Architecture Canada

Journal of the Society for the Study of Journal de la Société pour l’étude de l’ ARCHITECTUREARCHITECTURE inin // auau CANADACANADA CONTENTS / TABLE DES MATIÈRES

Luc Noppen 2 Présentation / Presentation ANALYSES / ANALYSES Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe 3 Grounding the New Perspectives of Modernism: Canadian Airports and the Reconfiguration of the Cultural and Political Territory

Marie-Josée Therrien 15 Diplomatic Malaise. The Challenge of Representing Canada Abroad

Olga Zorzi Pugliese 25 The Mosaic Workers of the Angelo Principe Thomas Foster Memorial ESSAIS / ESSAYS André Casault 31 House Hunting Or I’Ve Never “Lived” In My House

Yves Deschamps 43 L’art nécessaire. Quelques réflexions sur le Nigog et l’architecture RAPPORT / REPORT Jean Bélisle 49 Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache (Québec) COMPTE RENDU / REVIEW Isabelle Caron 63 Martin Dubois Architecture contemporaine à Québec : 112 repères urbains

Volume / Tome 28, numéros / numbers 1, 2 (2003) PRÉSENTATION PRESENTATION

e numéro d’Architecture Canada présente une sélection de his issue of Architecture Canada presents a selection of articles textes soumis à la rédaction par des membres bien connus submitted to the Editorial Committee by some of SEAC’s Cde la SÉAC, mais aussi par de nouvelles figures qui proviennent Tregular members, but also by some new figures coming from d’horizons variés et qui se joignent à la Société, intéressés par la various spheres who adhere to the Society, interested by the jour- revue dans son nouveau format. nal’s new format. Cette fois, dans la section analyses, Rhodri Windsor-Liscom- This time, in the analyses section, Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe be examine le rôle qu’a joué l’architecture des aéroports cana- examines the role played by postwar Canadian airports’ archi- diens de l’après-guerre dans la construction d’une identité tecture in the development of a modern Canadian identity. In the canadienne moderne. Dans le même registre de l’étude des re- same register, that is the study of representations, Marie-Josée présentations, Marie-Josée Therrien s’intéresse au programme de Therrien, inspired by the Tokyo example, studies the construc- construction des ambassades du Canada à l’étranger, en prenant tion programmes of Canadian Embassies abroad. Finally, the appui sur l’exemple de Tokyo. Enfin, Olga Pugliese et Angelo renowned italianists Olga Pugliese and Angelo Principe present Principe, italianistes reconnus, livrent une recherche sur les arti- their study on the craftsmen who adorned the Thomas Foster sans qui ont orné de mosaïques le Thomas Foster Memorial Tem- Memorial Temple (Uxbridge, Ont.) with their mosaics. ple (Uxbridge, Ont.). The essays section comprises two texts: André Casault pro- Le dossier des essais présente deux textes : celui d’André poses a few reflections and housing projects for a Northern Que- Casault qui livre quelques réflexions ainsi que des projets d’ha- bec native community and Yves Deschamps, using the articles of bitation pour les communautés autochtones du Nord québécois the Nigog–an innovative journal–discusses American identities et celui d’Yves Deschamps qui discute, au départ de textes du and the architecture in Montreal. Nigog, périodique précurseur, des identités américaines et de Finally, Jean Bélisle’s report on the Saint-Eustache’s Moulin l’architecture à Montréal. Légaré and Isabelle Caron’s report, our new Assistant Editor, Le rapport de Jean Bélisle sur le moulin Légaré de Saint-Eus- complete the table of contents of this issue. tache et un compte rendu d’Isabelle Caron, notre nouvelle ré- In the wake of the modernization efforts of our journal, we dactrice adjointe complètent la table des matières du présent now publish an issue with full colour cover page. After the ex- numéro. perience of a preceding issue that included a colour section in Poursuivant la mise à jour de notre périodique, nous nous order to do justice to the images produced in a CAAD studio by sommes cette fois engagés dans la production d’un numéro avec our colleague Pierre Côté and his team, this issue makes another page couverture couleur. Après l’expérience d’un précédent nu- step forward. From now on, we are in a position to publish arti- méro qui comportait un cahier couleur, notamment pour rendre cles that include quality colour illustrations and honour the con- justice aux images produites en CAAO par notre collègue Pierre tents with a cover page of similar quality. We hope that authors Côté et son équipe, cette livraison marque un autre pas. Nous and members of the Society will understand the implication: pouvons à l’avenir publier des textes avec illustrations couleur et they will have to cooperate, as we cannot print colour pages with rendre justice au contenu par une couverture de même qualité. black and white illustrations. Researchers in the fields of archi- Puissent les auteurs et les membres de la Société comprendre que tecture and planning, who study heritage and the built land- cela suppose un effort de leur part : on ne peut évidemment pas scape, must start using illustrations that are bound to reach a imprimer des pages couleur avec des illustrations noir et blanc. broader audience, that are mindfully considerate of our times, Les chercheurs qui œuvrent en architecture et en aménagement, and that do justice to the subjects of the studies that Architecture qui travaillent sur le paysage construit et le patrimoine, de- Canada wishes to broadcast. That not only allows us to publish a vraient dorénavant adopter une illustration qui rejoint un public journal with colour illustrations, but–as will be the case in 2004–a élargi, qui fait preuve d’une attention pour les sensibilités de journal designed according to a renewed and less severe graph- notre époque et qui rend justice aux objets des études qu’Archi- ic grid. tecture Canada souhaite diffuser. Cela nous permettra non seule- Luc Noppen ment de produire une revue avec illustrations couleur, mais aussi – ce sera le cas en 2004 – reconstruite sur une nouvelle grille graphique, moins austère. Luc Noppen ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Rhodri W indsor Liscombe

Grounding the New Perspectives of Modernism: Canadian Airports and the Reconfiguration of the Cultural and Political Territory

eronautical technology supplied conceptual and opera- tional models as well as novel typologies for Modern Move- Ament design.1 Its interconnections with commercial and state policy disclose the complicated structuration and displacement of Modernism within the modern project.2 Each shared a preoccupation with mobility and universality nonetheless grounded spatially. The airport building, initially denominated aerodrome, became a figure for the late phase of modernity and the instru- Fig. 1. Plan of Vancouver Airport and Seaplane Harbour, 1947; Harland Batholomew. (Royal Architectural Institute of Canada [1947], 326) mental use of science as well as an icon of the Modern Movement endeavour to redirect that generally hierarchical and colonial practice to more equitable and humane social ends. The convergence of such diametrically opposed agendas in aeronautical technology and architecture is exemplified in a 1947 proposal for a land and sea plane airport on a reclaimed section of English Bay, close to downtown Vancouver (fig. 1). That was included in the revised version of the City Beautiful plan drawn up by the United States firm of Harland and Bartholomew and published in the July 1940 edition of the Journal of the Royal Architectural In- stitute of Canada. Their theory of design and technology diverged from the radical functionalism espoused by the majority of designers involved in the construction of Vancouver’s first airport building, including the structurally innovative reinforced con- Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe, F.S.A., currently chairs the Department of Art crete aircraft hangar conceived by the architect-engineer Otto History and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at the University of Safir in 19553 (fig. 2). The spatial grounding of cultural change is British Columbia. A graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art, he previously especially evident in later 20th century Canada as it moved from taught at London and McGill Universities. His major publications include imperial confederation to cosmopolitan constitutional independ- William Wilkins 1778-1839 (Cambridge, 1980)–revisited in The Age of ence.4 Moreover, during that period, Canadian scholars made Wilkins. The Architecture of Improvement (with David Watkin, Cambridge, significant contributions to the theorization of the spatial and Fitzwilliam Museum, 2000); Francis Rattenbury and British Columbia: Ar- chitecture and Challenge in the Imperial Age (with A. Barrett, UBC, 1983), socio-cultural impact of new communication systems and tech- “Altogether American:” Robert Mills Architect and Engineer (Oxford, 1994); nologies. and “The New Spirit.” Modern Architecture in Vancouver 1938-1963 (Cana- In those processes, Modernist design, typified in the federal dian Centre for Architecture and M.I.T., 1997). His current research on in- airport building program of the mid-1950s, acted as iconic and tersections between Modern Movement architecture and late British functional agent of supposedly unifying but ultimately contest- Imperialism was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. ed collective identity. Yet the often mundane rather than elegant abstract functional articulation of the Canadian federal airports, JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003) ; 3-14. generally bereft of the “whammo” stylistic formalism of some

3 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 2. Vancouver International Airport, View of CP Air Hangar, 1955; Otto Safir. (Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 35, 4 [1958], 33)

Fig. 3. Map Canada: 20th century Geographic Scope of Liberalization for Air Transportation, 1984. (New Canadian Air Policy, 1984)

United States (and most recent airports), both simulate and challenge the stereotypical binaries within the Modernist-Postmod- ernist debate.5 They display a bland transparency and efficiency that, on the one hand, seems to illustrate Martin Heidegger’s definition of the modern condition: “Everything gets lumped together into uniform distanceless” and “despite all conquest of distances the nearness of things remains absent.”6 On the other hand, they act as containers of heightened societal and individual instability consequent upon air travel, which yet concretise a liminal arena somewhat equivalent to Homi Bhabha’s third space.7 Indeed, from the late 1950s and the successful introduction of jet passenger aircraft, airports have become places of rit- prominence. The first transatlantic flight by Alcock and Brown in ualistic transposition across geophysical no less than 1919 began from Newfoundland (within forty years fully inte- ethno-cultural boundaries, despite the capitalist-consumerist grated into Confederation) using an adapted Vickers heavy trappings of mass tourism and economic migration. Their Mod- bomber named in celebration of the famed Canadian capture in ernist fabrics demonstrate the heterogeneous ideology of the 1917 of Vimy [Ridge].13 A few months earlier the Dominion Gov- Movement, intermixing locality with intercontinentalism, high ernment had signed both the Versailles Treaty and the 1919 In- with popular culture and technology with aesthetic.8 That last international Convention for Air Navigation, itself preceding the termixture is exemplified in the Canadian context by the artwork first trans-Canada flight, 7th to 17th October 1920.14 The federal fi- commissioned for the new federal airports and, most notably, nancing of policy for the new technology thus anticipated the B.C. Binning’s mural for the Edmonton Airport (1958-1961).9 In formalization of Canada’s diplomatic autonomy at the 1926 Im- addition, the Modernist airport enforced the confusion, even perial Conference. While aerial transport was then regarded by contamination of social classes at all the significant regulatory British and Canadian imperialists as promising a revitalized im- spaces of air travel and most especially pre-boarding, customs, perium surpassing its maritime-commercial origins–witness the and luggage areas.10 Besides thus anticipating attributes of the rhetoric surrounding the reception at Montreal of the inaugural postmodern condition, the spatial anonymity of the first series of transatlantic flight by the R100 airship in 1930 or the 1935 postwar Canadian (and international) airports embodied Mod- transatlantic flying boat service agreement signed in Ottawa be- ernism’s original intent to disrupt the hierarchical controlling tween the United Kingdom (Imperial Airways), the United systems of modernity. They made conspicuously efficient rather States (Pan American Airways), and Canada–independence in than impressive places that corresponded with Marshall air policy was guarded by the Federal Government.15 McLuhan’s optimistically technocratic Global Village. In turn, In 1937, just before the attempted inauguration of Imperial those symbolically neutral spaces would accommodate the Airways transatlantic service, C.D. Howe, the Minister of Trans- emergent late modern intersubjectivity regarded as potentially port, won parliamentary approval for the Trans-Canada Airlines benign by Pico Iyer in the Global Soul.11 Bill “of immense value for national purposes”16 (figs. 4 and 5). The radically altered comprehension of space, and thereby The eventual commencement of service in 1939 was inscribed place and form in the architectural sense, instilled by air travel is into Canadian progressive no less than popular culture through manifest in the total re-mapping of Canada to define the “Geo- advertising. One example is the advertisement placed in the June 17 graphic Scope of Liberalization” formulated by the 1984 federal 1939 issue of the JRAIC in which text and image played upon Air Policy12 (fig. 3). Geography, society, commerce, technique and both imperialist and universalist narrative (fig. 6). From 1939 aesthetic were similarly redefined by the advent of aerial infra- Canada supplied, as before and during the First World War, dis- structure. In the establishment of those generally invisible yet proportionate numbers of airforce personnel, airfields for the materially tangible lines of air transportation, and in the related Commonwealth Air Training Programme (CATC) and safe development of air power, Canada assumed considerable haven for substantial aircraft manufacture. That included the De

4 RHODRI WINDSOR LISCOMBE ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Fig. 5. Lockheed 12-a CF-CCT, Vancouver, End of transcontinental flight, July 29, 1937. (McGrath. History of Canadian Airports. Toronto: Lugus, 1992, 202)

Fig. 4. C.D. Howe, Minister of Transport, and crew, Vancouver, July 29, 1937. (McGrath. History of Canadian Airports. Toronto: Lugus, 1992, 203)

1952. The jet era would, moreover, reposition Canada centrally in the late modern globalized “network of places” constructed by those multifarious dynamics Heidegger justifiably attributed to “the logic of capitalist development.”20 There is another dimension to those restructurations, a dimension closer to the processes of internationalisation and of architectural design. The paradigmatic images of Modern Movement reformed urbanism are almost always represented as if from an aerial perspective, one more technically authentic than the traditional “bird’s-eye view.” Moreover, these either include provision for air transport or allude to its civil or military Haviland Mosquito fighter-bomber, and the A.V. Roe (AVRO) agency.21 Tony Garnier’s cité industrielle was drawn concurrently Lancaster heavy bomber, which became mainstays of the later with the Wright Brother’s pioneering flights at Kitty Hawk stages of the European air war; in addition, a modified version of (1903-1905). Clearly, the aerial perspective was not his invention, the Lancaster initiated Trans-Canada Airways transatlantic serv- but it is employed to support a more insistent concept of physi- ice in 1943. Each company subsequently contributed to inde- cal and communal relationship that became normalized with the pendent nationalist policy. De Haviland manufactured the advent of regular flight. In that respect, the air trope operates Beaver bush plane, which assisted the resource development akin to the idealized utopian project of comprehensive town generated by postwar Reconstruction, and AVRO, the now planning. Each simultaneously confronted real deficiencies mythic Arrow supersonic fight-bomber, which initially placed while delineating solutions increasingly capable of implementa- Canadian aeronautical technology at the forefront of internation- tion through the technologies glamourized in aircraft. Hence the al development.18 compounding contraction between the imaginary and attainable The link between what the MacKenzie King Liberal Gov- in Sant Elia’s confluence of aerial and ground transportation sys- ernment called “Canadianism” and the emergent aerial world tem in the Citta Nuova (c. 1912-1914), or Le Corbusier’s Con- order had been manifested in the grounding of the bureaucratic temporary City plan for Paris (1920-1922), which was machinery for the 1944 International Air Services Transit Agree- subsequently named for the French aircraft manufacturer Voisin. ment in Montreal; appropriately the International Civil Aviation In the same way, the technophilia cherished by most proponents Organization and International Air Transport Association remain of the Modern Movement design led Richard Neutra in his Rush headquartered in a Modernist skyscraping tower block on Sher- City scheme (1924-1926) to de-problematize the impact of the au- brooke Street. Despite, or due to, recent collaboration through tomobile on urban community, partly by situating the visual the 1939-1945 conflict, Canada in 1944 spurned British attempts locus and thereby the predominant mental frame aerially.22 The to forge a Commonwealth Air Policy constructed around British everyday experience of flying supported such removal of the controlled aircraft manufacture and economic interests.19 complex material contingency of city living to an abstract and Nonetheless, Trans Canada Airlines and Canadian Pacific Air- aesthetically appealing mechanistic imagery. Le Corbusier fur- lines (actually formed earlier than T.C.A. in 1930) bought British thered that conflicted vision of humanizing technology in the aircraft, notably the Vickers Viscount and Bristol Britannia. The Ville Verte and Radiant City plans (1930-1935). One sheet of ele- Viscount and Britannia respectively enabled daily cross-conti- vations even claimed the invincibility of reinforced concrete nental transit and the first transpolar flights out of Vancouver apartments against aerial bombardment23 (fig 6). The strict or- from 1955; C.P.A. and T.C.A. also planned on flying the pure jet thogonal disposition of residential, manufacturing, commercial, De Haviland Comet that opened rapid transcontinental travel in transit, and recreational facility in that benign disruption of modernity would be displaced by his second visit to Rio de

5 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 6. Aerial Warefare, Radiant City, 1930; Le Corbusier. (Le Corbusier. La ville radieuse. Paris : Vincent, 1964 (1933), 171)

Janeiro. In 1929, he flew aboard the Zeppelin airship to South America. He experienced the visual integration of large-scale geography with human settlement, and simultaneous visibility of site and situation, more than likely prompted the integration of topography and even the Pic- turesque into his subsequent town planning schemes especially for Al- giers.24 In company with Frank Lloyd Wright, whose 1930 perspective rendering for the Grouped Towers project in Chicago includes a Zeppelin-like dirigible, Le Corbusier regarded advanced aircraft as visual symbols and actual models of the social potential of technical system notably in its 1935 book Aircraft.25 That justifying and expository role is evident in the au- togyro transport (“Aerotors”) Wright conceived for Broadacre City (1934-1935), or within a divergent political context, the airview rendering, including the latest Fiat bombers, of a scheme for the Palazzo Littorio, entered in the 1934 competition for a new Fascist headquarters in Rome by a group including Luigi Figini and Ernesto Rogers.26 It also underlines the polemic intent of the illustration of a Short Kent Flying Boat operated by Impe- rial Airways in F.R.S. Yorke’s important Modernist tract, The Modern House (1936); or of Le Corbusier’s decision to suspend a full-size model monoplane in the Bata Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World’s Exposition as an allegory for global commerce.27 The Modernist argument from the air almost attained durable form in Raymond McGrath’s design for Rudderbar (1934)28 (fig. 7). An aviatrix commissioned him to design a combined house and transport hub. An aircraft hangar and a garage were to be built alongside domestic quarters surmounted by an observation/control tower. Building was to have commenced with the patron dropping a foundation block after takeoff at the onset of an attempt on the flight endurance record to be termi- nated coincident with the completed structure. A less arcane alliance of Modernist practice and theory with aeronautics occurred in 1947. That formed part of the endeavours to revive the Congrès internationaux de l’architecture moderne (CIAM) and its centrality to Modernist design and urbanism. The dele- gates to the 6th CIAM at Bridgewater in the West of England, including the young Canadian architect-planner H. Peter Fig. 7. Rudderbar, Hanworth Airplane Field, Feltham, View of the South-east and air-view of the runway to the airplane house, 1932; Raymond McGrath (London) Oberlander representing Central [Canada] Mortgage and Hous- (McGrath. Twentieth-Century Houses. London: Faber and Faber, 1934, 22) ing Corporation, visited the Bristol Aeroplane Company 29 (fig. 8). At the company’s factory in Filton, they observed the

6 RHODRI WINDSOR LISCOMBE ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Fig. 9. Prefabricated Houses, Production at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, 1946. (File Types, Royal Institute of British Architects [1945-46], 403)

Fig. 8. CIAM VI, Bridgwater, 1947. Meeting at Bristol Aeroplane Company. (Gold. The experience of modernism : modern architects and the future city, 1928-53. London : E & F N Spon, 1997, 8.7)

mass-production of prefabricated housing units using surplus military material, especially aluminium and steel: a functioning metaphor for Modernism’s ideal of reconstructing society by redirecting industrialist and technology to universal human need (fig. 9). Yet–and symptomatic of the limited analytic and of the conservative collusions of Modernism– the chief concurrent productions of the Bristol Aeroplane Company were high-per- formance sports cars, gas turbine engines, and freight and passenger aircrafts. Of these latter, the Brabizon airliner was aimed at the elite transatlantic traveler30 (fig. 10). A later project would be the engines for the Concorde, which originated at the Royal Aircraft Establishment as a vehicle for rapid travel to the distant Commonwealth, with the objective of maintaining British transoceanic economic influence. That imbrication of the radical with the traditional in Mod- ernism applies to the establishment of the Canadian air transport system and airline industry. The bureaucratic model and commercial impetus derived from Canadian railway policy and companies with their heritage of imperial, neo-colonial and expansionist praxis.31 As indicated, the national legislation, beginning with the 1919 Air Board Act, emerged out of the agreement signed by the British Empire with its allies as part of the Versailles Treaty. The Act, again paralleling Modernist attempts to exploit the latest technology in the enactment of ethos, was “for the regulation of a service essentially important in itself as touching closely the national life and interests but also of the necessity of making provision for performing the obligations of Fig. 10. Aviation, the Bristol Brabazon, 1949. (Graves. Achievements. Land Sea and Air: A Century of Conquest. London: Bloombury Publishing, 1998, 127) Canada, in part of the British Empire and the Convention relat- ing to the regulation of Aerial Navigation […] signed by the representatives of 21 of the Allied and Associated Powers including underlying the 1919 Act also resonate with those material Canada.”32 Reading such contemporary policy documents back processes charted by one Canadian theorist of social-cultural de- into Modernism underscores the formative dynamic of the First velopment, Harold Innis.33 Those assumptions also engage with World War in collectivizing disparate groups and ideology the technophilia celebrated by McLuhan, who comprehended around more universalizing projects. The assumptions the profound realignments of physical and psychological space

7 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 11. Ottawa, International Airport, General View of Building, showing main entrance; Gille- land and Strutt, 1960. (Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 37, 12 [1960], 510)

buildings were modest and generally removed from major centres, causing a contributor to Saturday Night as late as 1958 to describe Canadian aerodromes as “undoubtedly among the world’s worst.”36 Consequently, they were not an irritant presence of distant disciplining authority in the Foucauldian sense. Not at least until civic, provincial, and federal pride seemed threatened as when, in a 1954 issue, the Montreal Gazette de- nounced Dorval as “cheap, cramped and makeshift.” The col- lectivist and socialist modification of Canadian liberalism effected by the Depression and World War II privileged a pop- ulist notion of progress that embraced an amalgam of post-imperialist, nationalist, continentalist, and internationalist thoughts. The alliance of Government with corporate capital in pursuit of a financially if also socially profitable reconstruction during the two postwar decades enabled the implementation of the 1937 Trans-Canada Airlines Act. Air transportation, C.D. Howe had then declared, could be of “immense value for national purposes […] the people living at the extremes of the country would be able to travel more frequently to the centres of government, business and industry, and the interrelations of the country would thereby be facilitated.”37 The rhetoric was reinforced in the 1944 Air Transport Act and in subsequent legislation clarifying the responsibilities of the Air Transport Board. wrought by the technologies of the Jet Age.34 Just as McLuhan’s The phraseology of both Bills reveals the increasing folding of celebrated phrase, the Global Village problematizes almost as radical and comprehensive societal aims into conservative and much as it defines, so also the 1919 Act aroused tensions within pragmatic operative means comparable to the corporatization the Canadian fabric. These took flight in 1927, the year Le Cor- and pedagogical conventionalisation of Modernism during the busier’s Vers une architecture (1923) gained international authori- 1950s. Prime Minister St. Laurent voiced the commercialistic re- ty in the English translation by Frederic Etchells (Towards a New constitution of democratic socialist reform when announcing the Architecture). At the November Premier’s conference “the repre- beginnings of privatization in 1952: “airlines like other transport sentatives of Quebec raised a question as to the legislative au- facilities are the arteries through which the economic life blood thority of the Parliament of Canada to sanction regulations for of the country flow.”38 The body politic was regarded as a finan- the control of aerial navigation generally within Canada.” The cial rather than cultural construct, in the manner summarized by quote comes from the pamphlet prepared by the solicitor for the William Hughes in the opening paragraph of his doctoral thesis, Attorney-General of Canada in the case brought before the Public Policy and Airline competition in Canada: the “prime objec- Supreme Court of Canada, “As to the Respective Legislative tive of public policy has been, and still is, the tying together of Powers under the British North America Act, 1867, of the Parlia- the extremities with economic and cultural bonds. A nation ment of Canada and the Legislatures of the Provinces in Relation must have, if it is to be so called, a transportation system con- to the Regulation and control of Aeronautics in Canada.”35 The necting communities the central government authority.”39 pamphlet was printed in 1929, the year not only of the stock mar- Similar constructs underpin the architectural articulation of ket crash, but also of Charles Lindbergh’s solo transatlantic the airports built under the auspices of the Department of Trade flight. (DOT) from 1954-1955 and through the Liberal and Conserva- The Federal Government won that case. And the relatively tive administrations of Lester Pearson and John Diefenbaker.40 modest developments in air transportation and consequently Indicative of the collusion between technology and status quo, airport construction up to the early 1950s contained that aspect the airport building programme perpetuated established politi- of regional and ethno-cultural resistance to federalism. Airport cal hierarchy. Topping the list were the international terminals at

8 RHODRI WINDSOR LISCOMBE ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Fig. 14. Winnipeg, International Airport, plan and drawing, 1960; Green and Blankstein, Russell, et al., (The Canadian Architect, 06 [1960], 70)

Fig. 12. Halifax, International Airport, General View, External views, 1960; Gilleland and Strutt. (Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 37, 12 [1960], 516)

Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Ottawa (fig. 11). The rebuilding of Toronto’s facility at Malton followed at the end of the decade in grudging recognition of the transfer of financial paramountcy from Montreal. The two other cities at the centre of new regional economies then altering the Canadian political fabric, Vancouver and Calgary, enlarged their airports predomi- nantly under civic plebiscite. The DOT, however, had exclusive authority for the remainder that fulfilled older Canadian political agendas of the distribution of subsidiary economic power: Comox, Edmonton, Kenora, North Bay, Prince Rupert, Port Hardy, Regina, Saskatoon, St. John’s, Sept-Îles, Sault-Sainte- Marie, Stephenville, Quebec City, Victoria, and Windsor. Their construction should also be linked to a substantial military programme motivated by the Cold War together with the strategic and neo-colonialist appropriation of the North. Another factor was realignment away from Britain, after the 1956 Suez Crisis, Fig. 13. Montreal, International Airport, General View, 1960; Illsey, Templeton, Archibald. (Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 37, 12 [1960], 518) toward closer but problematic alliance with the United States as enacted by NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Com- mand), and cancellation of the AVRO Arrow in favour of the Bo- marc missile.41 The defining architectural characteristic of Canadian airport building from that era is a cautious internationalism, vec-

9 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 15. Vancouver, Vancouver International Airport, exterior, Main entrance, McCarter and Nairne. (The Canadian Architect, 01 [1959], 47)

