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UMI ARCHITECTURAL POSTCARDS AND THB COICBPTIOW OP PLACE: lediating Cultural Bxperience Carole Schef fes A thesis in the ~umanitiesProgram Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada May 1999 Q Carole Scheffer, 1999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON KI A ON4 Otlawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your hie Votre reterence Ow lFie Narrtl relermm The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electro'onic formats. la fome de microfiche/filrn, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in hsthesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT ARCHITECTURAL POSTCARDS AHD THE COISCEPTIOM OF PLACE: Mediating Cultural Pxpetience Carole Scheffer, Ph.D. Concordia University, 1999 By radically altering accesaibility to architectural images, the postcard has promoted the dissemination of diverse values and ideas that both mediate and are mediated by the cultural experience of architecture and place. This symbiotic process is explored by examining different types of architectural images in postcard form, and considering how they have been used and interpreted. Numerous cultural factors influencing the production of both the architecture and its image are discussed, highlighting hm they promote particular conceptions of place. With ample illustrations, the postcard is seen as an amalgam of several functions: comnunication agent, propaganda vehicle, metaphor for place, object of desire and catalyst for memories. It is aloo the subject of individual interventions that produce the divergence between intended and received meanings and values. Exploring the postcard's sole in the conception of place, its significance, its associations, its diverse meanings and contradictions, fonn the core of this study. iii This study is dedicated to the memory of my father Arthur Scheffer and to my mother Rose-Yvette Lafleur, the most formative influences in my life, who were never afforded the opportunities with which 1 have been privileged. 1 would like to thank Concordia University for its support and for the congenial and stimulating educational experience 1 obtained £rom its Humanities Program in Interdisciplinary Studies . My gratitude extends to the members of my doctoral cornittee whose cooperation and input have shaped this investigation in many ways. 1 thank Dr. Joan Acland for her steadfast support and guidance that nurtured a climate of confidence in the possibilities of my topic; Dr. Kimberly Sawchuk for her enthusiasm and creative insights into the subject; and Dr. David Howes for providing me with challenging new ways of thinking. As well, 1 thank Dr. Stanley French, who both literally and figuratively, opened the door for me. A number of people have provided me with assistance in my research and 1 am grateful for their help. They are: Michel Godin of the Bibliotheque National du Quebec in Montreal; Stephen Lyons of the Canadian Pacifie Archives; Daniella Rohan in the Canadian Architecture Collection of McGill University; Anne Moffat of the Westmount Public Library; and John Gallop, private collecter, in Westmount, Quebec. Lastly, 1 would like to thank my husband Charles for his support and Our three children, Adrien, Sebastien and Audrey who, while being an inexhaustible source of distraction, provided al1 the love and stimulation that brought me to the completion of this project. TABLE OP COITBlTS PAGE Introduction: Imaging Architecture and Place II. The Architectural Image Over The: Views From the Past 1 X 1. Architectural Images and Constructs of Difference IV . Creating Myths and Realities The Promotion of Place Collection and Meaning : The Individual and the Collective VI. Postscript : The Many Lives of the Postcard Bpilogue BIBLIOGRAPHY CHAPTER 1 I#TRODUCTXOH: Imaging architecture and place From the earliest of thes the architectural image has been incorporated into objects ranging from the utilitarian to the highly ornamental. It has been placed on coin faces, elaborate food troughs, ornate pottery and jewelry.1 With progressive technological and social changes, the architectural image became a cultural artifact in its own right, achieving autonomy from its subservient functional uses. This process was accelerated by developments which made reproducibility and portability possible. These features, first optimized by the postcard, radically altered the dissemination and accessibility of the architectural image, making it a vehicle for a range of values, associations and meanings. At the tum of the 21st century, within the same paradigm of reproduction and mobility, postcard images are Joseph Rykwert provides several images of such ancien+ artifacts in The Dancina Column: On Order in Architecture (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996) 187, 261, 293, 310. digitized and made available globally on the World-Wide-Web in a dematerialized electronic form. My intention in this project is to expand the scope of inquiry into the role and function of the architectural postcard, taking into consideration the complexities inherent in an instrument which is an amalgam of conmiunication agent, propaganda vehicle, metaphor for place, abject of desire and catalyst for memories. Exploring the postcard's role in the conception of place, its significance, its associations, its diverse meanings and contradictions, fom the core of this study. 1 do this by examining different types of architectural images produced in postcard form, and consider hm they have been used and interpreted, highlighting the postcard's role in mediating cultural experience. Convetsely, a number of different cultural factors mediating the meaning and interpretation of the postcards themselves are investigated. In promoting particular conceptions of place, the postcard is shown to be subject to individual interventions that produce divergence between intended and received meanings and values. This approach exposes a number of practical and theoretical dilemmas related to representation. As accessibility and mobility of the architectural image reached climactic proportions in the early twentieth century, the representation of the built world in palpable and easily comprehensible fragments created several issues of concern. The philosophical questions concerning tnth and realism, given common currency with the introduction of photographic images, became practical concerns in the representation of place. With its implicit correlation to the material world, the postcard raises questions about what constitutes the real, what is valuable and what is authentic and truthful. Equally significant is whose vision is being represented and how has it been interpreted. The quality of uniqueness in architecture, that Walter Benjamin described as, "the prototype of art", resided in it having its own "presence in the and spa~e."~However, far from diminishing the "aurat1of the original ar~hitecture,~the mechanically reproduced image of the world acquired new powers harnessed for the benefit of different group interests, aligning with, conflicting, or contradicting the dominant ideas that emerge about the "essence" of a place. As the architectural image proliferated on a world-wide basis, it acquired its own distinct and equally auratic attributes. Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction," ~lluminations, Trans. Harry Zohn (New York: Schocken, 1969) 220. Benjamin 221, 239, 220. Benjamin's focus on image- making in "modernity" elides the fact that techniques of reproduction and a culture of printed images existed long before. This alternate consideration is discussed by Antoine Hennion and Bruno Latour "L'art, l'aura, et la technique selon ~enjamin: ou comment devenir célèbre en faisant tant d'erreurs à la foi," Cahier de m4dioloaie No.1, (Paris: Gallimard, 1996) 234-241. In the popular press of July 1900, the Picture Postcard Maoazine wrote: Ostensibly but a mere miniature view of some town or place of interest to the passing traveler, a picture postcard is yet capable of possessing an interest and significance undreamed of by those who have not yet troubled ta look into the matted This dissertation explores some of those aspects and their significance in relation to the conception of place. Antecendents It was in 1869, with the intention of increasing postal efficiency, that the Austrian government first authorized the mailing of small "postal cardsw they issued - single leaf missives of uniform size, with space on one face for written messages. Promoted as a "new means of communication", the postcard was to bring more profits to the state by increasing the volume of mail while diminishing the handling weight. At a the when no other means

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