 1 am grateN for her contiauing support durlig my entire thein the graduate programme and for her valuable suggestions on this paper. Thanks also go to Dr. Loren Lemer for her helpfiil comments in the early stages of the research for this project and her careful reading of the fished product. 1am particularly indebted Susan Bronson of the Faculté d'Aménagement of l'université de Montréal, who read this work with great attention. Her kem insight on the changing nature and me&g of monuments and landscapes helped to sharpen the focus of this work. 1 aiso wish to wmlythan. to Che McAtee, Assistant Curator at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, who alternately encouraged, pushed and sympathised with me. I am very grateful for her support through some of the more difncdt moments in this process. The research for this project was greatly facilitated by the invaluable assistance of Denise Duguay of the Archives du Port de Montréal, Française Roux of the Library of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Lucie Pelletier of the Archives de la Ville de Montréal and Robert Klein of Heritage Montreal. Special thanks go to Emmanuel Madan and Thomas McIntosh of [The User] for sharing thei. thoughts on elevator NOSand for sharing the expexience of the Süophone. 1 aiso wish to recognise the unfailhg support and encouragement of my friends Natasha Kowaichuk, MeBuckland, Carolyn GlanviUe Paradis, Réjean Paradis, Rachel Keyserlink, Ted Keiseriink and Claudine Déom. Finally, this thesis could never have been completed without the help of Nancy Mullick, who acted as reader, editor, sounding board, technical advisor and moral support. She now bows mon about grain elevators than any Inuit Art specialist shouid, and I am gratefbl for her unwavering fiiendship. Table of Contents Table of Illustrations Page ix Introduction Page I Chapter One The Industrial Landscape Page 6 - Policy, capital and the creation of a separate space Page 7 - Systems: the railways and termulai elevators Page 11 - The transfer of technology Page 15 - The elevators Page 17 - Private property Page 28 Cnapter Two The Symbolic Landscape Page 32 - The postcard Page 32 - Reception in Europe Page 38 - Reception at home Page 42 -------- --- Page 44 Chapter Thrre The Landscape Reclaimed Page 48 - The Vieux-Port as a public process Page 53 - Preservation vs. progress Page 58 - Designhg the landscape of leistue Page 6 1 - Touri~m Page 67 Chapter Four The Monument Page 71 - Public Uiterest Page 71 - Ephememl solutions Page 82 Conclusion Page 87 Sibiiography Page 91 Iuustrations Page 98 Table of Iilns6rations Figure 1 'Tlavre de Montréal, un port fluvial, 1830 à 1858." Map. Ilhstration hmCardinal, Hardy et Associk and Peter Rose, Vieux-Port de Montréal Plan directeur d'aménagement. (Société du Vieux-Port de Montréal, 1990), 9. Page 98 Figure 2 'Wavre de Montréal, un port intemtional, 1859 à 1899." Map. nlusfration hmCardinal, Hardy et Associés and Peter Rose, Vieux-Port de Monnéal Plan directeur d'aménagement. (Société du Vieux-Port de Montréal, 1990). 10. Page 99 Figure 3 'Waissance du port moderne, 1900 à 1930" Map. Illustration fiom Cardinal, Hardy et Associés and Peter Rose, Vieux-Port de Montréal Plan directeur d'aménagement. (Société du Vieux-Port de Montreal, 1 990), 1 1. Page 100 Figure 4 'Montreai harbor" Postcard Archives Nationales du Québec CP 3003 Page 101 Figure 5 'Montreai, Cendview of the harboi' Postcard, c.1910 Archives Nationales du Québec CoIlection Michel-Bazinet CP 5661 Page 102 Figure 6 Building "B'(1903- 1906), elevator No .S. Summer 1999 Photo by author Page 103 Figure 7 D.W. Hatch 'Yiew looking south West fbm the tower of Notre-Dame-de- Bonsecours at various activities happening on the wharves of the port of Montréal, Québecy' 1903 Gelatin silver print Centre Canadien d' Architecture/Canadian Centre for Architecture PH1989.0141 Page 104 'Where Montreai Began" Historie Montreal, Past and Present. Montreai: Henry Morgan & Co, no date, No page number. Page 105 Figure 9 "Le Port: 'Entrée interdite sauf par affaires'" La Presse (Montreai) 5 June 1965 Page 106 Figure 10 B-1 Building (1958). elevator NOS Summer 1999 Photo by author Page 107 Figure 11 'Wew elevator on wat&nt as it now appears" The Montreal Daily Star, Apd 1 1903 Page 108 Figure 12 "One of the old White buses on a sight-seeing trip stops to view the 'hew" Banff Springs, late 1920s." nlustration hmBart Robinson, BmflSpnngs: The Story of a Hotel (Banff: Summerthought, 1973), 79 Page 109 Figure 13 "Greeting nom Montreal" Postcard Archives Nationales du Québec CP 3049 Page 1 10 Figure 14 "Montreal, New Elevator, Harbor" Postcard Archives Nationdes du Québec Collection Michel-Bazinet CP 5674 Page 1 11 Figure 15 "Montreal Harbor fkom the Grand Trunk Elevatoi' Posîcard Author's collection Page L 12 Figure 16 "Montreal - an elevator in the harbor" Postcard Archives Nationales du Québec Collection Michel-Bazinet CP 6577 Page 113 Figure 17 Charles O'Shea, Tort of Montreal with elevator No.5" Stained-glass window, c. 1922 City Council Chambers, City Hd,Montred Archives de Ia Ville de Montréal U-1145-12 Page 114 Figure 18 "Grain elevators of North and South America" nlustrations hmLe Corbusier, Vers une Architecture (Paris: G. Cr& et Cie., 1924). 20 Page 115 Figure 19 Adrien Hébert (1 890-1967) "Elevateur à grain n0.3" Oil on canvas, c.1930 Illustration hmPaul L'Allier, Adrien Hébert (Québec: Musée du Québec, 1993), 45 Page 116 Figure 20 Adrien Hébert (1890-1967) bbEIévateurno. 1" Oil on canvas, c.1930 illustration hmPaul L'Allier, Adth Hébert (Québec: Musée du Québec, 1993), 45 Page 117 Figure 21 Photographs and plans of elevators Illustratioc~shm Architectural Design 37, no. 7 (July 1967), 328,329 Page 118 Figure 22 "Great Northern Elevator, plan" and "Great Northem Elevator, ground floor" Illustrations hmReyner Banhiun, A Concrete Atlmris: US. IndustntnaIBuilding and Ewopean Modern Architecture (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986), 120 Page 119 Figure 23 'Marine A, bin bottoms" and "Marine A, cIeared basement" lliustmtions hmReyner Banham, A Concrete Atlantis: US. Industriîzl Building and European Modern Architecîure (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986), 159 Page 120 Figure 24 b'Wreckers 'open a window'" nie Gazette (Montreal), 12 August 1983. Page 121 Figure 25 "Secteur ouest, le canal Lachine." Model. Illustration hmCardinal, Hardy et Associés and Peter Rose, Vietut-Port de Montréal