Fig. 16. Calgary, Calgary Airport terminal, exterior, view of east side of building/observation area; Clayton, Band and Mogridge. (The Canadian Architect, 10 [1956], 36)

tored toward the United States consumerist and mechanistic re- appropriation of the Modern Movement. The design idiom at the different international and regional or local airports is remark- ably similar. That similarity derives to some extent from the functional specification but is here argued to represent a political inscription of the Modernist preoccupation with essentialized aesthetic as well as formal statement. The simplified trabeat- ed–concrete, metal or wood–structure, standardized and modu- lar in-fill/paneling or glass curtain walls, clear volumetric differentiation of functional operations, rigourous avoidance of ornamentation counteracted by contemporary artworks and fur- nishing reflect both a policy of, and popular cultural preference for interconnectedness. The severe geometry could be monoto- nous and diffused in Gilleland and Strutt’s schemes for Halifax (1957-1960) (fig. 12) or for Ottawa (1955-1960, ironically delayed by the destruction of much of the glazing by the sonic boom from a low flying RCAF jet).42 Conversely, it could be surreptitiously monumental as in the large, triple component facility designed for the Montreal International Airport at Dorval by Illsley, Tem- pleton and Archibald working with Larose and Larose (1954- 1959)43 (fig. 13). When less directly policed by W.A. Ramsay, Chief Architect at DOT, the typical Modernist formula was adapted with greater architectural distinction. It attained ele- gance of proportion and of articulation in Green Blankstein Rus- Fig. 17. Calgary, Calgary Municipal Airport, Interior, cafeteria; Clayton, Band and Mogridge sell and Associates Winnipeg International Airport (1959-1961)44 (The Canadian Architect, 10 [1956], 37) (fig. 14). There is even a hint of critical regionalism in the deployment of glulam post-and-beam construction by McCarter erations of the transformation of the customary into an efficient Nairne and Partners for the temporary Air Terminal at Vancou- and desirable future environment. The alliance of Modernist ver (1957-1958)45 (fig. 15). Another factor was relative scale. The iconography and practice with the Quiet Revolution, as well as smaller traffic alike pertaining to Calgary allowed its architects, with growing regionalist and even ethnic consciousness, marked J.C. Clayton and Allan Mogridge, to introduce more domestic the extent of incommensurability coincidentally tolerated by spaces and effects (fig. 16). Those were reinforced by the com- Modernism’s egalitarian redirection of the modern project.47 The missioning of furnishings from Robin Bush who espoused the attainment of chiefly materialist objectives, embracing in Mod- late Romantic humanist and craft veins also harboured within ernism both low cost public and private suburban housing, cor- Modernist lore46 (fig. 17). responded with the functionalist specification of aeronautical That series of Canadian airports thus represents the broad architecture typified by John R. Baldwin’s “Airports and Termi- preference for greater cultural homogeneity and part of the nals in Canada” published in the October 1956 issue of The Cana- search for a new political and economic synthesis. The Modernist dian Architect (TCA).48 Illustrated by aerial view renderings that design codes, while becoming increasingly conventionalized exaggerated aesthetic comparability, Baldwin read airports as at- during that decade, still seemed capable of resolving different it- tributes, operations, and problems: speed, access, noise, circula-

10 RHODRI WINDSOR LISCOMBE ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Fig. 18. Toronto, Toronto International Airport, Windsor Airport drawing. (The Canadian Architect, 01 [1959], 38)

tion, and safety. In the review of Canadian airports TCA printed almost three years later (in January 1959), statis- tics predominated.49 The relapse into conformity was manifest in the cryptic allusion to growing Quebecois Separation in the caption on Dorval: “For a city of part French and part English, a collaborative of English and French architects brings the dichotomy right into the building.” Modernism was still presumed capable of successfully reconfiguring traditional values or expectations through its concentration on analysis of need, efficiency of form, and embrace of technology.50 The idea that aesthetic derived from satisfaction of function, baldly stated by Bruno Taut in Modern Architecture (1924), clearly influenced the architectural critic James H. Acland as concerns the Toronto International Airport.51 He opined that the two innovative “aeroquays” and new facilities for the jet age built at Malton to the designs of John B. Parkin Associates (1960-1964) surpassed all Canadian, and most American or European, air terminals in architectural quality, technological relevance, and critical reception. The Parkin design team had invented a unique structuration of Modernist mobility (fig. 18). The aeroquays com- prised independent units that combined purist geometrical composition with a purposeful formal organization: the outer circular aircraft access and service building surrounding a central rectangular parkade linked by tunnels beneath the flight apron to ground transportation communicating with Toronto and its economic region. Acland foresaw the inadequacy of Toronto’s road and rail transit, but not the exponential growth in passenger traffic that would render the Malton solution obsolete. Fig. 19. Toronto, Toronto International Airport, Exterior, view of aeroquay and plane at night, Thus he commended the complex as an “effective and presti- 1964; Parkin and Associates. gious monument” and a “stunning and admirable spatial and vi- (The Canadian Architect, 02 [1964], 47-48) sual image [achieved] by concentration upon tightly knit circulation and care of passenger access.” No other airport had “more effective interlock visually between the mechanism of ethos that would outdate both the fabric and federalist message flight and the public passenger areas.” And “the puritanical and of the late 1950s Canadian airports. By 1968, the positivist rheto- restrained detail of arrival and departure concourse” instilled an ric of many speeches delivered at the Symposium on the Future appropriate psychological ambience and context for artwork. of World Air Transport organized by the Montreal-based Inter- That habit of mind where Modernism could negotiate social national Air Transport Association carried less conviction, espe- and aesthetic consensus proved as transient as the arresting fixi- cially in light of the deployment of United States air power in the ty of imagery in two illustrations to Acland’s article. Both are Vietnam conflict. “The airplane,” Alan Boyd of the U.S. Depart- night photographs of the Toronto aeroquay: one shows a Vis- ment of Transportation ironically declared, quoting President count airliner being prepared for a transcanadian flight, and the Lyndon B. Johnson, “has done most to bring individual peoples other the facility unencumbered by either aircraft or passengers52 of the world together in friendship… [and] widespread (fig. 19). The technologies reified in the image would soon be- understanding among people that banishes ignorance.”53 The come obsolescent and contribute to the ruptures in universalist functions of architectural form include the successive redefini-

11 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 20. Great Empire Flying Boat, Venus Boat co., 1939. (Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 15, 4)

tion of those values and factors section of which is reprinted in 1986, Canada 1957-1967; the Years of Academy Editions. it is supposed to constitute Leach, Neil (ed.), 1997, Rethinking Uncertainty and Innovation, Toron- 9. For Binning’s Edmonton Architecture: A Reader in Cultural through construction. to, McClelland and Stewart. mural, see B.C. Binning. A Classical Theory, London, Routledge, p. 128- 5. Scully, Vincent, 1969, Ameri- Spirit, 1985, Victoria, Art Gallery of Notes 169; and Klotz, Heinrich, 1988, The can Architecture and Urbanism, Victoria; and Flaman, Bernard, History of Post Modern Architecture, New York, Praeger, p. 198, with « The Airport as City Square », 1. This paper extends research Cambridge Mass. M.I.T. Press. reference to Eero Saarinen’s Trans paper presented at the 2000 on the intersection between later 3. For the European and British World Airways terminal at DOCOMOMO International Con- British imperialism and Modern training and early practice as well Idlewild, later John F. Kennedy ference, forthcoming in the Journal Movement architecture and town as information on his Canadian Airport, New York, 1956-1962. of the Society for the Study of Archi- planning supported by grants work, see Liscombe, R. Windsor, 6. Martin Heidegger quoted by tecture in Canada–JSSAC. from the Social Science and 1997, The New Spirit; Modern Archi- David Harvey “From Space to 10. The vocabulary of contami- Humanities Research Council of tecture in Vancouver 1938-1963, Place and back again”, p. 10 in nation borrows from an analysis of Canada and a John Simon Montreal and Vancouver, Canadi- Bird, J, B. Curtis, T. Putnam et al. more contemporary socio-cultural Guggenheim Fellowship. an Centre for Architecture/Dou- (eds.), 1993, Mapping the Futures: interchange both incommensu- 2. The divergence between glas & McIntyre/M.I.T. Local Cultures, Global Change, Lon- rable and inevitable, resulting Modern Movement theory and 4. That period in Canadian his- don, Routledge; see also from late modern conditions pre- practice, and modernity and its tory is summarized in McNaught, Jameson, F., 1992, The geopolitical sented by Fernando de Toro in the anticipation of postmodern affects Kenneth (rev. ed.), 1988, The Pen- aesthetic. Cinema and space in the paper entitled « The Culture of has been insufficiently recognized guin History of Canada, London, world system, Bloomington Ind., Displacement and the Question of in the major literature exemplified Penguin, and examined by others: Indiana University Press. Identity » delivered at Green Col- by Harvey, David, 1989, The Condi- Bothwell, Robert (rev. ed.), 1989, 7. Bhabha’s, Homi, 1994, The lege, University of British Colum- tion of Post Modernity, Oxford, Canada Since 1945: Power, Politics Location of Culture, London, Rout- bia, 26 March 2002. Oxford University Press; Haber- and Provincialism, Toronto, Univer- ledge. 11.McLuhan, Marshall, 1989, mas, Jurgen, 1982, « Modern and sity of Toronto Press; Cohodos, The Global Village: Transformations Postmodern Architecture », 9H, 8. In addition to Heynen (1999), Robert, 1990, The Unmaking of in World Life and Media in the no. 4. p. 9-14; Heynen, Hilde, 1999, see also Frampton, Kenneth, 1991 Canada; the Hidden Theme in Cana- 21st Century, New York, O.U.P.; Architecture and Modernity, Cam- (rev. ed.), Modern Architecture. A dian History Since 1945, Toronto, Iyer, Pico, 2000, The Global Soul. Jet bridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press; Jame- Critical History, Toronto, Oxford J. Lorimer; Creighton, Donald, Lag, Shopping Malls and the Search son, Fredric, 1991, Postmodernism, University Press; and St. John Wil- 1976, The Forked Road: Canada 1939- for Home, New York, Alfred A. or the Cultural Logic of Late Capital- son, Colin, 1995, The Other Tradi- 1957, Toronto McClelland and Knopf. See also Arefi, Mahyr, 1999, ism, London, Verso, an important Stewart; and Granatstein, J.L., tion of Modern Architecture. The Uncompleted Project, London, « Non-Place and Placelessness in

12 RHODRI WINDSOR LISCOMBE ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Narratives of Loss – Rethinking to celebrate the arrival of the R100, monwealth Air Transport Council. Perez Oyarzun, Fernando, 2000, Le the Notion of Place », Journal of and presided over by Lord A Canadian Perspective », The Corbusier in South America, Depart- Urban Design, vol. 4, June, p. 2; Shaughnessy, was reported in 1930 Journal of Imperial and Common- ment of History, Cambridge Uni- Arefi, Mahyr, 1999, Citizen in the United Empire (vol. 21, no. wealth History, January, vol. 21, versity, October. Nowhere: The Search for Self in a 8, p. 502-504), in which the flight no. 1, p. 105-125. The abortive 25. Wright’s scheme is illustrated Shifting World, New York, Alfred was described as giving “a great cooperative policy was proposed in Riley, Terence (ed.) 1994, Frank Knopf; Walker, Ruth, 2001, « Meet impetus towards the ultimate uni- by Lord Halifax at the inaugural Lloyd Architect, New York, Muse- the New Airport: Temple, Mall, ty of the Empire. While each meeting of the CATC prior to the um of Modern Art, p. 215. Cor- Design Hub », Christian Science dominion has its own individual United Nations sponsored Inter- busier’s book Aircraft was pub- Monitor, vol. 92, no. 23 August, problems, we all have one great national Civil Aviation Conference lished by the London journal The p. 189; and Pascoe, David, 2001, problem in common–the consoli- in September at Chicago. Studio, reprinted 1988, New York, Airspaces, London, Reaktion. dation and growth of our Empire 20. Heidegger, quoted in Harvey Universe Books; the argument is 12. « New Canadian Air Policy », for the betterment of the world in (1993 : 13). A positivist, regionalist summarized in the following sen- 10 May 1984, pamphlet published Moral Health, in Mental Outlook view appears in Johns, B. (ed.), tences from the introduction by the then Minister of Transport, and in Physical Well-being.” In 1995, Jet Dreams: Art of the Fifties in (p. 13), “The airplane, in the sky, Lloyd Axworthy, continuing the 1924, the journal had printed the Northwest, Seattle, University carries our hearts above mediocre “liberalization of airline regula- Commander F.L.M. Boothby’s arti- of Washington Press. things. The airplane has given us cle “Airships for the Empire” with tion… [so as to] promote an 21. That idea was partially stated the birds-eye view. When the eye this warning: “Fail to get the air healthy, innovative and competi- by Charles Jencks with regard to sees clearly, the mind makes a sense as we have the sea sense, fail tive airline industry… [leading to] Le Corbusier’s town plans in 1973 clear decision.” to rear a race of airmen in the increase in domestic air travel and (Le Corbusier and the Tragic View of 26. Illustrated in Etlin, Richard, future as we reared a race of sea- industry’s new competitive Architecture, London, Allen Lane, 1991, Modernism in Italian Architec- men… and the British Empire will advantage in the international p. 125). See also Gutkind, E.A., ture, 1890-1940, Cambridge, Mass., crumble at the challenge of the forum” (p. 1), and to “promote 1952, Our World From the Air, New M.I.T. Press, figure 273 on p. 731. first nation capable of defeating us national integration through York, Doubleday; and Pascoe, Among other valuable references, in this new element” (vol. 15, no. 3, increased domestic air travel” David, 2001, Airspaces, London, Etlin notes the propagandist sig- p. 154-165). (p. 5). See also Sealy, K.R., 1957, Reaktion. nificance of the transatlantic flight Geography of Air Transport, London, 16. Hughes, William, 1961, Public 22. Hines, Thomas, 1982, Richard by the Fascist Airforce to the 1932 Hutchinson; and for the socially Policy and Airline competition in Neutra and the Search for Modern Chicago International Exposition, ordering power of such infrastruc- Canada, doctoral thesis, Indiana Architecture, New York, Oxford A Century of Progress, esp. p. xxii. ture, Starr, Susan L., 1999, Sorting University, p. 99. University Press. 27. Respectively, Yorke, F.R.S. Things Out. Classification and Its 17. Journal of the Royal Architec- (1944 ed.), Modern House, London, Consequences, Cambridge, Mass., 23. Illustrated in the 1937 Eng- tural Institute of Canada. Architectural Press (p. 9) above M.I.T. Press. lish translation of his 1935 La Ville 18. Rossiter, Sean, 1990, Legends Radieuse, The Radiant City, London, text defining the watchword of 13. Smith, H. Gibbs (2nd ed.) of the Air: Aircraft, Pilots and Plane- Faber and Faber, p. 171. The “Modern” architecture “new func- 1985, Aviation: An Historical Survey makers, Seattle, Sasquatch Books; chiefly military aspect of aircraft tional plan,” and illustrated in from its Origins to the End of World and Rossiter, Sean, 1999, The development had become a signif- Tafuri, Manfredo, 1968, Teorie e sto- War II, London, Her Majesty’s Sta- Immortal Beaver, Vancouver, Dou- icant aspect in fictional literature ria del’architettura, Bari, Laterza, tionery Office. glas & McIntyre. The Arrow inci- well before the Spanish Civil War p. 113 and reproduced by 14. The early legislature history dent is reviewed in Dow, James, (1935-1937) exemplified by Wells, Tournikiotis, T., 1999, The Histori- is reviewed in the pamphlet pub- 1979, The Arrow, Toronto, H.G., 1898, The War of the Worlds; ography of Modern Architecture, lished by the federal Attorney J. Lorimer; and Stewart, Greig, and Warner, Rex, 1944, The Aero- Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press General as In the Supreme court of 1988, Shutting Down the National drome; see also Beer, Gillian, 1990, (p. 196). Canada. In the matter of a Reference Dream: A.V.Roe and the Tragedy of « The island and the aeroplane: the 28. McGrath, 1932, Twentieth As to the Respective Legislative Pow- the Avro Arrow, Scarborough, case of Virginia Wolf », in Bhabha, Century Houses, London, ers… of the Parliament of Canada and Ontario, McGraw-Hill Ryerson. It Homi (ed.), Nation and Narration, example 22, p. 87-88. the Legislatures of the Provinces in also was the subject of a 1998 fea- London, Routledge p. 265-290. 29. Gold, John R., 1997, The Expe- Relation to their Regulation and Con- ture film produced by the Canadi- 24. Loach, Judy (ed.), 1987, Le rience of Modernism. Modern Archi- trol of Aeronautics, Ottawa, Gov- an Broadcasting Corporation and Corbusier: Architect of the Century, tects and the Future City 1928-1953, ernment Printer, 1929. National Film Board. London [Hayward Gallery] Arts London, E. & F.N. Spon, p. 202, 15. The luncheon organized by 19. MacKenzie, David, 1993, Council of Great Britain; Curtis, fig. 8.7. the Montreal Royal Empire Society « The Rise and Fall of the Com- William, 1995, Le Corbusier: Ideas 30. A photograph of the inaugu- and Forms, London, Phaidon; and

13 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

ral test flight of the Brabizon beginning with an historical Transport, on the Vancouver air- 50. Exemplified by Siegfrid appears in Graves, Richard, 1998, review together with an analysis port as extended and rebuilt by Giedion, 1948, Mechanisation Takes Achievements. Land Sea & Air: A of technical requirements written Thompson Berwick Pratt and Command: A Contribution to Anony- Century of Conquest, London, by Ramsay, W.A., 1956, « Air Ter- Associates commending its superb mous History, New York, Oxford Bloomsbury Publishing, p. 127; see minal Buildings in Canada », JRA- topographical setting: “And in the University Press. also Graves, Richard, 1953, The IC, April, vol. 33, no. 4, p. 110-117. midst, is the functional beautiful 51. 1924, Modern Architecture, Wonder Book of Aircraft, London, There are some references in Vancouver International Airport.” London, Architectural Press, p. 9 Ward Lock, p. 64, 72-73, and 75. Kalman, Harold, 1994, A History of 44. 1960, TCA, June, vol. 5, no. 6, Introduction; James H. Acland’s 31. Grose, Fred P., 1955, The Air Canadian Architecture, Toronto, p. 69-71, comparing its design review in 1964, TCA, February, Transport Board and the Regulation Oxford University Press, esp. with the work of Mies van der vol. 9, no. 2, p. 41-44, citing of Commercial Air Services, M.A. vol. 2. See also Zukowsky, John, Rohe, Skidmore Owings, and Mer- Stephen Spender’s poem The Land- Thesis, Carleton College, Ottawa. and Koos Bosma, 1996, Building for rill and J.B. Parkin and Associates, scape Near an Aerodrome and Air Travel: Architecture and Design 32. In the Supreme Court… (op. and commending the fact that, remarking on the manner in which for Commercial Aviation, cit.). “The main floor level is uninter- the “monumental hall is second- Munich/New York, Prestel; and rupted throughout” (p. 70). ary to the movement of people, 33. Innis’s major work is: 1951, Binney, Marcus, 1999, Airports 45. 1959, TCA, July vol. 4, no. 7, baggage service trucks and peo- The Bias of Communication, Toronto, Builders, London, Academy Edi- p. 41-47. The idea of critical ple.” Acland also compared the University of Toronto Press. tions, mainly reviewing recent regionalism within later Mod- Malton facilities favourably with 34. Notably in 1951, The Mechan- international airport architecture ernist practice was argued by Saarinen’s T.W.A. Terminal and ical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man, but noting how air terminals are Frampton, Kenneth, 1983, Charles Luckman’s Los Angeles New York, Vanguard Press; or “key national construction projects «Towards a Critical Regionalism: terminal (1958-1959). In that 1967, The Medium is the Message, around the world,” p. 9. Six Points for an Architecture of regard, the following statement in New York, Bantam Books. 41. See note 3, and Haydon, Resistance », in Foster, Hal (ed.), a report on the opening of the new McLuhan’s thought and influence Peter, 1993, The 1962 Cuban Missile The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Post- Vancouver terminal in April 1996 is examined in Cavell, Richard, Crisis: Canadian Involvement Recon- modern Culture, London, Pluto in the Province is interesting: “It’s 2002, McLuhan in Space: a Cultural sidered, Toronto, Canadian Insti- Press, p. 16-30. a Canadian experience, instead of Geography, Toronto, University of tute of Strategic Studies. passing through a ‘junkyard’ of Toronto Press, which also includes 46. 1956, TCA, October vol. 5, 42. 1960, « Three International unfathomable modern art.” analyses of Innis and of the differ- no. 10, p. 38-39. Air Terminals », JRAIC, December, 52. The phrase “habit of mind,” ent spatial framing of Canadian 47. Leclere, D., 1992, The Crisis of vol. 37, no. 12, p. 509-526. and its implied inclusion of subjec- identity by Northrop Frye. Abstraction in Canada: The 1950s, 43. The JRAIC (December 1960) tive convention with rational cog- 35. In the Supreme Court… (op. Ottawa, National Gallery of Cana- article noted the “monumental nition, derives from Margolis, cit.); interestingly with regard to da. staircase” in the main building Howard, 1993, Paradigms and Bar- the universalizing role within the 48. 1956, TCA, October, vol. 1, which had “the great dining room riers: How Habits of Mind Govern Modern Movement project, and no. 10, p. 30-36. and bar,” providing a grand space Scientific Beliefs, Chicago, Universi- international transportation, Sec- to observe the spectacle of air 49. 1959, TCA, January, vol. 4, ty of Chicago Press. tion III (p. 85) sets out a “Universal transportation and “a luxury suite no. 1, p. 32-40; the Department of 53. 1968, Aviation’s Role in Future system of Ground Marks.” with bar and dining room,” which Transport then estimated an Transportation. A Symposium on the 36. Quoted in: 1959, « Canadian once again sounded the underly- expenditure of approximately Future of World Air Transport, Airports. A Review », The Canadian ing symbolic political purpose: $600 million in airport facilities by Munich, p. 94. Architect, vol. 4 January p. 32-40; “Where hospitality can be extend- 1968. see also p. 33, the source for the ed to important visitors entering press reports cited below in the or leaving Canada” (p. 518). That text. theme also recurred with regard to 37. Hughes : 99. the innovative luggage conveyor belt and carousel system, which 38. Grose : 45. had “attracted the attention of our 39. Hughes : 1. American friends who are consid- 40. The main documentary ering using it for their Washington resource remains articles in TCA [D.C.] air terminal [Eero Sarrinen, and the Journal of the Royal Archi- 1958-61].” See also 1968, Into the Jet tectural Institute of Canada (JRAIC), Age, Ottawa, Department of Air

14 ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Marie-Josée Therrien

Diplomatic Malaise. The Challenge of Representing Canada Abroad1

Tokyo. Early 20th century. A previous member of parliament appointed diplomat by the Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King is about to build an official residence for the people of his Do- minion.2 His young nation is in the process of severing the um- bilical cord with his Mother Country. This Canadian diplomat, Herbert Marler, is a wealthy anglophile Montrealer who para- doxically is also an ardent Canadian autonomist. Such ambivalent behaviour was not unheard of in the late 1920s when a Fig. 1. Antonin Raymond, Official Residence, Diplomatic enclave, Tokyo, 1932-1933. series of imperial conferences was being held in London. The (NCA, PA-120404) dominions’ leaders who gathered there were also divided between their allegiance to the Empire and their more autonomous desires. When Marler commissioned an architect to design pre- Abstract liminary drawings for the first Canadian diplomatic enclave, his The design of embassies throughout the twentieth century presented intentions were quite clear, though contradictory: if the build- many challenges for planners and architects. The programmes for ings were to reflect the grandeur of his country, they should be diplomatic buildings varied from one country to another, but they gen- built using a vocabulary that speaks of civilisation, British civil- erally were designed to represent the nation at its best. Canada is no isation of course (fig. 1). exception. The many functions that a Canadian Embassy must house Marler’s task was complicated. His work as a diplomat was can sometimes be incompatible. The examples of the first legation in Tokyo and Delhi demonstrate that it is impossible for such an intricate to represent Canada. Though a young country, Canada, which design process to successfully accommodate the governmental services was considered a senior Dominion within the Empire, had just of both the Immigration and the Foreign Affairs/International Trade obtained responsibility for managing its international affairs. Departments, which pursue opposite goals. The description of the con- Despite this new status, the ambivalent Marler wanted to emu- text surrounding the construction of the legation in Tokyo in the 1930s late his motherland. For this plenipotentiary Minister, who was is briefly described and serves as a point of comparison with the main infatuated with the British diplomatic dress code,3 the appropri- subject of this article, the High Commission in India. ate aesthetic architectural choice was the Neo-Georgian style. Promoting Canadian design was not a conceivable priority for Marler. Could he have acted otherwise? For where were the models for a distinct Canadian architecture? Even if the architect John Lyle had voiced concern about the state of Canadian architecture, the simple reality, at the time, was that it was more a Marie-Josée Therrien is a graduate of Laval University. She teaches at the On- concept than a fact. Moreover, if indeed there had been such a tario College of Art and Design in Toronto. Her doctoral thesis was on the ar- national architecture, would it have suited Marler’s taste and chitecture of Canadian embassies and questions of national identity in relation would it have been appropriate for the “proper and dignified” to architectural heritage. She is a member of Docomomo Quebec. residence he envisaged? Marler might have been in a position to commission a Canadian architect,4 as he did for the proposal, but he did not expect his compatriot to produce a Canadian architecture. He was nonetheless genuinely concerned about the image of his country on the international scene, and more specif- JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003) ; 15-24.

15 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

ically within the British commonwealth of Nations, a view that a transplanted “microcosm of an imagined social order,” as the reflected Mackenzie King’s beliefs. Africanists John and Jean Comaroff described the Christian mis- The motivations to open a Canadian legation in Tokyo were sions in Africa in the 19th century.6 Although Marler did not in- threefold: expand the trade relationship, implement a Canada- tend to convert the Japanese, he perceived his duty as part of a Japan agreement on immigration, and collect information about much broader effort to exhibit the benefits of Western civilization the geo-political situation of the Asia-Pacific region. To reach to the people of Japan. For the liberal-minded Marler, the reli- those goals, the wealthy Montrealer, also an astute businessman, gious comparison was probably not more than an accessory to financed the purchase as well as the construction of the enclave, give moral weight to his mercantile interests. As for the build- and maintained a firm grip on the design process. The initial ings themselves, they were the “visible frontage”7 of a nation in diplomatic compound contained two main buildings: an official the making, a nation pursuing a “diplomacy of the salesman- residence and a chancery for administration purposes, including ship”8 while “discouraging immigration with all the tact and the issuing of passports to a very restricted number of appli- diplomacy at [our] hands” as stated by Kenneth Kirkwood who cants. The official residence was a grand edifice, similar to what worked at the legation. Indeed, unlike the other Canadian mis- Marler could afford for himself in Montreal, while the chancery sions established around the same time in Europe, that legation was a more sober office building. There is no doubt that Marler was not concerned with encouraging immigration. On the con- wanted to impress his guests with the residence. In his eagerness trary, a strong anti-Japanese attitude in the Western provinces of to persuade the Prime Minister to let him proceed with the con- Canada was one of the reasons that prompted the Mackenzie struction of the enclave, Marler demonstrated a missionary zeal. King Government to establish that mission in Tokyo. In good Speaking of himself using the third person, the diplomatic Min- faith, King wanted to counteract the Tory resistance at home ister wrote: rather than blame “the Oriental mind” for the domestic prob- As a result of the review, the study and the inquiries to which he has lems on the West Coast.9 While Marler was planning the diplo- alluded the Minister is convinced in the most positive manner that matic parties on the luxurious grounds of the enclave, where it is particularly essential for the success of the Legation that it and business deals could be initiated, the small team of secretaries the Chancellery should be of a proper and dignified nature. He says were administrating the Consulate office and issuing their quota this not by any means having only in view the question of personal of passports, limited to 150 applicants per year. comfort and help to his staff and their families which he has already As the Tokyo example demonstrates, diplomatic architec- raised in this report–but on the contrary and in addition thereto the ture is shaped by broad policies that can sometimes be contra- effect which proper and dignified accommodation will have on the dictory. Conceived as prestigious buildings to represent the Ministers of other countries now established at Tokyo and particu- nation overseas, embassies are subject to careful planning. Simi- larly on the minds of the people of Japan to whom he is accredited lar to Tokyo, the story of the next example that constitutes the from a great Dominion. He ventures to express his viewpoint on core of my analysis reveals a turning point in the development of this subject by employing an opinion expressed by the Rev. James the Canadian immigration policy. Unlike Tokyo, however, the Robertson who is or was the Superintendent of the Missions of the diplomatic enclave of Delhi was planned by a team of specialists Presbyterian Church in the North West Territories of Canada when representing three distinct governmental entities: the Depart- he said that he advised the people to build churches because he ment of External Affairs, the Department of Immigration, and wanted to see a building as evidence of the ability and permanence the Department of Public Works. At the time of its planning, the of his people and that a building stood as visible evidence of such state apparatus was under pressure to modernize its manage- ability and permanence. This saying put in the language of the Min- ment culture. It was a transitional phase where an old guard ister commends itself as an opposite saying with respect to the po- meets a new generation of postwar professionals eager to partic- sition of Canada in Japan in the eyes of the rest of the world and the ipate in the building of a nation, no longer a senior dominion but people of the Dominion in particular. The Minister is of the firm now a “middle power.”10 All were part of a larger scheme to proj- opinion that the people of Canada expect to have their legation as a ect a positive image of Canada, a member of the post imperial or- source of pride and if so my reasonable expenditure for that pur- ganization called the Commonwealth, and a promised land for pose will have public approval.5 postwar immigration. I intend to elucidate how the Canadian His comparison with the missionary church of the remote authorities and architects conceived, planned, and produced that Canadian territories is puzzling. He envisioned the legation like first postwar enclave during that time of bureaucratic transition.

16 MARIE-JOSÉE THERRIEN ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

I will first situate this story of the enclave in the realm of con- lematic. For in a multiethnic society such as India, contrasting temporary architectural historiography and pursue with a close views on the formulation of a national identity are bound to gen- examination of the floor plan in order to shed light on the strate- erate multiple interpretations, hence to retard or even prevent gies developed by certain groups of occupants who had to learn the creation of a unified State symbolism. One can argue here how to share such premises. that such a situation is not restricted to India but, in fact, con- The decades after World War II saw the creation of many cerns all democratic countries in need of establishing or consoli- new Nation-States. Certain leaders of those recently emancipat- dating national distinctiveness. Canada is a perfect example of ed States were determined to express their new status through such multi-layered interpretations, though admittedly not as colossal construction projects. Equating modernity with Mod- complex as India. However, both countries’ elites, at the time, ernist Western architecture, they, in some instances, appointed were attempting to shape a national identity with its own specif- European and American architects who had helped shape new ic agenda: Canada was trying to distinguish itself from its pow- abstract building forms unfettered by historical references. The erful neighbour,15 while India wanted to eradicate memories of top-down decisions made in some of those newly independent the Raj. Attempts to define a national architecture did not pro- States did not reflect the diverse positions of their multicultural duce identifiable results, for a good reason. The concept of a na- societies, but rather represented the aspirations of the leaders of tional architecture is dubious and does not survive close the time. With the growth of postwar nationalism, Western ar- examination. We must be careful not to extract meaning by tele- chitects were recruited to design new governmental structures scoping abstract political concepts and architectural forms. The that can be interpreted, in retrospect, as one elite dream divert- motivations of political leaders and their elite can give birth to ing resources from pressing social needs. However, that group of national cultural movements, but national architectural forms re- decision-makers, considered establishing a new national identity main intangible. It is in that regard that we must understand the through architecture, a priority that justified the channelling of impetus generated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with re- huge sums of money.11 For the selected architects, the challenge spect to post-independence Indian architecture. was to create buildings that symbolized the new national identi- Nehru envisioned a modern industrialized India; he had, as ty recently retrieved by those countries. The gigantic national well, an architectural vision for his country.16 Establishing a five- projects allowed architects like Le Corbusier to export their West- year plan, India embarked on a gradual process of moderniza- ern concept of architecture while attempting to adapt their frame tion, and adjusted to the new post-partition context by providing of thinking to the local conditions.12 the Indian State of Punjab with its own administrative centre, Unlike Canada, India fought a long battle to gain independ- Chandigarh (superseding Lahore, the previous capital). Nehru, ence. During the formative years of the autonomist movements as the architectural historian Tillotson writes, “attached great sig- (1919-1947), still under the British Raj, political leaders and the nificance to this new city; seeing it as a symbol of the new India, elite had started to shape a new Indian consciousness. The Hind he wanted it to be something distinctively modern, something Swaraj or the “Indian Home Rule” paved the way for an “indi- which would look ahead into the country’s future.”17 According anized”13 administration. Occurring over several generations, to Nehru, “India was in a mood to forget the past.”18 Unlike the that social transformation affected the state apparatus and was Brazilian President Kubitschek, who endorsed the construction still taking place in 1947. Many of Indian’s high civil servants of Brasilia in the early fifties, Nehru could not rely on a group of who climbed the bureaucratic hierarchy, however, were trained Indian architects who, like Niemeyer, Costa, and Roberto Burle in the “Oxbridge” tradition. Their presence was manifest for an- Marx, had been “admitted” into the ranks of the European tenets other two decades.14 The architectural profession lived through a of modern architecture. Nerhu decided to look abroad to find his similar situation. Even if the British hegemony over the local ar- architect, and abroad meant the West. That is the context in chitectural scene had started to erode after the completion of im- which Le Corbusier was invited to design Chandigarh. perial Delhi (Lutyens and Baker, 1911-1931), which indirectly The impact of Le Corbusier on the Indian architectural pro- fostered the establishment of Indian or hyphenated Anglo-Indi- fession was, beyond doubt, tremendous, although mostly re- an firms, the training of most architects was still strongly influ- stricted to the north subtropical region that spreads from enced by British models. Chandigarh to Bombay through Delhi and Ahmedabad. The When came the time to find a suitable architecture to ex- Modern Movement there appeared in the 1930s when a few press the post-independent Indian State, the situation was prob- wealthy individuals hired foreign architects like the Czech An-

17 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 2. Canadian High Commis- sion, Delhi, Gardiner, Thornton, Davidson, Garrett & Associates, 1969-1972. Department of Foreign Affairs and Inter- national Trade (DFAIT)

of Independence, there were only six schools of architecture, all still following British models of teaching. In the 1950s, while some foreign architects were invited to implement innovative curricula for new schools, others were brought in through Western aid programmes. But it was Chandigarh that really made a differ- tonin Raymond (who was also practicing in Japan, and as such ence. As a watershed designed the final drawings for Canada’s first enclave in Tokyo) in the development of modern architecture, it oriented the ca- or Marinus Dudok from the Netherlands. Ahmedabad with its reers of many postwar Indian architects who worked in Le Cor- enlightened industrialists19 was fertile ground for modern archi- busier’s office during the years that it took to complete that tecture, but the Movement did not permeate the country until ambitious scheme. the thrust generated by the building of Chandigarh (1952-1964). In postwar Canada, with the modernization of the architec- By then, the belief that architects had a social mission–that they tural curricula, young architects were eager to break new were called to shape the future of their country, an objective that ground, but were partially restrained by the persistence of the European apostles of the Modern Movement had set for them- old guard. The impetus of Chandigarh that, as the architect selves in the inter war period–was well entrenched in this com- Doshi wrote, “made Indian architects and planners think 23 munity of professionals. Far from being unique to afresh,” did not occur in Canada in the 1950s; though it would post-independent India, that awareness of the architects’ social in the next decade, with the planning of Expo 67. Despite a po- commitment is also found in Canada and many other countries larized architectural scene, Canada was an attractive country for during the period of unprecedented growth following World foreign architects. In certain governmental agencies, there was a War II.20 shortage of architects and engineers, forcing them to search 24 In Canada, the call for social commitment took place in an abroad for such professionals. Due to Canada’s ties with the educational milieu where the Modern Movement was best nur- Commonwealth, many came from Britain, a trend that was al- tured, whether in Toronto, Montreal, or Winnipeg. During the ready well established before the wars. Michael Garrett, princi- 1940s, as France Vanlaethem observes, “almost all schools of ar- pal architect in charge of the design of the High Commission in chitecture modernized their teaching methods [and] established Delhi, had completed his degree at the London Architectural As- syllabuses linking design to technical knowledge and to the hu- sociation before arriving in 1953. Garrett did not choose to join manities, and introduced the famous Basic Design course in- the ranks of the public service, but rather went to work for the vented by the Bauhaus [school].”21 Young aspiring architects Vancouver firm Gardiner, Thornton Gathé & Associates. criss-crossed the country to attend one of those schools, attract- The firm had worked for the Federal Department of Public ed by their reputations as being the strongholds of Modernist Works and also had some experience with building in the sub- teachings. Some students came from as far away as India to continent. It was selected in 1959 by a jury of architects from the study in Canada immediately after the war. Such was the case of private sector and governmental agencies. As part of a “policy of F. Bennett Pithavadian who, according to Lang, Desai, and Desai, exchanging representatives with new members of the Common- 25 “[…] was very much influenced by his architectural training at wealth,” Canada had established diplomatic contact with Delhi McGill under the tutelage of John Bland.”22 In India, at the time in 1947 and, a decade later, the decision was made to construct an enclave there. The construction, started in 1959, spread over

18 MARIE-JOSÉE THERRIEN ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

more than three decades, if one considers its latest expansion in well as the turbulent postwar CIAM (Congrès Internationaux the 1990s. In the meantime, the Canadian Government devel- d’architecture moderne), the pendulum swung back in favour of oped new economic assistant programmes for developing coun- a rediscovery of regional characters. Besides, the International tries and revised its immigration policy twice. Both services, in Style, which was starting to lose ground, had showed its limita- addition to routine diplomatic and trade activities, had impacts tions when applied to diplomatic buildings. The conspicuous on the design of the Embassy. crystal box of glass and steel was an easy target for the mobs Before his firm was commissioned, Michael Garrett traveled angry with foreign representatives,32 an additional reason to be for the first time to Pakistan and India in 1958 for a consulting more sensitive to local practice. Echoing regional character in engineering company working for a pulp and paper corpora- post-independence India was not an easy task, considering the tion.26 On his way back to Vancouver, he stopped in Paris, more multiple viewpoints on architecture. But in its own way, the chal- precisely at 35 rue de Sèvres, to pay homage to Le Corbusier; a lenge was made easier for Western architects who were preced- common pilgrimage in those days for the young admirers of the ed by the “masters” they wanted to emulate. Since the Maître. While a student in London, besides his affinities with Le acceptance of Modernist Puritanism was so well entrenched in Corbusier, Garrett had shown an interest in tropical architecture India, at least in the subtropical corridor of Chandigarh/Bom- with his thesis project on a building for Ghana. Compared to bay, foreign architects must have felt implicitly encouraged to Canada, Britain, for obvious historical reasons, was ahead of the create forms within the abstract aesthetic principles of the Move- game as regards questions of tropical architecture. When Garrett ment. took over the responsibility of the design for Delhi, early in the The Canadian High Commission in Delhi stands (fig. 2) on 1960s, he traveled again to Northern India. By the time of his sec- a vast property surrounded by high walls (as is usually the case ond trip in 1964, the overwhelming influence of the Modern with diplomatic compounds) in the diplomatic district of the city. Movement had left India with a vast number of buildings whose The original buildings on the enclave included a chancery, a res- purist forms tended to “neutralize regional differences.”27 Gar- idential quarter, and a sports centre. At first glance, the chancery rett’s own employers contributed to the proliferation of the Mod- bears the typical characteristics of brutalism with its bold scheme ernist impulse in the subcontinent, with the construction of a of abstract forms and volumes and its textured surfaces. A closer Catholic church in Dhaka (finished in 1967). In addition to look reveals affinities with Le Corbusier’s aesthetics; for instance Chandigarh, Garrett visited several Mogul historical sites and the opening of the façade punctuated by pilotis evokes the studied the work of Lutyens and Baker. In addition, he met with ground floor of the Unité d’habitation. Apart from those aesthetic contemporary Indian and Anglo-Indian architects, and analysed choices, the chancery demonstrates that it is not just a simple the foreign embassies of the diplomatic district. His knowledge transplant from a “snowbound country”33 type of architecture of Indian culture and architecture thus results from those short into a subtropical environment. The use of the parasol shell (a journeys. Quite understandably, Garrett could not produce a roof supported by posts, and with open sides, an architectonic proposal that reflected the intimate knowledge of an architect solution applied by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh) allows for bet- immersed in local culture. But such was not his mission. He was ter cross ventilation and provides extra shade to the sealed build- commissioned by his adoptive country to conceive a diplomatic ing. The covered passageway is a well-adapted solution to the enclave that acknowledged local architectural traditions. torrential rains of that monsoon region. It is a Modernist trans- Acknowledging architectural local tradition was a new re- formation of a veranda, which in a traditional residential Indian quirement that appeared in the standard project brief for em- architecture is a transitional zone that wraps the core of a bun- bassies in the early 1960s.28 Before that inclusion in the official galow. That passage not only contributes to the air circulation, as documents, the guidelines had rather been general, if not a veranda does, but it serves a security purpose: it isolates the vague.29 Such recognition of local tradition, or “regional charac- inner court behind a low concrete barrier. Unlike a veranda, ter,” as stated in the brief, could be connected to the postwar dis- however, it is not sheltered by devices such as screens or lattices, courses on regionalism that were gradually infiltrating the which provide privacy for the diverse domestic activities taking dominant doctrine of the Modern Movement as developed be- place in that transitional zone. In that sense, the passageway acts tween the two wars. With publications from Drew and Fry on more as an arcade, which, according to Mehrotra, is a public ex- tropical architecture,30 Richard Neutra’s own book, Architecture of tension of the veranda.34 Rather than providing intimacy to the Social Concern,31 Lewis Mumford’s writings on regionalism, as

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Fig. 3. Aquatic garden, Canadian High Commission, Delhi, Gardiner, Thornton, Davidson, Garrett & As- sociates, 1969-1972. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)

popular element certainly proved to be the brise-soleil. Le Corbusier, Drew and Fry had mastered the art of the brise-soleil, contributing to its popularity in the subcontinent and beyond36 (as a comparison point, it is important to bear in mind that traditional Indian architecture as well as many other tropical architectures used to rely, and still do, on a wide array of climatic devices that evolved over centuries of anonymous and incremental development). Garrett’s solution to residents of a bungalow, it protects the pedestrians and other reducing light admission and its related air conditioning costs users from the rain and sun. was to integrate a second envelope on the outside perimeters of The aquatic garden (fig. 3) with its circular monumental the façade (as seen above the passageway). In strict adherence to planter, stepping stones, and split-level pool, allowing for a con- the Modernist abstract rigour, Garrett designed two rows of stant circulation of water, recalls the Mogul gardens and, one brise-soleil made of concrete and marble that provided the need- must say, the courtyard of the American Embassy by Edward ed shade. From an aesthetic point of view, it was a clever solu- Durrell Stone. Here again Garrett shows how he tackled the tion that brought warmth to the bland texture of the concrete and process of adaptation with a cunning imagination, within the the repetitive structure underneath. Unfortunately, that elaborate precepts of Modernist architecture. A mere transposition would system of brise-soleil failed to protect the window frames and have resulted into a rigorously symmetrical water garden, in- the sealant that, because of the inflexibility of the device, were stead of the asymmetrical ordering. The chancery is also a good exposed to prolonged periods of subtropical heat and sunlight. illustration of a design that was developed with a genuine un- Therefore, Garrett’s uncompromisingly Modernist geometrical derstanding of the local building methods, which have been forms did not allow, as Mehrotra writes, “for a graceful weather- shaped by decades of Anglo-Indian entrepreneurship. It also ing process where each part mutually protects the other.”37 takes into account the restricted availability of materials. Relying Ethnic Biases and Administrative Prerogatives on an abundant labour force, contractors hired large mixed gen- der crews who worked on site with basic tools. The photograph In 1959, when the Department of External Affairs appointed the taken during that second phase of construction of the High Com- Vancouver firm, immigration was a high priority in Canadian mission, in the 1990s, shows men pouring concrete into wooden national policy, as Freda Hawkins mentions in her extensive moulds, out of containers that the women of the team carried on analysis of postwar Canadian immigration policy.38 But postwar their heads (fig. 4). immigration was almost entirely limited to European applicants, The chancery is not flawless. As with many sealed buildings a consequence of a policy that had set categories of admission with a controlled environment, the High Commission had con- based on ethnic selection. “Large-scale immigration from Asia tinuous bands of windows, some of which could only be opened was specifically rejected but small quotas were introduced for for cleaning purposes with a special tool.35 Tinted glass was em- India, Pakistan, and Ceylon in the Immigration Act of 1952. From ployed as well as a sealant and a waterproofing agent. Rows of 1952 to 1961, only 150 Indian applicants were admitted to Cana- windows in the semi-arid climate of Delhi admitted a lot of light da, in addition to close relatives.”39 That restrictive policy was that heated the interior and therefore obliged Garrett to incorpo- changed in 1962, and then refined in 1967, when Canada passed rate into the design elements that offered a suitable level of com- two non-discriminatory Immigration Acts. During that transi- fort. Post-independence Indian architecture offered Garrett a tion phase, old ethnic biases prevailed in the ranks of the De- whole gamut of climatic devices to deal with the particular envi- partment of Citizenship and Immigration as its “ever frank” ronmental conditions of the subtropical region. The most Minister Jack Pickersgill, referring to the Immigration Office in

20 MARIE-JOSÉE THERRIEN ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Fig. 4. Construction workers during the building of the second phase of the High Commission, c. 1990. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)

Delhi in 1955, explained: “As a matter of fact, you know as well as I do, that we do not have an office in India for the purpose of getting immigrants, for the sake of increasing the population of Canada. We agreed upon this quota as a gesture for the improvement of commonwealth relations. And, having done so, we have to treat these applicants decently […].”40 In addition to the blatant discrimination, immigration services abroad were not warmly welcomed into the crowds of prospective immigrants and their families. If the Immi- precinct of diplomatic establishment, as we shall see below. gration Section were to be located in the same building as the rest of A closer examination of the chancery’s layout reveals the ad- the Mission, it would result in the reception areas and lobby being ministrative prerogatives’ effects on spatial organization. The crowded with these people. Such an arrangement would be unac- floor plan (fig. 5) shows two main entrances, at opposite corners. ceptable to the Department of External Affairs.41 The first one serves the Diplomatic Section of the Embassy. The As with the comment of Pickersgill in 1955, the derogatory Ambassador, the VIPs, and any other visitors enter that section tone of the preceding excerpt is perplexing. One realises here through a covered passageway and are, thereby, protected from that this objection was not taken into consideration in the final bad weather. Opposite the Diplomatic Section, one finds the Im- layout, since the Immigration Service is integrated into the prem- migration Service, but no covered walkway–a device that I earli- ises. What happened between the memorandum and the final er described as a well-adapted solution to the environmental design remains conjectural. However, Hawkins helps us again to particularities of the region. The waiting room itself can accom- contextualize the above excerpt and what followed. In fact, as modate only a limited number of immigration candidates, leav- shocking as it may appear, the “peripheral” integration of the ing the rest of the queue outside to wait. At the time the Immigration Service within the wall of the Embassy is a real im- programme was compiled, Canadian authorities knew that provement when compared to earlier arrangements. As Hawkins “prospective immigrants” waited outside with their families to explains: meet with immigration officers. Unfortunately, the covered pas- The Department of External Affairs [from the late 1940s to mid sageway was not extended on that side of the building, where it 1960s] steadily favoured separate premises […] and consistently re- would have served a much larger group of users, essentially In- garded the Immigration Service as a lowly and separate part of the dian citizens who wished to apply for Canadian citizenship. Like overseas establishment of the Canadian government. It was never the layout of wealthy houses with their domestic wings and sep- seen at this early stage, and even much later, as an integral and po- arate stairways, the two sections do not communicate. From the tentially very valuable part of the whole Canadian image-building main façade on the side of the Diplomatic Section, one can bare- and information-giving apparatus overseas.”42 ly see the Immigration entrance. The potential immigrants are Immigration officers were considered of lower status and marginalized in the periphery of the building, out of sight. If, to were not welcome in the “jealously guarded”43 boys club of the our contemporary judgement that is a case of segregation foreign agents. That compartmentalization of overseas adminis- through a discriminatory spatial organisation, the situation at tration left an impact that was still present during the planning the time only seemed to be a question of departmental jurisdic- stages of the enclave in Delhi. Michael Garrett recalled that the tion. The External Affairs officers, indeed, tended to have a dis- planning of that section was the subject of many changes due to missive attitude toward the mission and their colleagues of the reassessment of Immigration overseas administration. Indeed, Department of Immigration, especially when it took place in the problems related to that compartmentalization were identi- their “backyard,” as the following excerpt illustrates: fied by the officers of the Glassco Commission in 1962 (a Com- The [two] buildings were considered necessary because the Immi- mission established to assess all government administration). gration Section, particularly in India, is normally surrounded by The integration of the Immigration Service with the overseas

21 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 5. Main floor plan, Canadian High Commission, Delhi: 1 Diplomatic entrance; 2 Cafeteria; 3 Library; 4 Theatre; 5 Immigration Services; 5a Immigration Service waiting room. (DFAIT)

certain countries, might be subject to State control (governmental surveillance or even reprisal). A surreptitious entrance is then well advised, so would be a covered passageway. As Hawkins stresses in her introduction, “immigration does not sit too well with foreign relations.”45 Because it im- plies the “direct action of one government upon the citizens of another,” Depart- ments of External Affairs “have avoided close association with it or have kept it well apart from considerations of foreign policy.”46 Such an arm’s length relationship was not only based on administrative prerogatives. It was, until the 1960s, an expression of the embarrassment resulting from discriminatory practices, like administration slowly occurred in the following years, and even- those described by Kirkwood in Tokyo. With the creation of the tually led to a more cooperative and egalitarian relationship be- new Immigration Act, the malaise remained although the rea- tween the different groups of officers. In that light, the sons differed. After the 1960s, the embarrassment was due to the integration of the Immigration Service within the walls of the “removal of skill and talent,” or the brain drain phenomenon, es- premises was definitely an improvement over earlier conditions. pecially detrimental to developing countries. Attracting the It also meant that the Immigration Service deserved the attention “best” candidates is the purpose of the Department of Immigra- of an architect, though not on equal ground. tion and, in order to achieve that goal, it must establish aggres- Hawkins, in her perceptive analysis on the role of the Immi- sive strategies to seduce those potential candidates, even though gration Service abroad, notes: “In a harsh and competitive world those strategies tend to be incompatible with the diplomatic too, immigrants need reassurance, comfort, and a measure of more discrete code of ethics. reasonable seduction.”44 Canadian Immigration since the ••• 19th century had relied on an extensive body of visually persua- The Canadian Embassy type of the 20th century has evolved sive documentation to attract new citizens. That “reasonable se- from relatively simple administrative programmes to elaborate ductive process” has a long past riddled with many problems. plans with layers of contradictory requirements. Conceived to Seducing prospective candidates must be done within certain represent Canada at its best, its originators promoted aesthetic limitations such as security restrictions, and political discretion. options, which reflected their system of beliefs, whether emanat- The “peripheral layout” of the immigration section must thus be ing from a single liberal-minded individual like Marler or the understood in the context of those two constraints. sub-group of civil servants and architects. That aesthetic selec- Security, which is a major and legitimate issue in the design tion is sustained by written statements included in official docu- of diplomatic compounds, often impedes the flow of the differ- ments such as the project brief. This does not imply that the built ent activities that take place in a mission. Many design decisions forms are simply a mere translation of such statements. The case have been made in the name of security. For that reason, the Im- of the enclave in Delhi illustrates the complexity of the transla- migration Service, even when fully integrated within the diplo- tion process, from the written specifications phase to the concrete matic building, tends to be located in a separate section of the layout. Designed in the Modernist idiom, then well accepted by premises, or at least isolated from other activities, therefore re- the leading Indian architects, and thus seemingly acknowledg- ducing the risk of circulation. In most instances, integrated im- ing the regional character of architecture, the High Commission migration sections will have their own entrance. Let us not forget is aligned with the official explanation. But good design–despite that security is also about the protection of the applicant who, in a few flaws–and the right aesthetic choice do not lead by them-

22 MARIE-JOSÉE THERRIEN ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

selves to comprehensive planning, certainly not when prevailing Raymond to design and execute arouses suspicion. Even the build- mentalities is holding up the process. the final drawings. ings intended for everyday purposes have an imperishable look The location of immigration offices in embassies construct- 5. Marler, Herbert (no date), The that points to their irrationality. ed after Delhi continues to illustrate the malaise about the inte- Canadian Legation in Japan, NAC, RG 25, vol. 2611, p. 33. Everything has been built to last gration of such a service within diplomatic grounds. The next forever, which means that every- 6. Comaroff, John L.J., 1997, Of generation of diplomatic building (in major cities), the “cultural thing is too solid for its purpose” Revelation and Revolution, The (1990, Bread and Circuses: Historical centre-embassy” was designed to promote Canadian culture, as Dialectics of Modernity on a South Sociology and Political Pluralism, a result of a political commitment to culture by the Trudeau Gov- African Frontier, vol. II, Chicago, Harmondsworth, p. 56). ernment. Official entrances leading to wide-open spaces, with University of Chicago Press, p. 293. 12. Contemporary discourses on large exhibition rooms, would serve that promotional purpose, architecture are now re-evaluating 7. Ibid. while secondary doors would quietly welcome immigration ap- the impact of such building forms. plicants. Some of the doors were located on the main façade and 8. Lynhiavu, Tou Chu Dou, India is a fertile ground for post- others were relegated to the back of buildings. In the case of « Canada’s Window on Asia: The colonial interpretations of mod- Establishment of the Tokyo Lega- Mexico City, the Immigration Service and Diplomatic Sections ernist architecture. Its intelli- tion in 1928-1931 », Journal of Cana- gentsia, at home and abroad, plays initially used the same entrance. A few years after opening in the dian Studies, 1996-1997, vol. 31, a leading role in reassessing the 1980s, the Immigration Office was moved to the back of the no. 4, p. 103. Indian multicultural heritage. My building. The multiple floor plans of the chancery in Washington 9. Lynhiavu : 101. interpretation of our High Com- mission in Delhi draws upon that showed similar hesitation when came the time to integrate that 10. On the question of the politi- body of works, as well as books Service. cal image of Canada abroad as and essays written by European expressed by the political elite, see Such hesitations will constantly affect the design of em- and American scholars. bassies. The differences between the managerial cultures of the Norman Hillmer and J.L. Granat- stein, 1994, Empire to Umpire, Cana- 13. For a definition of the notion two concerned departments do not naturally lead to full integra- da and the World to the 1990s, Toron- of Indianization, see Lang, J., tion. Future Canadian chanceries, such as the one soon to be in- to, Copp Clark Longman, p. 177. M. Desai, and M. Desai, 1997, The Search for Identity India 1880-1980, augurated in Berlin, might continue to be welcoming cultural 11. National state secular archi- Architecture & Independence, Delhi, centres, but services that imply high levels of security will prob- tecture like most of monumental Oxford University Press, p. 12-13. ably not (neither should they) have easy access. In light of recent architecture is built to achieve a terrorist acts, embassies are doomed to be less glamorous build- “focalization effect,” which, 14. Lang, Desai & Desai write on according to social historian David that matter: “These officials, veter- ings. The critical analysis of such premises must take into con- Levine, “results from concentrat- ans of service to the Raj, operated sideration the interrelation of the external factors that shape and ing a fraction of the whole social the legal administration system of reshape diplomatic architecture. wealth on a particular objective” India and the professions well into (2002, At the Dawn of Modernity, the 1960s and 1970s. By the mid- Notes 3. Marler was renowned for his Biology, Culture, and Material Life in seventies, however, a new genera- penchant for the British civil uni- Europe after the Year 1000, Berkeley, tion of leaders had emerged” 1. I wish to thank the following form. The diplomat Hugh L. University of California Press, p. 187). colleagues for their most useful Keenleyside, who was then an p. 104). Levine abets his argument 15. I am referring here to the comments: Sean Hawkins, Associ- assistant to the plenipotentiary with this commentary by the Massey-Lévesque Commission on ate Professor, History of Africa, Minister, described in his memoir French historian Paul Veyne: “The the State of the Arts, Letters and University of Toronto; Greg Don- the quasi-obsession of Marler for gigantism is misleading. It is much Sciences. On that matter, see Litt, aghy, Historian, Department of the proper dress code (1981, Mem- less costly to build what archaeol- Paul, 1992, The Muses, the Masses, Foreign Affairs and International oirs of Hugh L. Keenleyside, Ham- ogists and tourists call a high cul- and the Massey Commission, Toron- Trade; Boyd Beck, Chief Curator, mer the Golden Day, vol. 1, Toronto, ture, rich in monuments, than to to, University of Toronto Press. Prince Edward Island Provincial McClelland and Stewart Ltd., feed a population more or less Museum. 16. Nehru’s position on the mak- p. 255-256). adequately. Everything depends ing of the post-independent India 2. See Therrien, M.J, 1997, 4. Marler commissioned Ken- on the possessing class, which contrasted with Gandhi’s vision. « This Proper and Dignified neth G. Rea for a set of prelimi- controls the surplus and decides According to Lang, Desai & Desai, Accommodation: ‘The Marler nary drawings. He brought those what is to be done with it. The “Gandhi drew on the traditional House in Tokyo’ », SSAC Bulletin, along with him to Tokyo where he mere splendour of the monuments Indian experiences as a vol. 22, no. 3, p. 60-65. hired the Czech architect Antonin

23 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

mechanism to achieve ends; 24. Wright, Janet, 1997, Les biens distinguished architectural quali- in tropical environment, see Nehru too recognized India’s her- de la couronne. L’architecture du min- ty, rather than adherence to any Lefaivre and Tzonis : 34-37. itage, but he sought a modern istère des Travaux publics, 1867- given style of architecture.” (Letter 37. Mehrotra : 194. industrialized India” (p. 181). 1967, Toronto, University of Toron- from Jules Léger, Under-Secretary 38. Hawkins, Freda (2nd ed.), to Press, p. 242. for External Affairs, addressed to 17. Tillotson, G.H.R., 1989, The 1988, Canada and Immigration: Pub- D.E. Kertland, April 24, 1958, Tradition of Indian Architecture: Con- 25. Hilliker, John, and D. Barry, lic Policy and Public Concern, Mon- NAC, RG 25, vol. 7101, 8591-F-40- tinuity, Controversy and Change 1995, Canada’s Department of Exter- tréal, The Institute of Public pt, p. 1). since 1850, New Haven, Connecti- nal Affairs, Coming of Age, 1946- Administration of Canada and cut, Yale University Press, p. 127. 1968, vol. II, Montreal, Canadian 30. Drew, J., and M. Fry, 1956, McGill Queen’s University Press, 18. Ibid. Public Administration Series/ Tropical Architecture in the Humid p. 117. McGill Queens University Press, Zone, BT, London. 19. Concerning the role of the 39. Hawkins : 99. p. 12. 31. Publisher: Sao Paolo, Gerth Ahmedabad elite with modern 40. Hawkins : 101. architecture, Lang, Desai & Desai 26. That paragraph is based on Todtman, 1948. 41. « Minutes of a Meeting of the wrote: “Their descendants were letters and phone interviews with 32. See « Targets for Terror » in Treasury Board Advisory Commit- instrumental in bringing Le Cor- Michael Garrett in the summer of Jane Loeffler, 1998, The Architecture tee on Accommodation Abroad busier to Ahmedabad” (p. 175). 1996. of Diplomacy, Building America’s Held in the East Block on April 26, 27. Mehorotra, Rahul, 2001, embassies, Princeton Architectural 20. On the role of the architect in 1961 », p. 2, ANC, RG 25, vol. 5268, «Architectural Responses to Trop- Press, New York, An ADST-Dacor the postwar years in India and file 8591-40, pt. 5. Canada, see Doshi, Balkrishna, ical India », in A. Tzonis, Diplomats and Diplomacy Book, 42. On that matter, see Hawkins : 2002, « The Modern Movement in L. Lefaivre, and B. Stagno, Tropical p. 241-265. Although I could not 243. India », Back from Utopia, The Chal- Architecture, Critical Regionalism in find written evidence of a direct lenge of the Modern Movement, Rot- the Age of Globalization, Wiley- correlation between the American 43. Hawkins based her comment terdam, p. 190-197; and Therrien, Academy Fonds, The Nether- experience of early postwar van- on a report from a senior officer of M.J., and France Vanlaethem, lands, p. 199. dalism and terrorism, it is plausi- the Department of Citizenship and 2002, « Modern Architecture in 28. Item 4 of the Design Criteria ble to think that Canadian experts Immigration who toured the over- Canada 1940-1967 », in Hubert-Jan states: “Character: The develop- were sensitive to such attacks. seas office in Europe. The officer Henket, and Hilde Heyne (eds.) ment of regional character should None of the embassies built by found “that with few exceptions, Back from Utopia, The Challenge of be encouraged.” In Department of Canada presented a large percent- External Affairs staff regarded the Modern Movement, Rotterdam, Public Works, Building Construc- age of glass to the public façade. immigration as an inevitable but 010 Publishers, p. 126-137. tion Branch, « Project Brief, Islam- The closest example of Interna- rather unpleasant fact; did not tional Style is in Bonn, and even want to admit immigration offi- 21. Therrien and Vanlaethem : abad, Parts A & C, Chancery that example does not make too cers into their jealously guarded 126. Buildings, correct to 14/8/64 », Section A2, Design and Planning, many concessions to the aesthetic category of foreign service officer; 22. Lang Desai and Desai add, Ottawa, MRPC, Department of of the Style. Built on pilotis with and did not feel that immigration on Bland’s teaching: “[he] empha- Foreign Affairs and International an open underground parking lot, officers were of the caliber, educa- sized the development of an Trade (DFAIT). the building looks like a modern tion, or class to make them suit- ‘emphatic relationship’ with fortress with recessed windows. able for any kind of equal status” clients and the understanding of 29. The original version of the 33. Mehrotra : 200. (p. 244). structure as a generator of archi- aesthetic statement of intent was 44. Hawkins : 255. tectural form.” Upon his return copied from the American Foreign 34. Mehrotra : 195. from Montreal, Pithavadian’s Bureau: “The policy shall be to 35. Phone interview with 45. Ibid. provide requisite and adequate practice took place in the southern Michael Garrett, October 1, 1996. 46. Hawkins : 30. facilities in an architectural style regions of India, a tropical zone 36. On the impact of Drew and and form which are distinguished, less influenced by the Le Cor- Fry with regard to the brise-soleil busier, where “he developed the will reflect credit on the United attitude that the spatial forms of States (Canada), and increase the International style were irrele- goodwill by intelligent apprecia- vant to India” (p. 212). Pithavadi- tion, recognition, and use of the an first joined an Anlgo-Indian architecture appropriate to the site firm, which he acquired in the and country. Major emphasis 1970s. (p. 191). should be placed on the creation of goodwill in the respective coun- 23. Balkrishna : 197. tries by design of buildings of

24 ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Olga Zorzi Pugliese Angelo Principe

The Mosaic Workers of the Thomas Foster Memorial in Uxbridge

osaic works, and especially those that are integrated into architectural structures, are the result of the collaboration Mof the architect/artist who establishes the theme and designs the piece, on the one hand, and the craftsmen who prepare the work in the studio, at times modifying the design, and the installers who apply it on the building site, on the other. If the name of the specific artist is often forgotten, the role of the mosaicists is generally not recognized at all. Our ongoing work on mosaics in

Fig. 1. Two workers (Remo De Carli on the right) install the mosaics below the dome of the Canada is an attempt to fill in the lacunae as far as possible. The Foster Memorial in Uxbridge, Ontario, in 1936. results that may be obtained by this type of research are evident (Private collection) in our findings relative to an Ontario landmark. An architectural jewel in the Canadian landscape, the Thomas Foster Memorial Temple just north of Uxbridge has been listed as one of the “unusual things to see in Ontario.”1 It was Abstract commissioned in 1935 by a former Mayor of Toronto, Thomas The authors identify the mosaic workers and companies responsible for Foster (1852-1945), as a mausoleum for his daughter and wife, the decoration of the Thomas Foster Memorial Temple in Uxbridge, On- both of whom had died young, his daughter Ruby in 1904, his tario and explain their roles. The study is based on new data found in wife Elizabeth McCauley Foster in 1920, and eventually for him- old Italian-language newspapers, city directories, and archival records self. The Temple could also serve, he believed, as “a place of wor- in North America and Italy and on interviews with the family members 2 of the workers, who came to Canada from the Friuli region of Italy. Also ship” or “a place for holding funeral services, if so desired.” It included are photographs, provided by the family members, both of the was after completing several terms as Mayor of Toronto (1925- craftsmen at work on the site and visiting it with friends and also of the 27) that Foster travelled to Asia and the Middle East and, while company owners present at the time of the dedication of the building in in India, was inspired by the sight of the magnificent Taj Mahal 1936. to build something comparable for his own family in the area of Ontario where he had grown up before becoming a wealthy businessman (first as a butcher and then a real estate investor) and later a Toronto politician. Olga Zorzi Pugliese is a faculty member in the Department of Italian Studies Begun in 1935 and completed in the fall of 1936, the Temple at the University of Toronto and has published mainly on Renaissance Italian is set on an octagonal base. It is fifty-five feet wide, sixty feet literature and culture. Dr. Angelo Principe, a retired lecturer from the same long, and sixty feet high to the top of the permanently green- Department at the Mississauga campus, is the author of studies on Italian im- hued copper dome, the inside diameter of which is twenty-three migration to Canada. Together they have written a book on the first years feet; it is made completely of durable materials, wood and nails (1933-1941) of the only Italian association in Toronto that, having survived having been banned from the project. Byzantine in structure, it World War II, is still very active today. boasts a most luxurious interior. In addition to fine stained glass windows, it is richly decorated with sixteen marble columns that, on their mosaic capitals, display symbols representing the twelve apostles and four gospel writers. The terrazzo and mar- JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003) ; 25-30.

25 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 2. Two workers (Remo De Carli on the right) at the main entrance of the Foster Memorial. (Private collection)

In our research on mosaics throughout Canada, we have had the good fortune of finding two reports on the Foster Memo- rial published in a rare Italian-language Toronto newspaper of the time. We have also located and interviewed several live wit- nesses (Olvino De Carli, Mary De Carli, and Elsa Bratti4), the first directly involved in, and the other two present at the time of the building of the Temple. From Mary De Carli and Anita De Carli Baker we have received precious photographs taken when the temple interior was under construction and soon after its completion. On the basis of the new evidence, it is now possible to identify, first of all, two of the companies involved in the construction of what was termed “the most sumptuously Byzantine temple and mausoleum ever erected in Canada.”5 As one of the Italian- language newspaper articles, entitled “Il Memoriale di Thomas Foster a Uxbridge, Ontario” (Il bollettino italo-canadese, 27 No- vember 1936) indicates, the extensive work in imported marble, including the columns, was executed by the Italian Mosaic and Marble Company of Canada Limited, then located at 60 Caledo- nia Rd.6 Run by Egidio (known as Gid or Giles) De Spirt, it was one of the first such companies in Canada, and began as a subsidiary of the parent company established earlier in the United States by Egidio’s father Giacomo, who had arrived in the Unit- ed States from Friuli in the nineteenth century. In 1936, the newspaper article states, the company had branches in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City. As far as Toronto is con- ble mosaics on the floors bear symbolic designs, such as the cerned, we have been able to verify, by consulting the Might’s di- River Styx that visitors cross upon entering the building. Bright- rectories, that the manager in 1935-36 was indeed Egidio De Spirt ly coloured vitreous mosaics adorn the pendentives under the (1894-1981), and that he had held this key position in the Italian dome, and the soffits and returns of the great arches, in hues of Mosaic and Marble Company since 1924,7 although other mem- orange and green. bers of his family had served in that capacity in the years imme- The descriptive information that has come down to us in diately preceding. A non-family representative, Albino Pedron pamphlets and newspaper articles about the features of that (1881-1946), another Friulian, had originally been sent to Canada unique landmark has been drawn repeatedly from a key article to work for the United States-based De Spirt company earlier in published in an architectural journal, in the year of its comple- the twentieth century, but soon set up his own companies.8 tion, by the architects Craig and Madill.3 The authors point out, The artistic mosaic work in the Foster Memorial was con- for example, that “the perfect form of architecture, that of the tracted instead to the Connolly Marble, Mosaic and Tile Compa- pyramid, was the fundamental motif for the design.” A search ny. Although ex-Mayor Foster, a Presbyterian, was known for his for background information about the project in the archives of frugality, he wanted nothing but the best for his family’s mau- the Uxbridge-Scott Museum has produced the name of the con- soleum. In fact, it should be noted that the project was termed struction company, Witchall and Son, General Contractors, but “Foster’s Folly” by those local residents who felt that there was no details about the sub-contractors and certainly none about the a greater need for a hospital in the area instead.9 Given Foster’s workers responsible for the marble and mosaics. In fact, such in- extravagance on the project, it is not surprising that he should formation is nowhere to be found in any of the official English- have approved that the work be commissioned from Joseph P. language sources. Connolly, whose company had completed, just two years earlier in 1933, the much praised mosaic vaulted ceiling at the east

26 OLGA ZORZI PUGLIESE AND ANGELO PRINCIPE ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Fig. 3. Five workers (Remo De Carli at the far right) in front of the Foster Memorial. (Private collection)

Fig. 4. Some workers, their families and friends inside the Foster Memorial. From left to right: Bruno Bratti, Antonio Dell’Angela, Olvino De Carli, Andy Bortolotti, Victor Dell’Angela, and Wallace Chrysdale. (Private collection)

out the achievements of the company’s expert mosaicist, Ciro Mora, who had worked, it is stated, not only on the Foster Memorial but also on the Museum mosaic.12 Indeed our research has brought to light more information on that craftsman. Born in the town of Se- quals in the Friuli region of Italy–a town that was the very centre of the tradition of mosaic art, even though the official mosaic school eventually set up in 1922 was located in the nearby town of Spilimbergo–,13 Ciro Mora (1889-1960) is listed as a mosaicist in a book based on records of Sequals.14 Mora had arrived in the United States in 1912 (as the Ellis Island records show). Accord- ing to information provided by his hometown Mayor, he married in 1919 Irene Carnera, a townswoman from Sequals in Washing- ton. The Toronto records indicate that he worked there in 1928- 29 for the Italian Mosaic and Tile Co., before joining the Connolly Company. He is listed as a partner in the Connolly Company of Toronto from 1930 to 1939 (as Vice-President in the latter year, for example15), together with a fellow Friulian, Antonio Bortuzzo (1880-1966) of Spilimbergo.16 Bortuzzo, who had arrived in the entrance to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto with its com- United States in 1907 and was a Connolly partner for a brief pe- prehensive depiction of the various civilizations of the world. riod in 1930-32, as the records in Might’s directories show, re- Connolly (1882-1943) had arrived in Toronto from Ireland in 1900 turned afterwards to his hometown in Italy. The partnerships and was to become active in city politics.10 Before establishing his demonstrate that the Anglo-Canadian entrepreneurs required own mosaic and marble company–listed for the first time in the the skills of the Italian Canadian craftsmen. Since Ciro Mora had directories in 1930–he had gained experience in the field, having been in Washington,17 together with his brother Dante Mora, also served as Manager of De Spirt’s Italian Mosaic and Marble Com- a mosaicist, who was born in Sequals in 1883 and died in Wash- pany from 1917 to 1920 and as Vice-President of Pedron’s Art ington, one may speculate that they had a hand in some impor- Mosaic and Tile Co. Ltd. in 1927 and 1928, for example.11 Clearly, tant mosaic works executed in the United States capital too. The an Anglo-Canadian associate was a necessity for these early Ital- November 1936 article already cited announces that Ciro Mora, ian-Canadian enterprises. who had served as a member of the executive of the association Connolly’s contribution to Toronto architecture and that of of Friulians in Toronto,18 was about to return to Italy (and that others too is confirmed in an article that appeared a week earlier has been confirmed by those who knew him). He was to be rein the same Italian-language newspaper, Il bollettino italo- placed, it is stated, by the young Connolly employee, Remo canadese. Entitled “Aliti di arte italiana in Canada” or “Glimmers De Carli (1908-72), another Friulian who had arrived in Canada of Italian Art in Canada” (20 November 1936), it announces the in 1927 and who, together with his brother Olvino (1912-97), was completion of the Foster Memorial, names the Connolly Compa- eventually to become owner of the Connolly Company from the ny of 316 Dupont St. as the one responsible for the mosaics, and early 1950s on. The Connolly Company, under the De Carli di- speaks of the firm’s excellent reputation. Furthermore, it singles rectorship, it should be noted, went on to provide much

27 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 5. From left to right, inside the Foster Memorial, Olvino De Carli, Julia Oliviero (fiancée of Remo De Carli), Mary Mariani (fiancée of Olvino De Carli). (Private collection)

Fig. 6. At the dedication of the Foster Memorial on October 25, 1936, standing from left to right, Remo De Carli, Joseph P. Connolly, Ciro Mora, Eugenio Olivero. (Private collection)

standing, has made it possible to identify Remo De Carli only, on the far right. Another series of photos, also from the summer of 1936, one may deduce, was taken in the interior this time and on a different, more festive occasion, when the workers and their families and friends attended a picnic at the site. Thomas Foster was very fond of picnics. The bequests that he left at his death included funds not only to promote cancer research at the University of significant embellishment of architectural sites in Canada. As far Toronto and other causes, but also to sponsor an annual picnic as their works in mosaic are concerned, the height of their pro- for underprivileged children in the city.22 It is very likely that it duction was in the 1960s and 1970s.19 was he who organized the event for the Temple workers. One It is most fortunate that the De Carli family has preserved person who attended the picnic but does not appear in the pho- some photographs taken at the Foster Memorial on at least three tos, Elsa (Dell’Angela) Bratti, has, however, identified all of the separate occasions, all save one of small format. The first set persons who do appear. In the group photo (No. 4) taken in the shows the mosaic installers at work on the building site.20 In still incomplete temple (it may be observed that one of the photo No. 1 we recognize, on the right, Remo De Carli21 at work columns is partially wrapped for protection as the work was pro- high up on a scaffold installing mosaics near the inscription that ceeding23), we find from left to right her husband (Bruno Bratti), circles the building just below the dome. The last words of the her father (Antonio Dell’Angela, who had won a gold medal in gold lettering are clearly visible. In its entirety it reads: “Take this Udine in 1911 for his accomplishments as a mosaicist), the young my body for it is done and I have gained a new life, glorious and Olvino De Carli, Andy Bortolotti (a protégé of Dell’Angela who eternal” [highlighting ours to indicate the letters seen in the pho- would later become founder of York Marble, Tile and Terrazzo), tograph]. The snapshot must have been taken by fellow in- Elsa’s brother Victor Dell’Angela (an artist24 who, as the Might’s stallers, in all likelihood positioned on other scaffolds at the same directories show, had worked early on, e.g., in 1931, as a drafts- height from the ground. Photograph No. 2 shows the same Remo man for De Spirt’s Italian Mosaic and Marble Company), and De Carli standing at the entrance of the building together with an finally Wallace Chrysdale, the fiancé of a friend, Olga Ruffino. unidentified worker. In photograph No. 3, taken on the same day Another photo (No. 5) includes the De Carli women too, Julia as the previous photo (the workclothes of both men are identical Olivero, who married Remo De Carli in September of 1936, and in each), a larger group of five workers stand in front of the struc- Mary Mariani, fiancée at the time of Olvino, who also figures in ture. An enlargement of a detail of the photo, where the men are the photograph.25

28 OLGA ZORZI PUGLIESE AND ANGELO PRINCIPE ANALYSE / ANALYSIS

Fig. 7. Remo and Julia De Carli inside the Foster Memorial on the day of its dedication. (Private collection)

And, finally, the last set of two photos, one large and one small, records a very special event, the official opening of the Foster Memorial and its dedication on Sunday, 25 October 1936.26 In the larger photo (No. 6), taken in front of the cornerstone plaque, we find again on the left Remo De Carli, this time ele- gantly dressed. Next to him is the owner of the marble and mosaic company, Joseph P. Connolly, and then, third from the left, his chief mosaicist and partner, Ciro Mora. On the far right we find Eugenio Olivero, known as Eugene Oliver, chef at the King Edward Hotel, and Remo De Carli’s father-in-law. The smaller photo (No. 7) shows Remo inside the Temple in the same fancy attire and accompanied by his wife Julia. The evidence presented here–based on the consultation of Italian-language newspapers, old city directories, and contemporary photographic records, along with archival sources and mainstream newspapers–brings to light for the first time specific names for the companies and workers involved in preparing what are certainly the most lavish features of the Foster Memor- ial, its marble and mosaics. Our research now enables us to correct the belief on the part of some that “Workmen were brought from Italy to perform the intricate details of its tiling, mosaic and marble work.”27 As we have seen, the workers did indeed come from the Friuli region of Italy, but they were already in Canada (some in the U.S. originally) working on other sites too. Some craftsmen returned to Italy, as in the case of Mora and Bortuzzo, although it was expected that the former at least would return, while others, like the De Carlis and Dell’Angelas, stayed. On the basis of that new data, one can appreciate even more the statement found in a 1994 article in “Details” (18 June 1994, “The Back Page”) available at the Temple. It points out that nine years ago the mosaics and marble were in good condition and Notes 4. The De Carlis were inter- that the estimated cost to erect the building in that year would viewed on 22 September 1996 and 1.Brown, Ron, 1993, rpt. 1999, have been approximately five million dollars. But the writer Elsa Dell’Angela Bratti on 4 June « Ontario’s Taj Mahal: The 2001. adds the clause, “if the craftsmen could be found for the Thomas Foster Memorial », 50 decorative work”–an important caveat, indeed. It highlights Even More Unusual Things to See in 5. A front-page article in The Uxbridge Times Journal, 29 October what the aim of our research and of this paper has been; namely, Ontario, Erin, Ontario, Boston 1936. to recognize, even if with a single example, albeit an outstanding Mills Press, no. 30. 6. Other works by the company one, the indispensable contribution that Italian mosaic and 2. From his dedication speech, the text of which, along with other listed in the article are the mosaic terrazzo workers and early entrepreneurs have made to the be- information on the Temple and on floors in the Toronto Old City atifying of Canadian architecture. Without them it could not Foster, is available in the Archives Hall, the King Edward Hotel, and have taken place. of the Uxbridge-Scott Museum, the provincial Parliament building HB. 80. 5. in Toronto. In 1936 the company had just received contracts for 3. Craig and Madill, 1936, Jour- similar works in the Parliament nal, Royal Architectural Institute of building in Quebec City, the Min- Canada, 13, p. 225-229. istry of Justice (ex RCMP) build-

29 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

ing in Ottawa, the Gray Nuns’ newspaper stressing the need for a Sequals: Edizioni Biblioteca del- 22. See the article “Mayor Fos- Monastery in Ottawa, and many hospital in Uxbridge. Our thanks l’immagine), p. 182 (the year of ter’s Legacy: Ice Cream in the others. to Dario Brancato who looked up death is erroneously given as Park,” in the Toronto Star, 13 Sep- That article on the marble work some of those and other newspa- 1950). The book was a gift from tember 1976, p. C1, with a photo of appeared a week after the report per articles. ingegnere Gianpiero Blasarin, May- then Toronto Mayor David Crom- featuring the Foster Memorial 10. See his death notice in The or of Sequals. bie. Recently an article by George mosaics. There may well have Telegram, 7 June 1943, bearing the 15. Since the individual entries Gamester, entitled “Eccentric been some rivalry between the following title: “Joseph Connolly for Ciro Mora end in 1937, one Mayor was Honest and Rich,” individuals and the companies Dies in Scarboro: Well Known as may surmise that he was kept on appeared in the Toronto Star, involved. Constructor of Mosaics in Royal as a partner, in the expectation that 19 January 2003, p. A16. 7. During WWII the company Ontario Museum.” he might return. In fact, the Italian 23. Thanks go to Ivano Bortolus- changed its name to De Spirt 11. See the Might’s Toronto article states that he was going to si for the explanation of this detail. Mosaic and Marble Co., as the directory entries for those years. return to Canada and bring with 24. Information on the Dell’An- him new ideas about mosaics from entries in Might’s Toronto directo- 12. “Recentemente è stata ulti- gelas may be found in Julius A. Italy. (“Egli sta per partire per l’I- ries for the years from 1941 on mata una rotonda, per un monu- Molinaro’s review of Angelo talia ed è sua intenzione di portare indicate, although the Caledonia mento funebre della famiglia Fos- Principe, and Olga Zorzi Pugliese, qui il soffio delle nuove idee artis- Rd. address remained the same. In ter, in Uxbridge, dall’artista ital- 1997, Rekindling Faded Memories tiche che pervade la penisola the earlier years, e.g. 1929, the iano Ciro Mora, un mosaicista (cited above) in Italian Canadiana, anche nel campo del mosaico.”) company was located on King St. provetto che tiene alto il nome del- 13, p. 142-144. West. l’arte italiana dei mosaici in questa 16. The registry office of the 25. Olvino told us that he had 8. Zucchi, John, 1988, Italians in città. Il lavoro è uno dei molteplici town of Spilimbergo has provided worked on the Foster Memorial; Toronto: Development of a National eseguiti da questo artista. Tutti information on him. Elsa reported that both her father Identity, 1875-1935, Kingston and possono ammirare i mosaici del 17. He resided at 517 3rd St., NE, and brother, Antonio and Victor Montreal, McGill-Queen’s Univer- locale Museo. La rotonda ha il Washington, D.C., as one of the Dell’Angela, had as well. The pres- sity Press, p. 84 speaks of this. preg[i]o di essere un fine lavoro Ellis Island records for his brother ence of the others can be account- More specific data is found in the d’arte, forse uno dei migliori che indicates. ed for, she stated, by the fact that Toronto directories: they show that ha eseguiti il Cira.” (Recently a 18. Principe, Angelo, and Olga Julia, Elsa, and Olga were best Pedron, who arrived in the U.S. in temple was completed in Zorzi Pugliese, 1996, Rekindling friends. 1909 or even earlier in 1901 (see Uxbridge, as a mausoleum for the Faded Memories: The Founding of the 26. Both Elsa Dell’Angela Bratti, the Ellis Island records), was Foster family, by the expert Famee Furlane of Toronto and Its a close friend, and Anita De Carli working in Toronto in 1914. For mosaicist Ciro Mora, who does First Years (1933-1941), Toronto, Baker, the daughter of Remo four years (1915-18) he was Man- honour to the Italian art of mosaics Famee Furlane, p. 63. De Carli, have confirmed the iden- ager of the Venetian Marble and in this city. This work is one of the 19. The works of that period will tities of the persons in the last set Mosaic Company; from 1919 on he many that have been executed by be discussed in the central part of of photos. was Manager of the Italian Mosaic this artist. All may admire the the book we are preparing on 27. From an article describing and Tile Co. Ltd (which moved mosaics in the local Museum. The mosaics in Canada. the opening and the dedication from 429 Spadina Ave. to Temple has the distinction of being ceremony on the front page of The 250 Madison Ave. in 1924) and a fine work of art, perhaps one of 20. Special thanks go to Mrs. Uxbridge Times Journal, 29 October then President in 1923-26. At that the best that Cira [sic] has pro- Mary (Mariani) De Carli and Mrs. 1936. It also reports that 2,000 per- point, he sold the company to its duced.) Il bollettino italo-canadese, Anita (De Carli) Baker for the pho- sons, only 375 of whom could be Vice-President, John Brooks. From 20 November 1936. tos. accommodated inside the temple, 1927 to 1933, Pedron was Presi- 21. The worker on the left has 13. From 14 December 2002 to attended the event. dent of the Art Mosaic Tile Co. 16 March 2003, the ROM (Royal not been identified. Ltd. located at 619-621 King St. Ontario Museum of Toronto) host- West. ed an exhibit of mosaic works by 9. See Bob Langmaid’s article in the teachers and students of the the Toronto Star, 1 July 1986. The school. Temple was called “Foster’s Folly” 14. Colledani, Gianni, and Tullio in the Toronto Star, 30 November Perfetti (eds.), 1994, Dal sasso al 1995, p. OS 2. Recently too, on mosaico: Storia dei terrazzieri e 20 November 2002, a letter to the mosaicisti di Sequals (Comune di editor was published in the same

30 ESSAI / ESSAY

André Casault

House Hunting Or I’Ve Never “Lived” In My House

he autochthon reserves were initially meant to be a temporary alternative to the Innu nomadic way of life, a kind of Ttransition phase before their total integration into the Canadian society. The reserve at Unamen Shipu, a site that the Innu had been occupying seasonally for thousands of years, was created in 1954. The first permanent houses were built for the members of the community. Local recipients of the Canadian Government’s welfare program began to receive a monthly allowance check. The children were sent to school from September to July in Sept- Îles, a city located several hours away by boat, and a new church Fig. 1. The House of Théo Mark on the reserve, a small house built soon after 1954 (this ex- was erected for the first catholic priest to permanently settle into ample has been renovated since). (Photo: André Casault, 1998) the community. The Innu could finally look forward to a much easier life… Abstract Although the Innu now live on a reserve in permanent houses, the vast majority of the population still takes part in tra- Less than fifty years ago, the Innu of Unamen Shipu, a Northern Quebec ditional activities, such as hunting and fishing, several months a 1 native community, were still a nomadic tribe, hunting, fishing, and year. Unamen Shipu’s population has grown from less than 200 gathering food in the vast lands of northeastern Canada. Since 1954, the in the 1950s to more than 800. The houses were all planned with year in which the Government of Canada officially created an au- standard North American divisions: a living room, a kitchen and tochthon reserve at Unamen Shipu, the Innu have moved into perma- a dining room, and two or three bedrooms. The living room has 2 nent houses. This paper will begin by examining the relationship the a large bay window, the kitchen is of the laboratory type, and Innu have with their reserve dwellings. That will be followed by the there is neither an entry vestibule nor an adequate place to install 3 presentation of an exploratory design exercise, whose goal was to de- a wood stove on the ground floor (fig. 1). All that said, the ma- velop sustainable housing prototypes adapted to the Innu’s present way jority of community members, if not all, would not want to give of life. The exercise has raised several interesting questions as to the per- up the comfort of those modern homes. Televisions, washing sistence of tradition and the importance of place and territory in the de- machines and dryers, skidoos, and trucks are all consumer goods sign of dwellings. that the Innu cherish, in the same way that most North American people do. There has been little explicit criticism levelled against those André Casault est architecte et professeur à l’École d’architecture de la Faculté d’aménagement, d’architecture et des arts visuels de l’Université Laval. Il houses by the Innu. However, upon visiting the reserve, one can- s’intéresse à la richesse de la diversité culturelle en architecture et à sa promo- not help but observe an implicit but strong reaction to the North tion. Il enseigne le design architectural en contexte interculturel et l’architec- American style of houses that have been built there. As far as the ture vernaculaire au niveau du baccalauréat, au niveau de la maîtrise, il Government is concerned, most of the problems associated with donne l’atelier Habitat et culture et un cours sur la Coopération internationa- the houses stem from a lack of maintenance. But can the strong le, l’architecture et l’urbanisme. Il coordonne actuellement un projet de parte- reactions and lack of maintenance rather be seen as a positive nariat universitaire en coopération et développement (PPUCD- ACDI) avec la expression of traditional and cultural vivacity? Faculté d’architecture de l’École nationale supérieure de génie civil de Hanoi The Innu people have been alienated in their way of life by au Vietnam. a centuries-old relationship with the white man. Even today, they are still having trouble with the recognition of their tradi- JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003) ; 31-42. tional nomadic fishing and hunting customs. Moreover, and

31 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 2. A large territory of relatively flat land, arid, and austere, and dotted by thousands of lakes and rivers. A land where conifers grow and where, further north, the biggest trees rarely grow taller than a man. (Photo: Louise Bellemare,1999)

Fig. 4. A canvas tent viewed from the inside, with the stove near the entrance. (Photo: André Casault, 1998)

kilometres, is relatively flat, arid, and austere. It is a land dotted by thousands of lakes and rivers, a land made up of conifers where, further north, the biggest trees rarely grow taller than a man (fig. 2). That land did not belong to anybody–apart from the gods–and had no divisions. It was a land without limits where moose and caribou (the Innu’s main game) roamed in large number. Nothing and nobody kept the Innu from going further and further in their search for food. After all, was it not a territory nobody else wanted? In their search for game, the Innu moved from site to site in Fig. 3. A few tents mounted in a row on the edge of a lake in the fall. small family groups. Depending on the availability of wild (Photo: Louise Bellemare and Théo Mark, 1999) game, they would settle on a site for a period of time, anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, rarely longer. Two, three, or four much more importantly, recognition of the ownership and juris- tents would form a campsite for about 20 to 40 people at the diction of the lands they have been occupying and using for cen- most. The tents would be set up along a riverbank or on the edge turies is still a major issue. of a lake, not in circle (fig. 3). The canvas prospector tents of early During the first half of 1999, the author collaborated with European explorers had long since replaced their bark summer members of the Innu community in their search for a more ade- tent and their caribou hide huts. Easier to use and lighter to quate sustainable dwelling, for a house that would correspond to carry, though offering good resistance, the canvas tents rendered and respect their way of life as well as their aspirations. A design life a little easier for them. The first canvas tents built by the Innu exercise was undertaken by the Cross-Cultural Design Studio in had the same cone or dome shape as their fur or bark tents.4 The the winter of 1999, to which sixteen students participated. This canvas tent they still used nowadays is rectangular and has a article reports on the exercise and has been structured in such a two-slope roof. Open at one end, it is equipped with a small way as to reflect the working organization of the design studio. hand-made wood stove during the winter, located near the entrance, but far enough in to allow people to easily come in and Before the Reserves – The Nomadic Life out of the tent. The chimney pipe goes out right above the stove, The design studio project began by the students thoroughly re- through a hole in the tent roof (fig. 4). The hand-made stove and searching the topic. All aspects of the subject were investigated: chimney are built using sheet metal. That heating device is rather the life of the Innu in primitive times, then during the colony, the small and light, making it easy to carry. A little bit of sand put in- history of the reserve, the first permanent houses built as well as side the stove corners prevents the wooden legs from becoming the current houses, and precedents (similar projects–if any), too hot and burning the floor covered with fragrant fir boughs. other people’s experiences in the transition from a nomadic to a That amazing floor–or sapinage as it is called locally–that the sedentary way of life, etc. Innu make for each tent can be more than a foot thick in the For thousands of years, the Innu had hunted and fished on winter, while it is usually half as thick during the other seasons. the lands north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, vis-à-vis Anticosti Large fir branches are first laid down with the inside of the Island. That huge territory, made up of thousands of square branch curve facing the snow. During the winter, the snow-

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Fig. 6. Skidoos in front of a campsite (the “utatnun” is pulled by the skidoo second to the left). (Photo: Louise Bellemare and Théo Mark, 1999)

Fig. 5. A comfortable floor made of fir branches. (Photo: Louise Bellemare and Théo Mark, 1999)

covered ground is carefully packed down before the branches are laid down. The first layer is then covered with much smaller fir branches. That type of floor provides excellent insulation from the cold and turns the uneven ground into a flat, soft, and very comfortable floor (fig. 5). The description of that floor would not be complete if we forgot another one of its outstanding qualities: its smell. In fact, who has never smelled the wonderful fragrance Fig. 7. Things are carefully tied up along the interior walls of the tent. exuded by freshly cut fir branches?5 The tent is literally filled (Photo: Louise Bellemare and Théo Mark, 1999) with that fragrant odour. The introduction of the utatnun, a box- like long and narrow sleigh attached on the back of a skidoo The Reserves – The First Houses (fig. 6), made it easier for the Innu to transport luggage and they now cover the bough floor with carpets–that nowadays replace The reserves were created in an effort to concentrate the au- the caribou furs used in the past (fig. 4 and 7). The difference lies tochthon population in a smaller area. That was convenient for in the fact that the furs were not brought back home as is, but the allochthons (the white people) who began to be aware of the were transformed, as needed, into moccasins, mittens, or others many yet unexplored resources of that vast land. Wood was one leather goods. of the first resources to interest the white community (to be pre- On the outside of the tent, snow is packed against the sides cise, fur was the first resource the whites had been interested in, for insulation from the cold. On the inside, bedclothes, blankets, but they were dependent on the natives to hunt them). In the small mattresses, and clothing are carefully hung up on the tent case of La Romaine, the hydroelectric potential and the mineral walls during the daytime (fig. 7). Not only does that arrange- resources of the area were things men from the south wanted to ment keep the heat in, it is also very comfortable to lean back on! exploit. For several decades, the Innu had been pushed further The actual fabric of the tent–the canvas–contributes to create a and further north, far away from the cities. Since the beginning special interior atmosphere. The canvas is white (or natural light of the colony, the Catholic Church had also been interested in beige) and translucent, and thus allows the outside light to filter concentrating the autochthon population in a smaller area–that in. On nights when the moon is full, the inside of the tent is centralization would greatly facilitate the evangelization it had slightly illuminated. Another interesting characteristic of the tent undertaken. Because of its isolated location, the creation of a re- is directly related to the fact that it is made of fabric, thus allow- serve on what is known today as La Romaine came quite late as ing exterior noises to penetrate. Those are features that make the compared to certain other sites. In fact, there are no roads lead- living space very much in contact with the surrounding nature. ing to La Romaine. Due to the large number of lakes and rivers That type of tent is still used today by the Innu for their in that part of the country, coupled with a very low population hunting and fishing expeditions. Some families sometimes also density, a road would be extremely costly to build. One has to set up camp near the reserve to trap small game such as beavers, take a boat or a plane to reach that settlement located on the lynx, seals, foxes, wolves, martens, etc., either for their meat or shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a few hundred kilometres their fur. They may go there for a few days, or even just for a few away from the nearest village serviced by a road. In winter, hours, to relax and to come into closer contact with nature. however, things arequite different. The lakes and rivers freeze

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Fig. 8. Aerial photograph showing La Romaine and its two settle- ments. The beige spot in the middle of the photograph is the Innu reserve. Underneath it, is the white people’s village on the peninsula, circa 1985. (Photo: Ministère des ressources na- turelles du Québec)

families came and fished near the Unamen River. It was often the occasion for great festiv- ities. That is why the site gradually became a trading post–called Ni- tassinan by the traders6–where trading companies, attracted by such large gatherings, came and exchanged goods with the Indians. Today, La Romaine7 is made up of two distinct villages or settle- ments that co-exist side by side. On the west side lies the allochthon or “white” village, on the east side the autochthon or Innu settlement (fig. 8). The allochthon village is a rather spontaneous settlement where the houses are all different from one another. They are built on lots that may or may not be bordered by a fence. The village is criss-crossed with a few narrow streets that closely hug the contours of the landscape. Visibly, the houses have been built and progressively transformed by their owners. Every action that is taken is under the direct control of its inhabitants. Au- tumn starts early November to be precise. The wind is quite strong during that season, and the vegetation has, to say the least, a difficult time. There is nothing luxurious around the houses, simply the natural indigenous vegetation that has survived and can resist in such a climate (fig. 9). The street layout and the housing design are very different Fig. 9. A road, a few houses, and the church in the west part of La Romaine. (Photo: Louise Bellemare and Théo Mark, circa 1993) in the autochthon part of La Romaine (the allochton village is not part of the reserve). The streets are aligned and form a gridiron over and the land is covered in snow. To the great happiness of pattern. Another important difference, the streets are much local residents and visitors as well, it becomes much easier, if not wider, and bordered by ditches (fig. 10). Many houses are identi- a pleasure, to circulate. In fact, everyone uses a snowmobile or cal. In fact, after a quick walk around the Innu settlement, it is skidoo to get around in the region and winter roads are well easy to see that the couple of hundred or so houses on the reserve maintained and marked out. have only been built in four or five different styles. All the hous- As mentioned above, for many centuries La Romaine had es are more or less set back the same distance from the street and been a seasonal site where the Innu liked to gather. Large are equidistant from one another. It is obvious that the whole site

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Fig. 10. A dirt street on the reserve bordered by ditches, with the houses well aligned. (Photo: André Casault, 1998)

was bulldozed prior to construction: it is all sandy or covered by scarce and fragile vegetation. Around the houses, one will frequently see small sheds or hangars, which replace what was probably a common thing in the past, the traditional conic tent that we rarely see nowadays (fig. 11). Skidoos and canoes are stored in the yard or in the sheds and hangars, which are also often used to repair the skidoos and canoes. A small piece of land, just at the back of the house, is frequently re- served for the preparation of the traditional bread, or Innu pakueshikan as the Innu call it8 (fig. 12), which the women cook directly in the hot sand. A few clotheslines can be seen here and there and, at the back of many houses, wood is stacked for the stove. Elderly people sometimes use the sheds or hangars as “retreats” or, Fig. 11. At the back of a house, an all terrain vehicle, a traditional tent, a skidoo, and a small shed. less often, as secondary (Photo: Louise Bellemare and Théo Mark, circa 1993) houses. Those sheds and hangars have the same dimensions as the canvas tents, and the Innu usually install a small appropriation seem to be more temporary than permanent. handmade wood stove in them and spread a few old carpets on Without the obvious and clear street pattern and the rigid align- the floor. The elderly like to meet there to smoke a pipe, to chat ment of houses, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to recog- with friends, or to repair fishing nets, snowshoes, etc. nize any plot area. Demonstrations of property limits are The residents very seldom put up fences around their lot. therefore relatively absent. In fact, it would be very interesting to The typical North American lawn is practically inexistent9 in the take an aerial photograph of the reserve in the winter, just after a Innu part of La Romaine. Only a few families have attempted to snowfall, to see how people circulate in the reserve, from house landscape the area surrounding their house.10 Marks of territory to house, in and out of the reserve, walking or using skidoos.

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Fig. 12. A woman preparing the “Innu pakueshikan”, the traditional Innu bread, at the back of a house on the reserve. (Photo: Louise Bellemare and Théo Mark, circa 1993)

Fig. 13. A roofed porch with a few poles used to hang small game or pieces of meat to be dried. Also notice the high level of the ground floor. (Photo: André Casault, November 1998)

Such photographs would probably confirm what we saw around the houses during our survey, in November: pedestrian paths and small all-terrain vehicle trails totally ignore official plot divisions, at least the ones that exist on paper. Accesses to the houses, wooden stairs, and small balconies or porches are designed and constructed quite simply. Some- times, on the porch roof or balcony, people will install a few poles to hang small game or pieces of meat to be dried (fig. 13). There are no carports or garages; people who own a car or truck park it in front of the house or just beside it. Because the houses must be built on deep foundations (foundation footage at five or six feet below ground level, just beneath freezing level), each house has a basement (a very common way of building in Canada). The first level above the ground is quite high (fig. 13). The basement is practically empty, except for a wood-burning stove. The elderly use that space to prepare caribou hides and dry caribou meat. Today, that little-used space is often claimed by teenagers who like to be able to play their loud music without disturbing their parents (too much), a place where they can have their own private entrance.11 Inside the houses, people usually gather in the living room. In a typical living room, one may see a sofa, a television set, a carpet on the floor, and nothing (or almost) on the walls. In the bedrooms, wardrobe doors have often been removed and there are no clothes on hangers. The wardrobes are quite empty and clothes are instead stacked in the corners of the room (fig. 14). All building supplies come from outside the reserve. They Very often the only piece of furniture is a mattress on the floor. must be ordered months in advance and are, most of the time, Those rooms seem to be underutilized.12 The kitchen is generally delivered by boat. As all other imported goods, construction ma- a typical laboratory kitchen. Usually, the kitchen is the space in terials are expensive and that definitely has an influence on the the house where food is prepared, cooked and where, in some availability of building supplies for general maintenance. cultures, people eat. It is an important part of the house where One does not need to be an expert to realize that the design the dwelling habits of a given culture are strongly expressed. of Innu houses has simply been imported from the South. The Here, the kitchen is neither adaptable nor flexible; the counters design standards are North American. The layout of the reserve are too high for most of the women using them, and the space and the design of the houses are planned by outsiders from the too small to allow more than a few people in the room at the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation or from the Ministry same time. It would be impossible, at the very least very difficult, of Indian Affairs.13 Until now, no participatory process has pre- to properly and safely install a wood stove. In fact, in the whole ceded the design or the construction of dwellings on the reserve. design process no attempt has been made to adapt the kitchen What kind of control, if any, do the Innu have over the construc- layout to the Innu way of life. tion of their settlement and dwellings?

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Fig. 14. Who should adapt to whom, the wardrobe to the people or the people to the wardrobe? (Photo: André Casault, 1998)

A Design Exploration A Search for a Sustainable Dwelling Better Adapted to the Innu’s Contemporary Way of Life The design studio and research were based on three major premises. First, the house form is highly influenced by a community’s culture and the daily life of its members. Secondly, the Innu socio- cultural aspirations play a very important role in shaping the with the participating community members. Sixteen prototypes dwelling form. And thirdly, it is extremely important that the res- were prepared (sets of drawings and models) and presented to idents have a control over the house design, construction, and the entire community for discussion. transformation in order for the house to have a shape that is The Rules of Deployment adapted to their particular needs. Those three premises and the design studio’s general struc- The exploration of the rules lasted about a week. In groups of ture and activities derive from my own experience in teaching four, the students worked on four different categories of rules. design in cross-cultural situations, as well as from diverse theo- The first category consisted of the rules regulating the relation- retical works: John N. Habraken on the importance of syntax, ter- ship between the dwelling and the site and nature in general ritorial boundaries, and control concepts and rules versus space (large scale): orientation, sun, wind, configuration, and relation- deployment; Christopher Alexander mainly for the rules–design ship with neighbours, etc. The second category was made up of patterns–; Amos Rapoport for the influence of culture and do- the rules regulating indoor activities: sleeping, cooking, eating, mestic activities in modifying the house form; and Augustin working, playing, etc. The third category dealt with the rules reg- Berque for the ethical notion of territorialization/deterritorial- ulating the narrow relationship between the house and its im- ization in association with the relation the Innu maintain with mediate surroundings and outdoor domestic activities: access, their natural and built environment.14 entry, threshold, view (windows and others openings), light, etc. The first phase of the design process consisted in searching The fourth and final category consisted of the rules regulating the principles or patterns that would be used to define the rules construction of the dwelling: building materials and techniques, that would guide the design of the first prototypes. The objective labour skills, maintenance, transportation, feasibility, sustain- of the search for such rules was to help the designers (here the ability, etc. students in a learning process) by giving them guidelines. The As mentioned before, the students defined the rules after latter would ensure the respect of the cultural aspects through thoroughly researching the subject and according to observa- the design mechanism, thus helping to create a certain uniformi- tions made while visiting Innu campsites and houses on the re- ty in the proposed prototypes.15 The rules (we have called them serve. The following enumeration of rules is by no means the rules of deployment) were presented to a few members of the exhaustive. It rather lists the most important rules, the ones that community for discussion and evaluation. They were then ex- were most often used in the design process. Since we concentrat- perimented with for a quick exercise session–about a week–dur- ed mainly on the dwelling, I will begin by introducing the rules ing which the first sketches were produced. The sketches were that guided the design, and continue with the rules related to presented and discussed in a meeting and a few informal dis- construction.16 cussions, and comments were given to reorient the design work. One of the most important rules deals with the development A particular effort was made to encourage the students to follow of a large, central and versatile room in the house. That room the rules, which was not particularly popular in the beginning should be located on the main floor and be well connected to the (for the students, the general tendency was to revert to their ha- other rooms in the house. It should be large enough to accom- bitual and much more idiosyncratic method of design). Interme- modate a big family gathering (fig. 15). A second important rule diary and final design proposals were produced and evaluated concerns the wood stove. We have already described how it is

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Fig. 15. An example of a rule, the need for a central room. (From the rules elaborated by Karine Fournier, Marie-France Biron and Karine Simard, students from the Cross Cultural Design Stu- dio, winter 1999)

which allow the Innu to sit on the floor yet still be in contact both with the people doing other activities in the house, and with the outside. Con- tacts with the W.C., however, should be minimized. The Innu (as they will- ingly admit themselves) are rather prudish. The toilet and bathroom should therefore be apart from the main room of the house, and in re- used in the tents. While visiting the reserve we also observed the treat from other activities. place it occupies in the shelters that people build behind their Rules related to work space(s), cooking and sleeping areas, houses. Based on those observations, it was decided that the and storage devices were also defined. Spaces that are conven- house should be able to accommodate a wood-burning stove and ient to use for all traditional Innu activities, with the appropriate everything that goes with it (proper base, tools, wood bin, etc.). dimensions and surfaces, should be integrated into the house or The stove should be in a central location, convenient for family be very easily accessed from it. Rooms should be set aside for the gatherings; it should also be close enough to the cooking area to repair of skidoos, canoes, fishing nets, etc., for the preparation of facilitate meal preparation. Another important rule deals with skins (tanning, drying, smoking, and cutting), as well as for the house accesses. At least one access (if not two) should be through sewing of mittens, moccasins, and other objects. Cooking areas a large enclosed vestibule, large enough to allow two or three should be flexible and adaptable in order to allow different cook- people dressed in heavy winter clothes and boots to come in or ing methods (traditional) to be used. The wood stove should be go out together. That hall should have two doors in order to cre- installed in such a way as to be accessible for different cooking ate an airlock type intermediary room, to prevent loss of heat activities in or near the cooking area. Sleeping areas should be in and wind while stopping snow from entering the house; it retreat from the main activities of the house but do not necessar- should be sufficiently large and adaptable to contain a large ily have to be made up of separate rooms. Standard North Amer- freezer and a deep maintenance sink. Another rule concerns the ican bedrooms seem underutilized, at least during the daytime. “transition space” linking the halls or vestibules with the sur- Many cultures store clothes differently from the way we do in roundings and nature. Entrances to the house should be as close our western cultures. The Innu are no exception to that and they as possible to ground level, with the main floor of the house in do not seem fond of the standard North American wardrobe. close relation with the exterior, neither too high nor too low (a Perhaps they simply need a different storage device. The stu- low entrance creates problems with snow during the winter and dents were therefore encouraged to explore better-adapted stor- a high entrance is unpleasant for the elderly). Every room in the age devices that would reflect the needs and traditional storage house should have a good view of the outside in order to allow habits of the Innu (for example, the way they store their clothes the residents to be in close contact with their surroundings and and other objects in their campsites (fig. 7). to easily feel daily and seasonal transformations as well as Other rules were related to house shape and size. The house changes in the weather. shape should be simple and economical, with a two or four-slope Yet other rules deal with the floor and sitting rooms. The roof. It should be energy efficient and the shape should be such material in which the floor is made should be versatile enough to so as not to create any undesirable accumulation of snow around accommodate a wide variety of activities. For example, the Innu the house (for example, making access difficult). The proposed usually prepare their furs in the house. The floor should there- prototypes should have approximately the same size and price fore be easy to wash and very resistant. While in their tents, the (or less expensive) as the ones presently built on the reserve, by Innu sit on the floor (the comfortable sapinage floor described no means bigger or more expensive. above). In much the same way, in their houses, they also often Finally, a few rules were established concerning building work, play, watch television, or simply chat with friends while methods, construction techniques, and construction materials. sitting on the floor. The layout of the rooms and the design of the All building methods and construction techniques should be eas- floor should be such so as to create comfortable sitting areas, ily applicable in and by the community. They should be

38 ANDRÉ CASAULT ESSAI / ESSAY

accessible to local manpower. Maximum participation of local Generally, those schemes had simpler house shapes. The houses manpower should be encouraged. Building supplies should be proposed had one or two stories, some had basements, others easy to transport by boat (neither too heavy nor too big). Build- not. Some had mezzanines incorporated in their design. Some ing elements and components should be easy to maintain and re- schemes had a pit around the wood stove in the central room, pair, and easily accessible when they need to be replaced. while others proposed a long built-in bench along the wall. Some Construction materials should be ecological and sustainable. had vestibules, others not. Some proposed a flat horizontal ceil- The rules, as defined by the students, were presented to ing while others left the roof structure visible, generally with a members of the community and to a group of teachers for dis- sloped ceiling. Some had built-in tables and seats in the kitchen. cussion, and evaluation. A final selection of the appropriate rules A variety of bedroom layouts were presented, some enclosed, was then made and used in the elaboration of the first sketches. some set apart from the rest of the house. Finally, certain houses had a patio or a terrace, and some had a shed or a small hangar The First Sketches in the yard. The students were required to use the rules elaborated. In teams To the great disappointment of my students, all complicated of two, they were given a week to prepare their first sketch. On shapes, either for the house itself or for the roof, were discarded. the one hand, the rules served as “runway lights” or “beacons” Fashionable designs and new and sometimes inventive or in- to guide the designers’ work. On the other hand, the relatively triguing design ideas (often put forward by good students) were short time that was given them necessarily brought a dose of not discarded, but simply ignored (at least the ones that were spontaneity and intuitiveness to the process, which, we believe, proper to the architects’ “culture of taste.”18 Flat roof dwelling was complementary to the rational aspect of the rule method schemes were rejected, as if a dwelling could not be lived in if it (and perhaps its shortcoming). The first sketches were presented had a flat roof. One-storey houses were preferred to the two and discussed at the school of architecture in the presence of a storeys, while houses with mezzanines were seen as a curiosity few residents of La Romaine and the group of teachers. Rarely and raised a certain amount of interest. The design of outdoor el- was a rule discarded. Rather, it was reformulated or restated in a ements such as patios or terraces did not seem to attract any in- different manner. The residents of La Romaine who participated terest or attention. in that first discussion had the mandate of bringing the sketches The simplest schemes were the most popular among the back to the reserve and presenting them to a small group of peo- Innu: a simple rectangular shape, a two or four-slope roof, a rel- ple interested in the project. The sketches were also discussed in- atively “plain” appearance… My students were not depressed formally with friends and relatives. Neither the teachers nor any but almost… I remember some of them saying: “What the Innu architects or construction professionals took part in the discus- really want are the bungalows they are presently living in…!” In sions. The evaluation had to be as free of outer influences as pos- fact, the resemblance between their bungalows and the schemes sible and professional advice and consultations were planned for they chose was striking… but not surprising! Looking closer at a subsequent phase. the selections made, it is obvious that they were greatly influ- Sixteen schemes (one per student) were prepared during enced by what the Innu are familiar with in terms of dwellings, that phase. In the paragraphs below, are described the main char- what they have been exposed to in real life (in contrast to just acteristics of those schemes, what made them stand out and seeing it on television), that is to say canvas tents and bunga- what aspects raised the most discussion among our Innu lows. At that stage, I had to make a choice: I could either leave clients.17 Some schemes reflected one or several facets of the tra- the students free to design houses that they would themselves ditional setting (the campsite) such as the conic roof, the circular like to live in (and I as well in some cases!) and more or less ig- plan, or the use of local construction materials such as log walls. nore the wishes of our clients or, and that is what I decided to do, Some others were more influenced by the settlement as it exists stick to the initial objectives we had set, and ask the students to today and the way the Innu live in it. These latter schemes were develop simpler shaped dwellings. They had to focus on finding more contemporary in their approach and often integrated mod- the right solutions to the Innu’s spatial needs for traditional and ern reinterpretations of tradition with complex forms: several flat domestic activities, and to better develop and clarify the design or sloped roofs, large glass openings, a fashionable look, etc. of details. All that said, I must point out that many features pre- Others had a more “modest” approach and were more preoccu- sented by the students in those first sketches were seen as being pied with creating interesting spaces for domestic activities. very positive, such as the design of central living areas, the space

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Fig. 16. The plan of a proposed prototype, with two large vestibules, a large central room, a wood stove in between the kitchen and the central room, a sleeping area in retreat, and a hangar next to the house. (Project by Frédéric Bataillard, Cross Cultural Design Studio, winter 1999)

Fig. 19. Section and elevation drawings showing the general shape of the house, the use of the crawl space underneath the house, and the elevated central room, see the plan in Fig. 18. (Project by Pierre Duguay, Cross Cultural Design Studio, winter 1999)

allocated to wood stoves, house accesses and vestibules. Never- theless, most of them had to be refined and developed in more detail.

Final Phase Using the first sketches and comments we had received from the community as a basis, we continued to work in the above-mentioned direction, developing on each scheme.19 I was very encouraged by the improvements brought about by the students. Obviously, they had seriously thought things through. Unfortu- nately, community members did not participate in that interme- diate review. We simply had a few telephone conversations during which they were made aware of the general orientations that the design of the prototypes had taken. At the final review, at a first glance, the different schemes may have appeared to be nothing more than standard (and elegant!) bungalow designs. However, for me, for my students, for our guest reviewers, and, most importantly, for our clients, the Fig. 17. Two elevation drawings showing the two slope roof, the simple shape of the house, 20 and the hangar next to it, see the plan in Fig. 16. reaction was very different: they were “special bungalows.” In (Project by Frédéric Bataillard, Cross Cultural Design Studio, winter 1999) fact, looking at each proposed prototype individually, one could see that special emphasis had been put on the planning of the houses: the entrance hall, the central room with its wood stove, the working place, the sleeping areas, the storage devices, the hangar and its link with the house, etc. (fig. 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 briefly present an overview of the final prototypes).21

Next Steps… The whole process is very slow. The sixteen models were recently shipped to Sept-Îles and presented to three Innu Band Coun- cils, including the Innu Chiefs of Unamen Shipu. The work must still be presented to and discussed with the local population. That should be followed by the construction of a one-to-one scale

Fig. 18. Another plan showing the main vestibule leading to the central area which is slightly el- model. A first prototype will be built and tested… eventually! evated, with the wood stove in the middle. In this scheme, the second vestibule is equipped Obviously, that rather simple and short first phase exercise could with a stove and can also be used as a working place. Here, the bedrooms are more conven- tional. not lead us (or anyone) to any profound conclusions. The prob- (Project by Pierre Duguay, Cross Cultural Design Studio, winter 1999) lem is extremely complex and a great deal more investigation

40 ANDRÉ CASAULT ESSAI / ESSAY

Fig. 20. A model showing the central translucent vestibule, linking the hangar to the left, the main body of the house with the kitchen and the central room to the right, and the sleeping pavilion at the back. (Source: Project by Karine Fournier, Cross Cultural Design Studio, winter 1999) and experimentation must be undertaken, in close relation with while, at the same time, underlining the importance of differ- the Innu, before any lasting solutions can be found. A lot remains ences.22 to be done. However, both sides have learned to work together, The built environment is perhaps becoming more uniform defining vocabularies and clarifying objectives. For the time worldwide. However, that uniformity cannot be enriching if it being, the Innu are much more concerned (and rightly so) with results in everyone giving up his or her own cultural specificities self-government and control over their territories. and even idiosyncrasies, in an attempt to follow the strongest The End of Tradition(?), Deterritorialization(?), and most influential ones. That uniformity can, however, also be A Place-less Culture(?) rich, vast, complex, and diverse if we let it be. It all depends on us. All over the world, the autochthons, more than any other cultur- For many years the Innu of La Romaine will be able to deal or ethnic group, are fighting for their recognition as a people fine themselves geographically and territorially. But to do so, and are struggling to define themselves in our globalized world. they need to take full control of their built environment. That In their fight, whether we like it or not, autochthons have turned control over the deployment of the built environment is the to aboriginal people in other countries and to the United Nations major guarantee that the dwelling form will correspond to a local for support, and the definition of their traditions and culture culture, whatever it is. Of course, as every other group, the Innu now goes through an international “filter.” The way in which will have to find their place, explicitly and implicitly, in relation they perceive and therefore define themselves is necessarily to an increasingly vaster world. That part of the redefinition of much vaster than the limits of their own territory. their identity is place-less. Their “house hunting” will contin- It would be highly unrealistic to think that the autochthons ue… could go back to their traditional way of life. However, although their complete assimilation into the mainstream of the Canadian society is highly possible, it is not inevitable. It is not inevitable if the Innu themselves, as many other cultural groups in the world, fight for the recognition of their way of life, fight for their own self-government. Basically, it comes down to nothing less than the right to be different. New means of communications (television, internet, etc.) are contributing to globalize that fight

41 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Notes ago, presented an exhibit on the colleagues. Thirdly, the literature be critical, explaining their choices “American Lawn” and how, over on the subject of the Montagnais and why and how they were using 1.In this article the terms native the last decades, it has become an or Innu, though not yet very them. people and autochthon are used to object of cultural representation extensive on the subject of archi- describe the type of ethnic group 17. For the architects and teach- used as a strong demonstration of tecture and dwelling culture, has ers involved either in the exercise to which the Innu of Unamen social status and clear territory been a valuable source of valid Shipu belong. The Innu and all the or in the reviews, the preparation delimitation. information. All of that has greatly of the first sketches was the occa- other autochthon groups of Cana- helped us to minimize the gratuity da are so-called because they are 10. To grow grass around one’s sion to raise the appropriate ques- house may sometimes be laughed or fortuitous nature of some of our tions with a larger number of com- considered to be the first inhabi- observations. tants of Canada, established there at by other members of the community members. long before the arrival of the first munity and is seen by some white 13. Or by private firms they com- 18. Here, we are referring to that European settlers. people as something that Indians missioned. See also Fortin : 50. “culture of taste” that is propagat- cannot do. 2. Please refer to Vitart, Anne, 14. In addition, the following are ed in the world of architecture by 1995, Les Indiens montagnais du 11. As do a lot of their young the references used for the design international architectural maga- Québec – entre deux mondes, Paris, white people counterparts. exploration and research; Berque, zines (some say the glazy ones) Les Éditions Sépia, Musée de 12. Those observations and Augustin, 1996, Être humain sur le and that have a huge influence on l’homme, p. 11-34. remarks may appear to be intu- terre, Paris, Éditions Gallimard; architects and architecture stu- itive rather than based on real fact. and Berque, Augustin, 2000, dents. 3. That exercise was undertaken Écoumène, Introduction à l’étude des by a group of students from the I cannot deny, in fact, the intuitive 19. In most cases, I encouraged aspect of the survey work that has milieux humains, Paris, Éditions the students to keep their initial Cross-Cultural Design Studio Belin (for the writing of this arti- (winter 1999) at the School of been done. Although I wish I ideas, to adapt and develop them, could have undertaken an exten- cle); Rapoport, Amos, 1972, House instead of asking them to start Architecture of Université Laval, Form and Culture, Paris, Dunod Quebec City, Canada. sive survey before starting the from scratch. design exercise, I believe that three (for the French translation). 4. For a few examples, please 20. Here, the term “bungalow“ things allowed me to go further 15. Our main point of reference refers to its common and popular refer to Bédard, Hélène, 1988, Les and participate in that explorative is the work of John Habraken, Montagnais et la réserve de Betsi- meaning in eastern regions of design exercise with my students. mainly: Habraken, N. John, et al., Canada. amites 1850 –1900, Québec, Institut First of all, those observations 1981, The Grunfeld Variations: A 21. A report, that includes the québécois de recherche sur la cul- were made during my visit to La Report on Thematic Development of sixteen prototypes developed, was ture, Collection Edmond-de-Nev- Romaine in the fall of 1998. I had an Urban Tissue, Cambridge, o edited and is to be presented along ers n 7, p. 61. the opportunity to visit the reserve Mass., Ed. Dept. of Architecture with the models to the Innu com- 5. Traditionally, North Ameri- and about thirty houses, and to be Massachusetts of Technology. We munity at La Romaine. We saw can Christmas trees are fir trees. guided by a few local people from also examined the excellent that work as the first phase of an the reserve, including Sylvestre research project undertaken by the 6. Charron, Denise, and René extensive project. The second Mullen, the person in charge of Minimum Cost Housing Group of Boudreault, 1994, La Romaine: Una- phase anticipated was the devel- housing construction, renovation, the School of Architecture of man-shipit, Québec, Conseil de opment of a first model at a scale and maintenance in the reserve McGill University: Bhatt, Vikram, bande de La Romaine, Institut cul- of one-to-one, which people could and our local partner in the exer- et al., 1990, How The Other Half turel et éducatif montagnais, p. 12. visit and comment. That one-to- cise, as well as Louise Bellemare Builds (Vol. 1, 2, and 3), Montreal, 7. The name La Romaine comes one scale model would hopefully and Théo Mark, also from La Ed. MCHG, McGill University. from the Innu words orumen and lead to the construction of a first Romaine, who actively took part The works of Christopher Alexan- olumenne that mean painting, red real prototype, which could be in the design exercise and helped der, Thomas Thiis-Evensen and earth, red ochre, and represent the inhabited for testing and further us during the entire semester. Sec- Giancarlo De Carlo were also colour of the earth on the river evaluations. ondly, over the years, I have accu- examined. edge (Charron and Boudreault). 22. In the last decades, the redef- mulated a fair amount of experi- 16. The students did not have to 8. Fortin, Jean, o.m.i. (1954- inition and recognition of ethic ence as an architect, professor of follow all the rules. They were free 1980), 1992, Coup d’œil sur le monde minorities have necessarily passed architecture, and researcher in the to choose, among the rules merveilleux des Montagnais de la by some international institutions field, not only in my own country, defined, a set of rules that they Côte-Nord, Québec, Canada, Insti- under the eye of the world’s tele- but in many other countries where judged relevant. They could of tut québécois de la culture mon- vision network. I lived or which I have visited course adapt or modify them, and tagnaise (ICEM), p. 76. extensively, and where I regularly even create new ones. But, what- 9. An exhibition of the Canadi- have the opportunity to work and ever rules they chose, they had to an Center for Architecture (CCA) participate in design exercises or in Montreal, Canada, a few years field research with local

42 ESSAI / ESSAY

Y v es Deschamps

L’art nécessaire1 Quelques réflexions sur Le Nigog et l’architecture

Avec l’ensemble des cultures occidentales, l’architecture découv- re la préoccupation identitaire à la fin du XVIIIe siècle dans la foulée des Révolutions et des Lumières. L’invention politique de la Nation moderne en Grande-Bretagne, dans ses treize colonies américaines et en France coïncide avec les émois esthétiques devant les chaumières paysannes et le sublime gothique2. Elle pro- cède du même élan de l’esprit et de la sensibilité. Nés de la culture classique de l’Occident, des Droits réputés universels encadrent la reconnaissance et le respect mutuels de tous les peuples. Situés au-dessus des identités particulières, ils en garantissent la coexistence harmonieuse et l’épanouissement. De même, les règles universelles de l’architecture, issues de la théorie classique, encadrent désormais l’appréciation de tous les arts de bâtir. La relative abstraction qui détache désormais ces rè- gles des modèles formels gréco-romains leur permet de rendre compte d’une multitude de « styles », d’apprécier les manières diverses qui ont caractérisé diverses civilisations, diverses époques. Le canon des formes classiques restera longtemps, bien sûr, la norme de référence, l’étalon-or du système, le vocabulaire ultime des nations civilisées et des grands programmes officiels, mais d’autres idiomes deviennent respectables qui, auparavant, étaient exclus ou ignorés.

Identités américaines Pour les architectes européens, la distanciation entre règle et mo- dèles brise le cadre désormais trop étroit de la discipline classique et ouvre le champ illimité des exotismes et des antiquités nationales. Les identités établies au cours d’une longue tradition de contacts, de frontières communes, trouvent dans les patrimoi- nes locaux les arguments dont elles ont besoin pour se prolonger, Yves Deschamps est professeur d’histoire de l’architecture à l’Université de Montréal. se manifester dans l’environnement bâti. Pour les jeunes répu- bliques américaines nées des luttes contre les puissances colo- niales européennes, le problème se pose tout autrement. En même temps que les tutelles politiques européennes, elles doivent, en principe, rejeter des cultures dont elles ont vécu jusque-là. C’est là que se situe alors, pour les théoriciens mili- tants des indépendances, la véritable révolution. Pour elles, l’i- dentité n’est pas chose acquise, à faire renaître, mais projet à JSSAC / JSÉAC 27, nos 3, 4 (2002) ; 43-48.

43 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

1. Le Nigog, no 6, juin 1918, p. 191.

En pratique, l’identité étatsunienne se construit démocrati- quement, à l’insu des élites et contre le projet même qu’elles en avaient conçu. Il faudra attendre le milieu du siècle pour que cette identité et les objets qui la manifestent deviennent visibles à des artistes et à des théoriciens comme le sculpteur Horatio Greenough. La situation canadienne est tout autre puisqu’elle résulte, on le sait, de la convergence de deux défaites : d’une part, celle des francophones que la Conquête prive du « destin manifeste » des nations créoles3 (l’émancipation et l’expansion territoriale) ; de l’autre, celle des réfugiés anglo-américains qui fuient l’indépen- dance et la république. Dans ce cas, il ne s’agit pas de créer un ordre nouveau contre l’ancien, mais de restaurer, de proclamer la pérennité d’identités européennes mythifiées par la distance, de les fortifier contre l’Amérique des Lumières, contre les mères-patries elles-mêmes quand, comme la France de 1789, elles trahi- ront le mythe. La ville de Québec, symbole quasi médiéval des tyrannies européennes, brisée par l’Angleterre puis « retournée » à la hâte contre les armées de la jeune Union, est bien la capitale qui convient à cette contre-utopie canadienne4. Vers la fin du XIXe siècle, Montréal sera le symbole et la mé- tropole d’un autre Canada, moins retranché, mais guère moins menacé dans ses identités. C’est là, dans un contexte marqué, lo- calement, par la Confédération et, internationalement, par la montée des impérialismes que s’éveille le nationalisme canadien-français. imaginer, à « dessiner », puis à bâtir. Rien d’étonnant, par consé- La Confédération nous importe en ce qu’elle se présente (es- quent, dans le fait que Thomas Jefferson, l’un des architectes es- sentiellement à l’intention des Canadiens français) comme le sentiels de l’identité étatsunienne, ait été, à ses heures, architecte cadre d’une nouvelle identité politique bi-ethnique et biculturel- tout court et qu’il ait attribué à l’architecture un rôle primordial le, les impérialismes, parce qu’ils représentent le monde moder- dans la construction de l’identité. ne comme une arène où s’affrontent quelques colosses ethniques Mais de la ferveur créatrice de quelques fondateurs, du suc- aux traits simplifiés et grossis par les grands récits nationalistes. cès évident de leurs projets politiques et de leur politique terri- Parmi ces lutteurs impériaux figurent, bien sûr, les deux mères- toriale, il ne s’ensuit pas que toutes les Amériques aient, dès lors, patries auxquelles les deux « peuples fondateurs » du Canada cherché à bâtir des cultures exemptes de références européennes. n’ont jamais cessé de lier leurs identités respectives. Les éléments d’identités architecturales qui se constituent, L’architecture à Montréal au début du siècle par exemple, aux États-Unis durant la première moitié du XIXe siècle, résultent plus sûrement de l’isolement, d’expédients Si, par architecture, on entend non seulement conception des édi- imposés par la nature ou la culture des lieux, voire de résistances fices, mais aussi discours sur cette conception et interaction sui- conscientes. En effet, la rupture désirée par les politiciens « radi- vie entre pratique et théorie, on ne peut guère parler caux » et projetée par leurs architectes sous les espèces de néo- d’architecture au Canada avant ces années de la fin du XIXe siè- classicisme romain (Rome = république), puis grec (Athènes = cle. Comme partout en Amérique du Nord, cette architecture démocratie), s’effectue tout autant sur le terrain par le rejet des porte à jamais la marque du capitalisme bourgeois qui l’a créée néo-styles qui se succèdent, en Europe, à un rythme sans précé- pour répondre à ses besoins et à ses fantasmes : l’usine, le bu- dent. C’est avant tout par l’absence et l’abstinence que les États- reau, le magasin, d’une part, le musée, le théâtre, la maison, de Unis se distinguent tout d’abord de la mère-patrie britannique. l’autre.

44 YVES DESCHAMPS ESSAI / ESSAY

Nous sommes loin des Académies européennes de l’âge de ses futurs architectes (et donc du visage de leur ville en plei- classique, loin d’une architecture conçue pour le service du prin- ne mutation) avec leurs mythes identitaires respectifs. ce, de l’État ou de l’Église. Les milieux de la finance, des Hasard ou fatalité ? Il se trouve que, au même moment, la transports, de la manufacture et du commerce veulent d’abord Grande-Bretagne et la France apparaissent aux yeux de tout l’Oc- que les écoles forment de bons techniciens et des gestionnaires cident comme les deux archétypes opposés de l’excellence archi- qui parlent leur langage. Cependant, anglophones ou franco- tecturale. En 1913, dans The Yearbook of Canadian Art, phones, les élites ne négligent pas un autre langage, celui des A.H. Chapman écrivait : « styles », dernier refuge de l’esthétique dans une pratique étroi- Canada is, today, subjected to the influences of two distinct schools, tement prédéterminée par les techniques, les conventions typo- one strong in the refined sense of traditional beauty, the other logiques et les règles académiques de la composition. Cette strong in effective, modern organization for producing good archi- architecture sera l’un des moyens par lesquels l’entrepreneur tecture; one influenced by the work of clever individual artists, the bourgeois manifestera sa prospérité, sa solvabilité, mais aussi sa other by the training of a great school, the École des Beaux-Arts of culture et son adhésion à un ensemble de valeurs au nombre des- Paris6. quelles figurent le patriotisme et le cosmopolitisme, bref, son Dans la suite du texte, il devient évident que la première in- identité. fluence est celle de la Grande-Bretagne. Quant à la seconde, ce C’est ainsi qu’en 1890, l’Association des architectes de la n’est pas celle de la France, mais des États-Unis. Le paradoxe province de Québec (AAPQ), naît d’un double désir : assurer à la n’est qu’apparent. Pour tout lecteur familier avec les architectu- clientèle des services professionnels garantis et défendre le terri- res de l’époque, le lien établi ici entre l’École des beaux-arts et les toire des professionnels québécois contre les firmes étatsunien- États-Unis est parfaitement cohérent puisque les écoles d’archi- nes dont les compétences (techniques et esthétiques) ont conquis tecture étatsuniennes (dirigées par des « Prix de Rome » français la clientèle locale. Puis viennent les structures de formation. La ou par des Américains issus de l’illustre École parisienne) sont Faculté d’ingénierie de l’Université McGill se dote en 1896 d’une alors largement acquises à la pédagogie et aux préférences sty- section d’architecture. L’École Polytechnique la suivra dix ans listiques de Paris auxquelles on a seulement ajouté – et cela fait plus tard. Enfin, l’École des beaux-arts absorbera cette section toute la différence – une bonne dose de culture yankee de l’en- francophone à sa fondation en 1923. treprise. L’inclusion initiale de ces lieux de formation architecturale À vrai dire, si la France est présente dans l’architecture de dans des cadres techno-scientifiques semble indiquer clairement Montréal vers 1900, ce n’est pas tant par son rayonnement direct, les aspects de l’architecture que les pouvoirs tutélaires entendent moins encore par l’agence de Canadiens français qui auraient favoriser. Ceux qui s’engagent dans cette nouvelle carrière se- choisi Paris par préférence identitaire, mais largement par l’in- ront, dans leur ensemble, des technocrates libéraux et modernes, termédiaire des États-Unis et de leur interprétation de la culture caractères admis depuis longtemps parmi les élites anglophones, « beaux-arts ». Sous une forme ou une autre, cette culture domi- mais nouveaux et quasi révolutionnaires dans la bourgeoisie ne alors l’ensemble du nouveau continent, de Buenos Aires à francophone à cause de la méfiance de l’Église envers des carriè- Montréal. res trop matérialistes, trop urbaines à son gré. L’intérêt pour la Le Nigog culture et l’esthétique n’était pas pour autant exclu de ces institutions. La Grande Guerre marque un tournant dans l’évolution des ar- Ainsi, le sénateur Honoré Gervais, qui fut à l’origine de la chitectures de l’Occident. Elle scelle le sort de la première vague création de l’École Polytechnique5, œuvra aussi en vue de la créa- moderne (celle de l’Art Nouveau) à laquelle on reprochera dés- tion de sa section architecture et favorisa l’orientation de cette ormais d’avoir trop sacrifié au « style », à la superficie décorati- dernière vers le modèle parisien de l’École de beaux-arts, grâce à ve et aux folklores. Dans les tranchées, une nouvelle génération l’engagement de professeurs français comme Ébrard, Doumic ou a éprouvé la puissance de la machine ainsi que la futilité rétro- Poivert, ou « retour d’Europe » comme Marchand. McGill, pour grade et meurtrière des idéaux nationaux au service desquels on sa part, alla recruter ses directeurs (Capper, Nobbs, Traquair) à vient de mobiliser l’homme moderne et les merveilles techniques Édimbourg. Ainsi, le caractère technique et pragmatique qu’on dont il attendait un monde meilleur. Une nouvelle modernité se souhaite donner à la discipline n’empêche aucune des « deux so- lève qui poursuivra le combat contre les Académies, mais en y litudes » montréalaises de s’assurer de la conformité culturelle ajoutant une critique virulente de ses prédécesseurs qu’elle ac-

45 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

cuse de manque de lucidité face à la réalité socio-économique ment l’indifférence à la question identitaire, ni même une certai- contemporaine. Dès 1918, Gropius, Le Corbusier et d’autres sont ne passion pour la « patrie » dont on constate, hélas, qu’elle n’est à pied d’œuvre pour lancer ce qu’on nommera le Mouvement pas à la hauteur du génie (réel ou supposé) qu’on lui attribuait, Moderne. Cette fois, en effet, il ne s’agit plus d’inaugurer un des qualités que promettaient ses architectures anciennes. « style », mais de rendre au corps de l’architecture le mouvement Car, malgré les volées de bois vert que servent Loos ou Le vital oublié au profit de vaines querelles stylistiques, de la rend- Nigog à tous les régionalistes en Dirndlkleid ou en « capot de re capable d’accompagner le siècle et de mettre la technique aux chat » qui passent à leur portée, malgré leur commun recours à ordres des sociétés. L’année 1918, c’est aussi l’unique année de l’étranger comme exemple, le Viennois et les Montréalais sont in- vie d’une des premières entreprises culturelles de la modernité séparables de leurs villes respectives. En outre, ils partagent un québécoise : Le Nigog7. sens aigu de l’urbanité et de la dignité métropolitaine qui les D’abord littéraire et musicale dans son contenu, cette revue conduit à condamner tout ce qui leur semble de nature à les mensuelle a pourtant eu le mérite – exceptionnel au Québec – contredire. Loos écrit : d’accorder à la forme urbaine et à l’architecture une place signi- C’est ici que j’élève ma première critique à l’encontre des tenants de ficative. La présence de l’architecte Fernand Préfontaine parmi l’art régional. Ils veulent ravaler les grandes villes au rang de bour- ses fondateurs et collaborateurs réguliers peut expliquer une gades […] [La maison de la Michaelerplatz] n’est pas provinciale. C’est partie de cette exception, mais Préfontaine et son collègue Ram- un édifice qui n’a sa place que dans une grande ville. Right or wrong, say Traquair ne sont pas seuls à s’engager sur ce terrain peu fré- my country… ma ville. quenté. Ils s’y retrouvent en compagnie de J.C. Drouin, d’Henri Que l’on prenne l’habitude de construire comme nos pères ont bâti, Hébert, d’Olivier Maurault, et cet intérêt d’intellectuels exté- et que l’on ne craigne pas de n’être pas moderne10. rieurs à la profession architecturale constitue un précédent pré- Dans la perspective d’une opposition simpliste entre régio- cieux qui mérite mémoire et attention. nalisme et modernisme sans frontières, un tel langage peut pas- On pourrait appliquer au Nigog le sous-titre d’une autre pu- ser pour contradictoire. Il en va de même des nombreuses prises blication encore plus éphémère : Das Andere, ein Blatt zur Ein- de position du Nigog en faveur d’une architecture inspirée du fuehrung Abendlaendischer Kultur in Oesterreich8. Outre le fait que passé canadien, celle, par exemple, de Préfontaine11: l’unique rédacteur de cette publication, l’architecte viennois Je ne suis pas de ces gens sentimentaux qui admirent aveuglément Adolf Loos, est cité à deux reprises dans Le Nigog9, la revue mon- tout ce qui est ancien […] mais je dois avouer que nos pères bâtis- tréalaise se présente bien, elle aussi, comme une provocation à la saient leurs maisons avec plus de bon sens et un sentiment de l’art modernité, jetée au visage d’une culture du repli, provinciale et inconnu de tous les constructeurs de ces trente dernières années. retardataire. D’autres traits incitent à rapprocher Loos des « exo- L’architecture de la province de Québec aurait dû se développer tiques » du Nigog : tout comme eux, il se sent isolé dans une cul- dans ce sens… ture isolée, comme eux, il se réfugie à Paris (1922-1928) ; comme Ou encore celle-ci, du même auteur12 : eux, mais de façon beaucoup plus catégorique, il pressent dans […] efforçons-nous de décorer l’intérieur de nos maisons dans un l’Américain (le « plombier », « l’homme en overall ») le prototype esprit moderne ; imitons en cela nos ancêtres… de l’homme vraiment moderne qu’il oppose aux modernistes de Aux yeux de Loos, la véritable tradition n’exclut pas l’évo- la Wiener Secession. lution ; elle évolue elle-même en intégrant les apports valables de Ce rapprochement éclaire peut-être l’intérêt du Nigog pour chaque moment historique. Chaque lieu devrait évoluer au ryth- la ville. Elle est le lieu de la modernité, celui qu’il convient d’af- me universel du progrès : « les nouvelles orientations de la pen- fronter sans détour, plutôt que de le fuir dans les idylles régio- sée appartiennent à tous les habitants de la terre13 ». nalistes et paysannes également chères à l’Empire Comme Loos, la plupart des collaborateurs du Nigog appar- austro-hongrois déclinant et au Québec « catholique-et-français » tiennent à l’aile universaliste, progressiste, urbaine, « classicisan- de 1900. te » de la pensée et de la sensibilité modernes. Comme lui, ils Il n’est pas inconcevable que le discours impérieux et incisif dénoncent le régionalisme et comme lui, « dans le vide14 », avec de Loos ait influencé certains collaborateurs du Nigog bien au- passion et désespoir, ils appellent leur culture nationale à se ral- delà de ce qu’ils en révèlent, mais, quoiqu’il en soit, les idées du lier à la modernité. Ici, pourtant, intervient une nuance impor- premier semblent de nature à éclairer celles des seconds, en par- tante. ticulier sur un point : le rejet du régionalisme ne signifie nulle-

46 YVES DESCHAMPS ESSAI / ESSAY

2. Le Nigog, no 8, août 1918, p. 160.

Le « centre de la civilisation » que Loos désigne à l’attention de ses compatriotes, c’est le monde anglo-étatsunien, un Autre absolu, lointain, étranger, que beaucoup d’entre eux considèrent avec méfiance, hostilité peut-être15. Il n’est pas interdit de voir là une part de paradoxe et de provocation. La boussole du Nigog pointe, elle, vers un autre pôle. Pour Morin, de Roquebrune et autres francophiles et « retour d’Europe », l’ouverture sur le monde et la modernité ne se distingue pas clairement d’une ré- immersion dans l’identité française originelle. Leur position n’exige pas de remise en cause radicale de la mythologie identitaire, mais une mise à jour. La France du Nigog n’est plus celle d’avant 1759… ou 1789 : dévote, paysanne et royaliste, mais celle de 1918 et, même en faisant la part de l’émo- tion engendrée par la guerre en cours, certaines paroles de Ro- quebrune ne laissent guère de place à l’équivoque : « Nous sommes nés de cette civilisation et nous devons chercher à nous y rattacher. Que la France disparaisse un jour et nous n’aurons plus de raison d’être16 ». Admettons qu’il s’agisse là d’une envolée extrême… Édouard Montpetit, cette figure tutélaire de la modernité québé- coise affirme beaucoup plus sobrement, mais aussi plus explici- tement : « [Nos aînés] étaient plus près de nos origines ; et n’avaient pas encore abandonné, sous prétexte de confort ou de bon marché, toute préoccupation de beauté17 ». Nous sommes ici au cœur du projet du Nigog, celui d’un art qui enrayera l’enlisement du Canada français dans la médiocri- té, la laideur qui s’engendre elle-même : Quand on cherche pourquoi Montréal reste laid, on ne trouve pas à une sorte de renonciation héroïque à eux-mêmes dans leur pro- d’autre réponse que celle-ci : c’est parce qu’il est laid… À force de pre intérêt, à une seconde modernité qui, sans nécessairement re- vivre parmi les poteaux du télégraphe, les cubes de brique ou de jeter le cadre local, ne se laissera plus priver du progrès universel pierre, les escaliers tourmentés et périlleux, on finit par ne rien par une fausse conscience régionale. concevoir de mieux18. Le cas du Nigog peut illustrer une autre situation, celle d’une À cette image débilitante, plusieurs fois reprise dans la culture américaine qui cherche à habiter un temps et un espace revue sous diverses plumes, Montpetit oppose la beauté des encore mal définis au moyen d’équipements intellectuels conçus « origines », par exemple, ces « […] maisons seigneuriales aux dans ses anciennes métropoles et constamment modifiés par lignes sobres mais disciplinées et parlantes ». Il s’élève contre elles en fonction de leurs évolutions particulières. Dans ce leur destruction insensée, mais son intention n’est pas réductible contexte, le Québec a, sans doute, ses particularités, mais on est à un retour en arrière. Ce patrimoine est surtout, pour lui, garant frappé par les constantes qui se dégagent d’un regard compara- d’un avenir national : « L’art révèle ; l’art atteste ; l’art est un élé- tif sur les modernités architecturales du continent. ment national, une nécessité très haute […] L’important pour La « renonciation » à l’identité suggérée par Loos sera ac- nous n’est-ce pas de construire ? ». centuée après 1918 par les jeunes architectes du Neues Bauen (Gropius, Oud, Le Corbusier, etc.). Ces rescapés de « la der des Modernités américaines der » veulent remplacer l’antagonisme des espaces nationaux par C’est à New York, à Philadelphie et à Chicago, de 1893 à 1896, une grande fraternité dans le temps universel. Ils voient dans la qu’Adolf Loos dit avoir découvert la modernité vraie. Prenant convergence des formes architecturales le signe de son avène- appui sur cette révélation personnelle, il convie ses compatriotes ment.

47 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

En Amérique, la modernité sera reçue par les uns comme la Notes « De l’opportunité d’un culte de la confirmation d’une identité déjà ancienne et, par les autres, supériorité littéraire », Le Nigog, 1. Le titre est emprunté à no 3, mars, p. 87). C’est la même comme l’occasion inespérée d’une construction identitaire retar- Édouard Montpetit, 1918, Le o phrase qui est citée dans les deux dée jusque-là par l’influence des académies européennes. Nigog, n 2, février, p. 37. cas, et pas par Préfontaine de qui Le premier cas est celui des États-Unis. Là, le discours de 2. À titre d’exemple, on peut on l’attendait a priori, bien que Loos, puis celui de nombreux Européens dont Le Corbusier citer Von deutscher Baukunst (De cela ne prouve rien… Ce qui est (« Les ingénieurs américaines écrasent de leurs calculs l’architec- l’architecture allemande), un texte certain, c’est que l’article de Loos 19 de Goethe, publié en 1772, dans dont provient la phrase fut publié ture agonisante ») est compris à la fois comme une preuve de la lequel l’auteur exalte l’architecte à Vienne en 1908, puis à Paris validité intemporelle des « vérités » étatsuniennes et comme l’ap- (supposé) de la cathédrale de (Cahiers d’aujourd’hui) en 1913 probation, tant attendue, de la vieille Europe à sa fille lointaine. Strasbourg. (Adolf Loos, 1870-1933, Bruxelles, Aux États-Unis, l’architecture nouvelle ne sera pas critique, mais 3. Le mot s’entend ici dans son Mardaga, 1983, p. 146). Il est repro- confirmation d’une tradition nationale dont on avait failli dés- sens original : individu de souche duit dans Loos, 1979 : 198-207. espérer après le krach de 1929. européenne né en Amérique. 10. Loos, 1979 : 245. La « maison Le second cas est celui des Amériques ibériques. L’Argenti- 4. Lire, par exemple, la descrip- de la Michaelerplatz » est une œuvre de Loos construite à Vienne ne, le Chili, le Mexique au lendemain de sa Révolution (nationa- tion qu’en donne Henry David Thoreau en 1850 (1961, « The Walls en 1910). le), le Brésil de l’Estado Novo et le Venezuela du miracle pétrolier of Quebec », dans A Yankee in 11. Préfontaine, Fernand, 1918, perçoivent la nouvelle architecture comme une mainlevée finale Canada, Montréal, Harvest House, «L’architecture à Montréal », Le de l’hypothèque coloniale, un art de bâtir enfin neutre, détaché p. 89-107). Nigog, no 6, juin, p. 191. de son incontournable origine européenne, capable, donc, de 5. …et aussi – très significative- 12. Préfontaine, Fernand, 1918, s’intégrer de façon originale, souple et non-dominatrice à leurs ment – des Hautes Études Com- « Les styles dans l’ameublement et cultures diverses. merciales et de l’École normale la décoration », Le Nigog, no 8, Jacques-Cartier. Au Québec – moins loin de Mexico qu’il n’y paraît, mais si août, p. 160. proche à coup sûr de New York l’avènement de l’architecture 6. Cité dans Simmins, Geoffrey 13. Loos, 1979 : 241. –, (dir.), 1992, Documents in Cana- moderne allait venir comme un torrent dans les années soixante 14. L’un des ouvrages de Loos est dian Architecture, Peterborough, intitulé Paroles dans le vide (Ins sous le nom, trompeur, d’International Style, et la réalité aurait Ontario, Broadview Press, p. 139. Leere gesprochen, Paris et Zürich, peu à voir avec les rêves et les désirs des écrivains du Nigog. 7. Les citations du Nigog pro- 1921). Mais de cela, nous parlerons une autre fois… viennent de la récente réimpres- 15. Il est vrai qu’il prend soin, sion de la revue aux éditions dans « Les plombiers » (1979 : 51- Comeau & Nadeau, Montréal, 56), de présenter la Grande-Breta- 1998. gne comme le conservatoire de la 8. L’Autre, journal pour l’intro- germanité la plus authentique. duction de la culture occidentale 16. Roquebrune, 1918, « Littéra- en Autriche. Deux numéros seule- ture », Le Nigog, no 3, mars, p. 81. ment sont parus en 1903. Toutes les références à des textes de Loos 17. Montpetit, Édouard, 1918, proviennent de Loos, Adolf, 1979, «L’art Nécessaire », Le Nigog, Paroles dans le vide…, Paris, no 2, février, p. 27. Champ Libre. 18. Maurault, Olivier, 1918, 9. « Il se peut que je vive en 1913, « Ambiance », Le Nigog, no 4, mais l’un de mes voisins vit en l’an avril, p. 126. 1900 et l’autre en 1880… nous 19. Le Corbusier, 1958 (1920- avons même des attardés qui 1922), Vers une architecture, Paris, poussent des cris devant les omb- Vincent Fréal, p. 20. res violettes d’un tableau », extrait de « Ornement et crime », cité par Léo-Pol Morin (1918, « La légende de l’art musical canadien… », Le Nigog, no 1, janvier, p. 19), puis par de Roquebrune, Robert (1918,

48 RAPPORT / REPORT

J ean Bélisle

Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache (Québec)

Description du lieu

L’emplacement Le moulin Légaré est situé sur la rue Saint-Eustache, au cœur de la ville du même nom sur la dénivellation de près de 10 mètres qui relie la rue à la rivière du Chêne (ill. 1). Le moulin est à environ 740 mètres de l’embouchure de la rivière (ill. 2). Il Fig. 1. Carte montrant la localisation de la ville de Saint-Eustache. Qc. (ministère des Transports du Québec, 1984) s’appuie directement sur le roc, du galet. De fait, nous sommes ici en présence de calcaire du groupe Beekmantown composé de lits très réguliers (environ 30 cm) de dolomie (CaMg(CO3)2) (ill. 3). Le moulin, placé en contrebas de la rue, est noyé dans une végétation constituée d’arbres matures (ill. 4). Il n’est bien visible que de la rivière. La ville a aménagé la rive sud de la rivière de façon à en faciliter l’accès et à créer ainsi un excellent point de vue vers le moulin (ill. 5). On accède à cette promenade par un pont situé à l’ouest du moulin, entre ce dernier et la halte dégus- tation édifiée en 1992 sur l’emplacement de l’écurie construite au 1 Ce rapport a été présenté à la Commission des lieux et monuments his- début du siècle par Magloire Légaré . toriques du Canada. Le moulin Légaré a été reconnu d’importance Le moulin est situé à la limite ouest de l’ancien village (ill. 6). historique nationale en 1999 car il constitue un exemple remarquable Il se trouve à seulement 500 mètres de l’église de Saint-Eustache d’un moulin à farine issu de la période pré-industrielle du Québec. et à 50 mètres du manoir Globensky, deux bâtiments historiques classés par le ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec. La vieille chapelle presbytérienne se trouve également à moins de 100 mètres du moulin. Le quartier où se trouve le moulin est constitué de résidences privées et de petits commerces in- stallés surtout dans d’anciennes maisons le long de la rue Saint-Eustache. La circulation de transit y est légère. Jean Bélisle est professeur à l’Université Concordia, à Montréal. Les bâtiments Le complexe du moulin Légaré se compose de deux bâti- ments – le moulin (ill. 7) et la halte dégustation (ill. 8) – sur la rive nord de la rivière du Chêne, de la digue et du site archéologique du premier moulin à scie sur la rive sud de la rivière (ill. 9). Le moulin comporte trois structures distinctes : le moulin à farine, le moulin à scie et la maison du meunier. L’accès au complexe se fait par la rue Saint-Eustache. Un petit espace situé en contrebas de la rue donne accès au moulin à farine, au moulin à scie et à la halte dégustation. JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003) ; 49-62.

49 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 2. Carte montrant l’emplacement du moulin Légaré au centre-ville de Saint-Eustache, Qc. (ministère des Terres et Forêts du Québec, Saint-Eustache, 31H 12-02S-0404, 1972)

Fig. 4. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Mur est perdu dans la végétation. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-5, 1999)

Fig. 5. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc, Vue de la rivière du Chêne. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-16, 1999)

Fig. 3. Formation géologique, rivière du Chêne, Saint-Eustache, Qc. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 6-1, 1999) Magloire Légaré en 19193. Elle est percée par trois fenêtres du côté est et une fenêtre et une porte du côté ouest. À l’angle sud- Le moulin à farine ouest du moulin, se trouve une structure en béton construite par Le moulin à farine, construit à partir de 1762-1763 par Fran- Magloire Légaré en 1923 pour loger les empellements du moulin. çois Maisonneuve2, possède un carré en maçonnerie de pierre L’intérieur du moulin recèle tous les éléments mécaniques mesurant 9,90 mètres sur son pignon sud et 9,77 mètres sur son nécessaires à la production. Au niveau le plus bas, se trouve la pignon nord. Son long pan est mesure 17,93 mètres et son long chambre des turbines (aussi connue comme le caisson). Cette pan ouest 18,36 mètres. Sa hauteur maximale, du côté de la ri- dernière, en béton, a été construite selon toute vraisemblance par vière, se situe à environ 6 mètres (la hauteur de la charpente Magloire Légaré en 1923. Elle se trouve du côté sud du moulin, n’entre pas dans ce calcul) (ill. 10). Le carré est percé par cinq fe- mais pas directement contre ses murs extérieurs. Il est possible nêtres sur le pignon sud, une porte et deux fenêtres sur le long d’accéder à l’espace situé entre le caisson et le mur extérieur. pan ouest, deux portes et deux fenêtres (dont une partiellement Dans le caisson se trouvent les trois turbines du moulin (ill. 11) ; murée) sur le long pan est. Le pignon nord ne comporte aucune deux sont des Leffel et la troisième (la plus petite) une Joseph ouverture. La charpente actuelle a été refaite en 1994 par l’archi- Hale. La provenance des turbines demeure incertaine. Même du tecte Yves Woodrough. Elle s’élève de 4 mètres au-dessus des sa- temps des Légaré, plusieurs vieilles turbines ont été acquises. blières. Cette charpente reprend le gabarit de celle érigée par Quoiqu’il en soit, les turbines doivent dater de la seconde moitié

50 JEAN BÉLISLE RAPPORT / REPORT

Fig. 8. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. La halte dégustation vue du nord-est. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-9, 1999)

Fig. 6. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc.Vue de la rue Saint-Eustache. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 6-8, 1999)

Fig. 9. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Site du moulin à scie sur la rive sud de la riviè- re du Chêne. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-21, 1999)

L’étage de la moulange est occupé dans sa partie nord par le magasin du moulin (ill. 13). C’est également ici que se trouve l’accès principal du moulin. Le centre est occupé par deux blu- Fig. 7. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Le moulin à farine à gauche sous la maison. teaux. Le plus ancien est accolé au mur est et le plus récent au Le moulin à scie à droite. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-10, 1999) mur ouest (la Corporation l’a acquis en 1999 du moulin de Wa- kefield). L’espace entre les bluteaux sert de lieu de présentation. du XIXe siècle puisque la firme Leffel a été incorporée en 1862. Le bluteau ouest est en cours de remontage (été 1999). L’espace Les turbines sont en cours de restauration (été 1999). Les vestiges sud de l’étage est occupé par les meules (ill. 14). Le moulin Lé- d’un empellement intérieur sont toujours visibles à l’angle sud- garé compte deux paires de meules. La paire du côté est, d’origi- ouest du caisson. ne française, a été fabriquée par A. Pion de la Ferté-sous-Jouarre Le niveau suivant, celui des engrenages, n’est pas accessible alors que la seconde, actuellement en restauration pour remise au public. À son extrémité nord, se trouve un espace de rampa- en service, provient de la quincaillerie Chinic de Québec. Sa ge. Les bases de deux foyers sont toujours visibles sur le pignon meule dormante possède un plus grand diamètre que la meule nord. Au centre, longeant le mur est, se trouve une chambre froi- courante. Contre le pignon sud, on trouve un nettoyeur améri- de en béton. La partie sud de l’étage est occupée par la méca- cain de marque Eureka ainsi que sa trémie. Toutes les maçonne- nique entraînant les meules. Au-dessus du caisson des turbines, ries sont chaulées. on trouve un bâti trapézoïdal en grosses poutres de bois (ill. 12). À l’étage des combles, on trouve, contre le pignon sud, les Ce bâti loge et supporte tous les engrenages d’entraînement. On sommets des élévateurs ainsi que la trémie de la meule en opé- trouve également à ce niveau les bases de trois élévateurs. Le ration (ill. 15). Le reste de l’espace sert au rangement. La cloison plancher au centre de ce niveau est constitué d’une dalle de nord, mitoyenne avec la maison du meunier, conserve une des béton. fermes de la charpente d’origine du moulin du XVIIIe siècle

51 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 10. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Élévation du pignon sud. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-18, 1999)

Fig. 12. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Bâti trapézoïdal supportant les meules. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 5-17, 1999)

Fig. 13. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Entrée principale du moulin à farine et comp- toir de vente. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 2-10, 1999)

Fig. 11. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Turbine Leffel au fond, turbine Hale au premier Fig. 14. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Angle sud-est de l’étage de moulange avec la plan. meule en opération. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1-12, 1999) (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 2-3, 1999)

52 JEAN BÉLISLE RAPPORT / REPORT

Fig. 17. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. La maison du meunier de la rue Saint-Eustache. Façade nord. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-7, 1999)

Fig. 15. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Pignon sud à l’étage avec la trémie de la meule en opération. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 5-0, 1999)

Fig. 18. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Détail de la corniche de façade de la maison du meunier. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 6-4, 1999)

(ill. 16). Cette ferme est constituée de deux arbalétriers (ou che- vrons) reliés par un entrait, lui-même lié au faîte par un poinçon. Deux faux-entraits renforcent la structure à mi-hauteur. La ferme repose sur ses blochets et est étayée par des jambes de force. Le poinçon présente les mortaises nécessaires pour recevoir un sous-faîte et un esselier. Comme le sommet du poinçon ainsi que les extrémités des arbalétriers ont été tronqués, on ne connaît pas les liaisons du faîte.

La maison du meunier La maison du meunier, construite en 1902-1903 par Urbain Gagnon4, a été érigée sur la section nord du carré de maçonnerie du moulin de 1762 (ill. 17). Gagnon a réutilisé les composantes saines de l’ancienne charpente comme poutres de support pour son rez-de-chaussée. La maison forme un cube de deux étages dont le carré est en bois. Ce dernier est recouvert d’un déclin de bois. Cette maison est de style « boomtown ». Elle mesure 9,77 mètres de façade sur une profondeur de 8,40 mètres et sa hauteur maximale est de 6,60 mètres. La façade est percée au rez- de-chaussée par une porte flanquée de deux fenêtres. On trouve la même disposition à l’étage, mais la porte donne sur un balcon.

Fig. 16. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Les murs est et ouest sont identiques, percés par quatre fenêtres, Coupe est-ouest avec le relevé de la charpente. deux à chaque étage. Le mur sud ne compte qu’une petite fenêt- (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1999) re à l’étage qui donne sur la salle de bains. La façade est ornée d’une corniche de menuiserie (ill. 18).

53 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 19. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Corridor à l’étage de la maison du meunier, vers l’avant. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 5-12, 1999)

Fig. 20. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc; Le moulin à scie accolé au mur ouest du moulin à farine. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 3-11, 1999)

L’intérieur, au niveau du rez-de-chaussée, est divisé en deux par un corridor axial où se trouve l’escalier donnant accès à l’é- tage. Du côté est, on trouve sur l’avant un salon et sur l’arrière une chambre. Du côté ouest, on trouve sur l’avant le bureau du Fig. 21. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc; L’étage du moulin à scie vers l’ouest meunier (qui servait également de bureau d’enregistrement pour (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 5-5, 1999) les véhicules automobiles) et la cuisine sur l’arrière. Certains équipements sont encore en place, l’évier par exemple. La dispo- 1919 par Magloire Légaré, en remplacement du toit originel à sition des pièces à l’étage est semblable à celle du rez-de-chaus- deux versants. La façade du moulin à scie (côté nord) est percée sée ; un corridor central flanqué par quatre chambres (ill. 19). Au au niveau du rez-de-chaussée par deux portes, dont une double bout du corridor, à l’arrière du bâtiment, se trouve la salle de pour véhicules, et par deux petites fenêtres horizontales. Au ni- bains. On note par ailleurs la présence étrange d’une corde à veau de l’étage, la façade est percée par une porte de charge- linge au-dessus de la cage d’escalier. L’ensemble des pièces de la ment, située directement au-dessus de celle du rez-de-chaussée, maison est lambrissé de planches verticales en V. et quatre fenêtres carrées. La façade arrière qui donne sur la ri- vière est percée pour sa part au niveau du rez-de-chaussée par Le moulin à scie une porte donnant sur la plate-forme des empellements et par Le moulin à scie est accolé perpendiculairement au carré du quatre fenêtres carrées. Au niveau de l’étage, se trouvent cinq fe- moulin à farine, sur son côté ouest (ill. 20). Construit vraisem- nêtres carrées, toutes semblables. Le pignon ouest est percé par blablement dans les années 18805, le carré du moulin repose sur une fenêtre carrée au niveau de l’étage. L’ensemble du bâtiment des pilotis de béton. Ce bâtiment, construit sur une charpente à est recouvert de feuilles de tôle posées verticalement. claire-voie de bois, mesure 15,24 mètres sur 6,09 mètres. La hau- Les aménagements intérieurs du moulin à scie n’ont que teur actuelle du carré est de 6,50 mètres. Le moulin à scie comp- peu de rapports avec sa fonction d’origine. Au rez-de-chaussée, te deux étages. La toiture actuelle en appentis a été construite en le centre du moulin est occupé par une salle polyvalente.

54 JEAN BÉLISLE RAPPORT / REPORT

Fig. 23. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Relevé du mur ouest de l’intérieur (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1999)

Fig. 22. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc; Relevé du mur est de l’intérieur (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1999)

L’extrémité est abrite un espace de rangement pour le moulin. On peut y observer la maçonnerie du moulin à farine sans son enduit. On peut noter que le mur de pierre « fait du ventre ». À l’autre extrémité du moulin à scie, on a aménagé les W.C. et un petit local technique. Il ne reste de tous les éléments mécaniques du moulin qu’un arbre de transmission et deux volants. À l’é- tage, se trouve un grand espace ouvert servant à l’entreposage (ill. 21).

La digue La digue constitue un des éléments essentiels aux opéra- tions du moulin. La digue originelle de 1763 a disparu depuis longtemps, emportée par les glaces. Elle était constituée de cais- sons en bois remplis de pierres, le tout coiffé d’un glacis. La digue actuelle a été construite en béton, au début du siècle, par Magloire Légaré avec l’aide d’ingénieurs. Elle mesurait 32 mè- tres de long sur une hauteur de 2,13 mètres et une profondeur de 1,21 mètre. En 1952, à la suite d’un procès qu’ils ont perdu, les Légaré ont dû réduire sa hauteur de 72,2 centimètres6. À 20 mè- Fig. 24. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Relevé du mur sud de l’intérieur. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1999) tres en amont de la digue, la Ville de Saint-Eustache a construit une passerelle piétonnière pour donner accès à la rive sud de la rivière du Chêne. Cette section du rapport analyse le moulin Légaré à la lu- mière des critères 1a) et 1b)8. Selon le critère 1a), l’importance his- Le site archéologique torique nationale potentielle d’un lieu : « illustre une réalisation La dernière composante du site se trouve de l’autre côté de exceptionnelle par sa conception et son design, sa technologie ou la rivière, sur sa rive sud. Il s’agit du site archéologique du mou- son aménagement, ou représente une période importante de l’é- lin à scie construit vers 1763 par François Maisonneuve7. Ce der- volution du Canada ». Selon le critère 1b), un lieu, « met en évi- nier bâtiment semble avoir disparu au cours du XIXe siècle. Il dence ou symbolise en tout ou en partie une tradition culturelle, devrait se trouver à l’endroit où la digue s’accroche à la rive sud une manière de vivre ou de penser qui sont importantes pour l’é- de la rivière. Selon les documents d’archives, il était en bois et volution du Canada ». mesurait 9,14 mètres de longueur sur 7,31 mètres de largeur. Justification de la demande

55 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

Fig. 25. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Photographie ancienne (avant 1902) du pignon nord. (Archives de la Corporation du moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc)

Fig. 27. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Arc de décharge au-dessus de la prise d’eau, mur ouest du moulin. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1-14, 1999)

Fig. 26. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Angle nord-est de la résidence du meunier au XVIIe siècle ; à droite, l’armoire encastrée ; au milieu une poutre « in situ » datant du XVIIe siècle. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 2-24, 1999)

Analyse de l’importance historique du lieu Dans l’optique des critères retenus, trois aspects du moulin Lé- garé méritent d’être soulignés et examinés dans le contexte de l’époque. Dans un premier temps, il convient de mettre en per- Fig. 28. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Photographie ancienne (avant 1902) prise de spective la construction du moulin Légaré, un bâtiment proto-in- la rivière. (Archives de la Corporation du moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc) dustriel, dans le contexte historique du développement des seigneuries des Basses-Laurentides. Dans un second temps, deux aspects du moulin retiennent notre attention : la continuité d’u- en épousant l’héritière Petit, devient le seigneur de la rivière du tilisation pendant près de 240 ans et ses effets sur la technologie Chêne. En avril 1739, le nouveau seigneur concède quatorze ter- et le bâtiment et, sur un plan davantage architectural, la juxtapo- res à des habitants provenant surtout de l’île Jésus et de Terre- sition des volumes en fonction de la multiplication des fonctions. bonne. Tous les contrats de concession précisent qu l’on devra Nous verrons chacun de ces trois aspects plus en détail. « faire moudre tous ses grains au moulin de lad seigneurie et non a d’autre10 ». La vocation agricole de la seigneurie s’affirme. Dans Contexte historique du développement de Saint-Eustache ce contexte, la construction d’un moulin s’impose rapidement, C’est en 1683 que la seigneurie des Mille-Îles est concédée à d’autant plus que le blé représente près de 75 % de la totalité de Michel Sidrac Dugué, sieur de Boisbriand. En l’absence de tout la production agricole des Basses-Laurentides11. En 1769, l’ancien développement, la couronne rattache en 1774 la seigneurie au curé de Sainte-Rose fonde la nouvelle paroisse de Saint-Eusta- domaine royal. Elle est aussitôt concédée aux sieurs Charles- che. Gaspard Piot et Jean Petit9. Quatre ans plus tard, la seigneurie est Au début du XIXe siècle, Joseph Bouchette décrit le village divisée en deux fiefs : celui de Blainville pour Piot et celui de la de Saint-Eustache comme étant bien construit, comptant environ rivière du Chêne pour Petit. En 1733, Eustache Lambert Dumont, 90 maisons, une belle église et son presbytère. Il remarque la

56 JEAN BÉLISLE RAPPORT / REPORT

Fig. 31. Le moulin Légaré, Saint- Eustache, Qc. Reconstitution des moulins vers 1880. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1999)

Fig. 29. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Grosse poutre. (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 4-25, 1999)

Montréalais d’accéder aux bienfaits de la villé- giature sur les bords de la rivière des Mille-Îles. De 1951 à 1986, le taux d’accroissement de la population atteint un très impressionnant 496,9 %14. Le cœur du village, avec son église historique, son manoir seigneurial, ses vieilles maisons et son moulin, devient un lieu de convergence naturel pour une population en quête de verdure et présence, à l’extrémité d’histoire. ouest du village, d’un La construction du moulin Légaré témoigne d’abord de la moulin situé dans un banalité issue du système seigneurial français (coutume de Paris) environnement très et, par extension, de la vocation agricole des Basses-Laurentides. « picturesque »12. Même de nos jours, le moulin continue de produire sa farine Le 14 décembre pour la population. Le moulin devient le lieu de rassemblement. 1837, l’armée britan- Tous y passent. Les nouvelles y circulent plus librement qu’à l’é- nique marche sur Saint- glise. C’est un lieu de convergence naturel pour la population. Il Eustache et réprime est peut-être anachronique, en 1999, mais il montre la profondeur dans le sang la révolte d’un attachement à certaines valeurs fondamentales. des patriotes. Le cœur Le bâtiment et l’évolution technologique du village est incendié. L’église ainsi que tous Le moulin Légaré présente deux grandes phases dans son les bâtiments qui l’en- évolution technologique. La première s’étend de sa construction tourent disparaissent en en 1762 au remplacement de sa roue à aubes par des turbines fumée. Et ce qui reste vers 1880. La seconde phase couvre la période d’utilisation des est pillé. Les stigmates turbines. Elle se poursuit encore de nos jours. On remarque que de la révolte des patrio- chacune des deux phases couvre une période d’environ 120 an- tes seront longs à se ci- nées. Il va sans dire que la seconde phase, toujours en cours, est catriser. Le donc beaucoup mieux représentée dans le moulin. L’évolution Fig. 30. Le moulin Légaré, Saint-Eustache, Qc. Re- que l’on peut comprendre en examinant le moulin est très repré- constitution du moulin au XVIIe siècle développement de (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1999) Saint-Eustache est stop- sentative de qui s’est passé ailleurs au Canada. Le moulin Léga- pé ; la croissance de la ré, par sa longévité d’utilisation, témoigne ainsi de l’évolution population stagne. Tenu technologique du pays. à l’écart de l’industrialisation (le train n’atteint le village qu’en La première phase du moulin Légaré est toujours présente 1882), Saint-Eustache se replie sur sa vocation agricole. Les meu- dans les murs de l’édifice (ill. 22 -24). La coquille du moulin a été niers continuent de moudre les grains qu’apportent les cultiva- conçue pour abriter une machine constituée d’une grande roue à teurs de la région. En 1890, la première industrie de aubes et de ses engrenages. Toutes les roues grandes et petites Saint-Eustache, l’usine de conserves Windsor, s’appuie toujours ont bien sûr disparu ; cependant, les cicatrices qu’elles ont lais- sur la production agricole de la région13. sées dans les murs du moulin sont toujours bien visibles. Au Avec la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale et l’expansion de moulin Légaré, il y a deux types de traces : celles laissées in situ la zone urbaine de Montréal, la région de Saint-Eustache entre et celles laissées par des éléments déplacés et réemployés. Sur le dans le XXe siècle et reprend vie. L’automobile permet aux mur nord, se trouvent les deux foyers de la première résidence

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Fig. 32. Le moulin de Gentilly, vers 1978. (tiré de Francine Adam-Villeneuve et Cyrille Felteau, Les Moulins à eau de la vallée du Saint-Laurent, Montréal, Les Éditions de l’Homme, 1978, contre p. 225)

Fig. 34. Le moulin de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, vers 1975. (carte postale éditée par Studio Du Port-Joly ; coll. de l’auteur)

Fig. 33. Le moulin de Pointe-du-Lac, vers 1976. Fig. 35. Le moulin de Charlesbourg, 1999. (tiré de Carol Priamo, Mills of Canada, Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1976, p. 13) (Jean Bélisle, Maître d’œuvre de l’histoire, 1-21, 1999) du meunier15. Ils sont 60 centimètres sous le plancher actuel. Une compte également une fenêtre et une porte dont l’origine retraite est également visible au niveau du rez-de-chaussée à demeure douteuse. 60 centimètres du plafond. La résidence du meunier au Les traces laissées par la machinerie du côté sud du moulin XVIIIe siècle reposait directement sur le galet. Le pignon nord au sont davantage discrètes. Sur le mur ouest, à l’angle sud-ouest, niveau des combles était percé par une porte entre les deux on trouve un arc de décharge en maçonnerie (ill. 27). Cet arc, da- conduits de cheminées et deux fenêtres (ill. 25). Le seuil de cette tant selon toute vraisemblance de la construction du moulin d’o- porte est toujours visible sur le mur. On accédait donc au moulin rigine, couvre l’entrée d’eau du moulin qui mesure, aujourd’hui, au XVIIIe siècle par cette porte en passant au-dessus de la rési- 2 mètres de largeur. À l’origine, elle devait mesurer 1,70 mètre de dence du meunier. De la poutraison qui supportait le plafond du largeur. Toutes les bases qui supportaient la grande roue et ses rez-de-chaussée de la maison du meunier il ne reste qu’une seule différentes composantes ont disparu lors du réaménagement du poutre in situ. Les trois autres ont été coupées vraisemblablement sous-sol au début du siècle. Une dalle de béton recouvre la par- au début du XXe siècle. Elles ont été transformées par creusement tie sud du moulin. Il est cependant possible que, sous cette dalle, en petites armoires. Du logement du meunier il reste également, subsistent encore certains éléments de ces bases. Une fouille ar- dans le mur du côté est, une armoire encastrée (ill. 26) ainsi chéologique de cet espace serait de rigueur. Un certain nombre qu’une fenêtre transformée en porte par les Légaré. Le mur ouest d’indices permettent tout de même d’avancer quelques hypothè-

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Fig. 37. Le moulin Backhouse, Port Rowan, Ontario, vers 1976. (tiré de Carol Priamo, Mills of Canada, Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1976, p. 16)

Fig. 36. Le moulin Jones, Delta, Ontario vers 1976. (tiré de Carol Priamo, Mills of Canada, Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1976, p. 157)

trouve dans la présence de deux énormes poutres au rez-de- chaussée actuel. Ces deux poutres de section, respectivement de 60 sur 40 centimètres (ill. 29) et de 40 sur 40 centimètres, ne sup- portent actuellement que le plancher des combles. L’examen des ses quant à la machinerie. Le premier de ces indices est la murs a révélé que ces deux monstres ont été déplacés vers le hauteur du barrage et les niveaux d’eau de la rivière. Une photo- haut. Notre hypothèse voudrait voir dans ces deux poutres le graphie datant de la fin du XIXe siècle (ill. 28) montre que le som- support d’origine des deux meules. Ces dernières se retrouve- met du glacis de l’ancien barrage se trouve à environ 1,3 mètre raient ainsi non plus au rez-de-chaussée, mais bien à l’étage des de l’appui de la fenêtre. Ce point correspond en gros à l’intrados combles. de l’arc de décharge de l’empellement. En tenant compte que la Le moulin, selon notre hypothèse, devait fonctionner grande roue devait avoir un diamètre d’environ 4,7 mètres, l’axe comme suit (ill. 30) : le cultivateur arrivait sur la rue Saint-Eus- de cette dernière devait se trouver à peu près à la hauteur de l’arc tache avec ses poches de grain ; les poches étaient déchargées et de décharge. En d’autres termes, nous avons, au moulin Légaré, transportées dans le moulin en utilisant la porte située dans le pi- une roue de côté à aubes qui fonctionne par l’impulsion du cou- gnon nord au niveau des combles. Comme les meules se trou- rant et par le poids de l’eau. Elle tourne également à l’envers vaient à ce niveau, les grains étaient versés directement dans les dans le sens des aiguilles d’une montre. trémies. Après avoir été moulus, les grains transformés en farine Au XVIIIe siècle, le rez-de-chaussée était placé à environ se retrouvaient par gravité à l’étage inférieur (étage des méca- 1 mètre sous le niveau actuel. La porte du mur est, partiellement niques). La farine mise en poche était livrée au cultivateur par la enterrée et murée par les Légaré, en témoigne. Selon notre hypo- porte du mur est. Cette circulation, croyons-nous, aurait été uti- thèse, l’arbre de la grande roue devait se trouver légèrement sous lisée jusqu’à la construction de la maison du meunier en 1902. ce niveau. Nous savons que, pour transmettre l’énergie de la La seconde phase du moulin Légaré débute avec la mise en grande roue aux meules, il faut la démultiplier par une série place des turbines. Cette installation a dû se faire vers les années 17 d’engrenages comprenant en premier lieu un grand rouet verti- 1880 et est, selon nous, contemporaine de la construction du cal16 entraînant une roue horizontale qui, elle-même, entraîne moulin à scie par le seigneur Globensky. De nos jours, le moulin deux lanternes. Ces dernières sont reliées par le petit fer aux possède trois turbines dont une seule en état de fonctionner. Les meules. Dans ce contexte mécanique, il est impossible de conser- deux autres sont en cours de restauration et devraient être opé- ver les meules au rez-de-chaussée, l’espace n’étant pas suffisant rationnelles dans le courant de l’année. Les turbines ont plu- pour recevoir tous les engrenages. Un élément de réponse se sieurs avantages sur la grande roue à aubes. Elles sont plus

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économiques sur le plan énergétique et elles sont plus puissan- est de 45 degrés. Le carré de pierre est chaulé à plein. Le bâtiment tes. Enfin, elles sont beaucoup plus compactes que la grande ne se distingue d’une maison que par sa positon perpendiculai- roue et ses engrenages. Dans un moulin conçu autour d’une mé- re à la rivière à défaut d’une pente. La présence de lucarnes ac- canique actionnée par une grande roue, la mise en place d’une centue la similitude avec l’architecture domestique. On ne peut turbine libère énormément d’espace. Comme les rouets, les roues pas vraiment parler ici de style, mais bien davantage d’une tra- et les lanternes ne sont plus nécessaires, le rez-de-chaussée se dition architecturale. trouve ainsi libéré. Et, comme les turbines sont en fait des roues Le moulin à scie est, lui aussi, très près du vernaculaire. Sur horizontales transmettant presque directement leur énergie aux le plan technique, il se rapproche des nombreux bâtiments se- meules, ces dernières sont descendues de l’étage des combles condaires construits autour de la maison. Il est construit comme pour être placées directement au-dessus de leurs turbines respec- une grange ou une étable ; aucun élément décoratif ne vient re- tives. L’étage des combles cesse d’être l’espace de moulange lever son apparence. C’est un édifice purement fonctionnel. L’ex- pour ne devenir qu’un espace d’entreposage. Toutes les opéra- haussement dont il fit l’objet en 1919, en remplaçant son toit à tions sont maintenant conduites du rez-de-chaussée. C’est pro- deux pentes par un toit en appentis, ne change pas grand-chose. bablement pour cette raison que la maison du meunier a été La maison du meunier est un cas différent. Elle est conçue transportée au niveau des combles en 1902-1903. On peut égale- comme une maison du début du XXe siècle et à ce titre fait mon- ment avancer l’insalubrité du rez-de-chaussée avec ses eaux de tre d’une certaine prétention architecturale. Elle est cubique et re- ruissellement comme cause secondaire du déménagement. prend en gros le vocabulaire que nous qualifions de style Enfin, le déplacement de la maison améliore l’intimité du meu- « boomtown ». Elle est le seul élément du complexe à présenter nier. une certaine recherche décorative : une corniche à moulure, des Vers les années 1880, le seigneur Globensky accole perpen- cadres de fenêtres et des chambranles de portes décorés. Les por- diculairement au moulin à farine un nouveau moulin à scie des- tes sont ornées également de motifs de menuiserie. Enfin, la mai- tiné à remplacer celui qui, au XVIIIe siècle, se trouvait sur la rive son est peinte en deux couleurs, beige jaune pour le déclin et sud de la rivière. Le moulin est construit sur pilotis en charpen- rouge bourgogne pour les planches verticales d’angle et les en- te à claire-voie. Sa machinerie, dont il ne reste que quelques en- cadrements des ouvertures. Le moulin, vu de la rue St-Eustache, grenages, est actionnée par l’énergie fournie par une des turbines fait très début du XXe siècle ; alors que, vu de la rivière, il fait très du moulin à farine. Un trou a été percé à cet effet dans la fonda- XVIIIe. De toute évidence, les propriétaires au début du siècle tion ouest de ce dernier bâtiment pour permettre le passage veulent faire « moderne ». d’une courroie de transmission (ill. 31). La toiture du moulin à scie comme celle de la partie sud du moulin à farine sont ex- Intégrité haussées en 1919. Il semble que les Légaré aient eu le projet d’y L’intégrité pour un bâtiment de nature industrielle est très installer un atelier de menuiserie. relative. Le moulin est en fonction depuis 1762 et, à ce titre, il a Au cours de cette phase, la circulation est complètement mo- dû être modifié pour répondre aux besoins spécifiques de sa difiée. On crée une sorte de petite place en contrebas de la rue production. Tous les ajouts et les modifications qu’il a subis au dans l’angle formé par le mur ouest du moulin à farine et le long cours de sa longue existence sont autant d’éléments qui le valo- pan nord du moulin à scie. L’accès au moulin à farine se fait par risent. L’intégrité doit être ici liée beaucoup plus à la fonction de une porte percée dans le mur ouest donnant dans ce qui était au- l’édifice qu’à son apparence physique. Même les reprises en trefois la maison du meunier. L’accès au moulin à scie se fait par béton des années 1923 sont importantes dans ce contexte. deux portes, une simple et une double pour les voitures, toutes deux percées dans le long pan nord. Contexte comparatif En raison de l’âge vénérable du moulin Légaré, il n’est pas Forme et fonction facile de trouver des moulins pouvant lui être comparés. La Le moulin à farine reprend en gros les caractéristiques de grande majorité des moulins qui ont survécu aux ravages du l’architecture vernaculaire héritées des traditions françaises. Le temps datent du XIXe siècle. Les moulins du milieu du XVIIIe siè- bâtiment est rectangulaire en plan et est ancré directement sur le cle sont très rares. Et, il est encore plus rare d’en trouver qui fonc- roc. Il n’y a pas à proprement parler de cave. La partie habitation tionnent. De fait, le moulin Légaré semble être le plus ancien au n’a même pas de rampage et repose sur le galet. La pente du toit Canada qui fonctionne encore. Quoiqu’il en soit, le moulin

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Légaré peut être comparé avec des moulins qui ne sont plus en quilles vides. Somme toute, la comparaison des moulins qui sub- fonction, mais qui ont conservé leur machinerie. Une comparai- sistent du Régime français et de l’après-conquête révèle qu’il son avec les nombreux moulins transformés en résidence n’est sont très différents du moulin Légaré, non pas à cause de leur pas valable, car le moulin (le bâtiment) ne peut être dissocié de technique de construction ni de leur mécanique, mais bien en rai- la machinerie qu’il abrite. L’un ne va pas sans l’autre. son de la façon dont ils s’intègrent à leur environnement. Le Le plus ancien moulin à avoir laissé sa trace dans notre his- moulin Légaré ne repose pas sur le sol ; il semble s’en extraire. toire est, à n’en pas douter, celui construit par le sieur de Pou- Les moulins construits au XIXe siècle en Ontario, au Québec trincourt en 1607 tout près de l’habitation de Port-Royal et dans les Maritimes sont tous très différents de ce que nous (Nouvelle-Écosse). Il ne reste de ce moulin que la description que trouvons au moulin Légaré. Les carrés des moulins du XIXe siè- nous en a laissée Samuel de Champlain18. Avec la colonisation de cle sont généralement plus hauts, de deux à trois étages, parfois la vallée du Saint-Laurent, nous voyons apparaître de nombreux même quatre. Les maçonneries sont très soignées et, règle géné- moulins. Le contexte seigneurial exige de la part du seigneur la rale, laissées apparentes comme au moulin Jones (commémoré construction d’un moulin banal pour desservir ses censitaires. en 1970) situé à Delta, en Ontario (ill. 36). Souvent, comme au Deux types de moulins vont être construits : le moulin à vent et moulin Backhouse (commémoré en 1998) de Port Rowan, égale- le moulin à eau. La plupart des moulins à vent construits sous le ment en Ontario, la structure est en bois (ill. 37). Les ouvertures Régime français ont disparu. Ceux qui ont résisté ont presque sont généralement plus nombreuses qu’au XVIIIe siècle. Les toi- tous perdu leur machinerie. Actuellement, seulement quatre tures ont presque toujours une pente très faible. Souvent, les moulins à vent possèdent toujours leurs engrenages. Bien que moulins du XIXe siècle sont coiffés de lanterneaux, ce que l’on ne très intéressant, le moulin à vent peut difficilement être comparé trouve pas sur les moulins du XVIIIe. Sur le plan mécanique, il au moulin à eau. n’y a aucune différence entre les turbines Leffel du moulin Léga- Quelques moulins à eau, datant de la fin du Régime français ré et celles de ces moulins du XIXe siècle. et du début du Régime anglais, nous sont également parvenus. Somme toute, le moulin Légaré est représentatif de la pre- Tous ces moulins ont subi de nombreuses modifications pour mière phase de l’évolution des moulins au Canada : petit carré mieux les adapter aux besoins de leur époque. Le moulin de de maçonnerie rectangulaire, faible hauteur, petites ouvertures, Gentilly, construit en pierre entre 1739 et 1769, se rapproche de travail sur deux niveaux, intégration du logis à l’édifice. Les mo- notre moulin (ill. 32). De plan rectangulaire et de dimensions si- difications du XIXe siècle et du XXe n’ont pas changé ces carac- milaires à celles du moulin Légaré, le moulin des Michel n’est ce- téristiques de base. Elles ont été greffées par-dessus le carré pendant pas ancré dans une pente aussi abrupte que celle où se existant. trouve le moulin Légaré. Comme le moulin Légaré, le moulin de État actuel Gentilly a perdu sa roue à aubes au profit d’une turbine. Un autre moulin de pierre de la même époque (vers 1775), celui du Le 26 décembre 1974, le moulin Légaré a été reconnu comme seigneur de Tonnancour, se trouve à Pointe-du-Lac tout près de bien culturel en vertu de la Loi sur les biens culturels du gou- Trois-Rivières (ill. 33). De plan rectangulaire et de dimensions vernement du Québec (L.Q. 1972, chap. 19), sous le numéro 111- semblables à celles du moulin de Gentilly et du moulin Légaré, 026. Le 4 novembre 1976, le moulin Légaré a été classé comme le moulin de Tonnancour conserve une bonne partie de ses ma- bien culturel, toujours en vertu de la Loi sur les biens culturels, chines, mais il n’est plus en fonction. Sur le plan de la volumé- sous le numéro 111-123. Une aire de protection de 500 pieds de trie, le moulin de Tonnacour est semblable à celui de Gentilly en rayon a été signifiée le 6 septembre 1977. ce sens qu’il n’est pas encaissé comme le moulin Légaré. Le moulin de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, construit à la fin du Régime français Évaluation de la collectivité par le seigneur Aubert de Gaspé, peut se rapprocher de nos Le moulin est très connu dans la région. Il ne se passe de exemples (ill. 34). Il est de pierre, de plan rectangulaire et utilise journée sans que des visiteurs se présentent à sa porte qui est des turbines en remplacement de sa grande roue. Les moulins toujours ouverte. On y entre comme dans un moulin ! Plus de construits par le Séminaire de Québec au XVIIIe siècle à Charles- 10 000 visiteurs passent cette porte chaque année. Le meunier est bourg (ill. 35) et à l’Ange-Gardien présentent des volumes plus très loquace et n’est pas avare d’histoires. Les visiteurs peuvent grands, mais il ne reste rien de leurs composantes mécaniques. acheter de la farine de sarrasin ou de blé. Plusieurs restaurants Ils ont tous deux été restaurés, mais ne sont plus que des co- utilisent également la farine du moulin. Le son semble très

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populaire depuis qu’une entrevue à la télévision a révélé ses Notes 10. ANQM, minutier C.-F Coron, o étonnantes qualités dans la confection d’oreillers. Le moulin sert n 592, 3 avril 1739, concession par Eustache Dumont à Pierre Mas- également de scène à des pièces de théâtre et à toutes sortes d’ac- 1.Yves Woodrough et associés, son. tivités récréatives. Enfin, il convient de souligner que le moulin architectes, jeu de cinq plans pour 11. Laurin, Serge, 1989, Histoire Légaré a fait l’objet de trois publications scientifiques : en 1989, la halte dégustation du moulin Légaré, mai 1992. des Laurentides, Québec, Institut Le petit moulin (moulin Légaré) par Claude-Henri Grignon pour la québécois de recherche sur la cul- 2. Archives nationales du Qué- Ville de Saint-Eustache ; en 1991, Régis Jean a rédigé une étude ture, p. 118. bec à Montréal (dorénavant sur le moulin pour Les chemins de la mémoire, publiée par la Com- ANQM), minutier C.-F. Coron, no 12. Bouchette, Joseph, 1815, A mission des biens culturels du Québec et Denise Caron, en 1996, 3509, 11 février 1762, marché de Topographical Description of the Pro- a repris le flambeau pour les Cahiers d’histoire de la Société d’his- construction entre Eustache vince of Lower Canada, Londres, Dumont et François Maisonneuve. W. Faden, p. 107. toire régionale de Deux-Montagnes. o Importance historique en résumé ANQM, minutier P. Panet, n 1830, 13. Laurin : 374. 15 avril 1763, bail entre Ignace 14. Laurin : 499. Le moulin Légaré présente un certain nombre d’aspects qui Gamelin et François Maisonneuve. méritent d’être soulignés. Ils sont, à la fois, d’ordres historique, 15. Selon le marché de 1762 et le 3. Communication du meunier bail de 1763 que nous avons déjà technologique et architectural. En premier lieu, la longévité : le actuel, Daniel Saint-Pierre, à l’au- cités, le moulin et la maison sem- moulin Légaré est le plus ancien moulin à eau au Canada à être teur, le 6 juillet 1999. Monsieur blent séparés. De toute évidence, encore en état de fonctionnement et ses turbines ne sont pas près Saint-Pierre tient ses renseigne- on a changé le programme en ments de l’ancien meunier, Donat de s’arrêter. Le moulin est toujours vivant. On peut en sentir les cours d’exécution, probablement Légaré. vibrations quand les meules tournent. Deuxièmement, nous vou- pour réduire les coûts. 4. Grignon, Claude-Henri, 1989, drions appuyer sur l’importance de ses composantes méca- 16. Certaines de ces composantes Le petit moulin (moulin Légaré), ont été réparées en 1844. ANQM, niques. Il ne manque rien et tout fonctionne. Son emplacement Saint-Eustache, Service des com- minutier F.E. Globensky, no 6164, est également à souligner. Comme Bouchette le faisait remarquer munications, Ville de Saint-Eusta- 9 août 1844, marché entre Pierre en 1815, il est très « picturesque ». En 1999, le moulin a conservé che, p. 19. Laviolette et Eustache Dumoulin. cet aspect en dépit du fait qu’il se trouve au cœur d’une ville. 5. Hypothèse de l’auteur basée 17. Cette date demeure hypothé- Enfin, l’ensemble présente toutes les phases de son évolution en sur l’analyse de l’ensemble de la tique, mais elle est plus réaliste documentation. une accumulation de structures où rien n’est gratuit et où tout a que celle de 1849 avancée par la 6. Grignon : 20. sa raison d’être. Le moulin démontre qu’un monument histo- plupart des auteurs. Nous n’avons cependant pas pu trouver de rique ne doit pas nécessairement être figé dans une époque pour 7. ANQM, minutier C.-F. Coron, no 3509, 11 février 1762, marché document l’appuyant. nous toucher. entre Eustache Dumont et Fran- 18. Samuel de Champlain, Oeuv- çois Maisonneuve. res de Champlain, 1870, réédition de 8. Critères adoptés en janvier Laverdière, C.H., 1973, Montréal, 1999 par la Commission des lieux Éditions du Jour, tome 1, p. 116. et monuments historiques du Canada. 9. Grignon : 5.

62 COMPTE RENDU / REVIEW

Isabelle Caron

Architecture contemporaine à Québec 112 repères urbains Sous la direction de Martin Dubois, École d’architecture de l’Université Laval. Les Publications du Québec (2002), ISBN 2-551-19605-1, 172 p., 29,95$.

’édition de guides « urbains » portant sur la découverte de l’environnement bâti est de plus en plus répandue, dans la Lfoulée de l’expansion des explorations thématiques des villes et du tourisme culturel qui l’encourage. Guides généralistes et ouvrages spécialisés, certains de ces cicérones sont les produits de grandes maisons connues du milieu touristique, d’autres sont des œuvres « uniques », parfois appuyées sur des recherches récentes, et destinées à promouvoir un aspect particulier d’une ville. L’ouvrage Architecture contemporaine à Québec : 112 repères urbains, dirigé par Martin Dubois, est un de ces guides culturels spécialisés portant sur 112 créations d’architecture de la ville de Québec. Abondamment illustré de photographies, d’images de synthèse, de plans, de coupes et de vues, avec un découpage ter- ritorial actuel qui facilite et varie la consultation, deux index, une présentation agréable et claire, des commentaires concis et une bonne structure générale : le guide est efficace. Martin Dubois est connu du milieu de l’enseignement Isabelle Caron est doctorante à l’Université du Québec à Montréal dans le comme de celui de la recherche en architecture : chargé de cours cadre du Doctorat interuniversitaire en histoire de l’art et travaille à titre à l’École d’architecture de l’Université Laval et consultant pour d’auxiliaire de recherche auprès de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur le la firme Patri-Arch, il a ici joint son intérêt pour la recherche, son patrimoine urbain. Sa thèse doctorale porte sur les “vues de villes” de Québec enthousiasme envers la diffusion des connaissance et son rôle et de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième et au début du vingtième siècle. dans l’enseignement. L’ouvrage a en effet été rédigé avec la collaboration de 26 étudiants en architecture dans un cadre institutionnel d’acquisi- tion de connaissances théoriques et pratiques (visites de la ville, inventaire des sites et des édifices, recension des écrits, des plans et des dessins d’architecture, photographie architecturale, etc.). L’expérience, sans doute enrichissante pour le professeur comme pour les étudiants, a livré une abondante documentation qui accroît considérablement l’intérêt de l’ouvrage. Le livre concerne la ville de Québec, lieu riche d’explora- JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003) ; 63-64. tions potentielles pour les visiteurs mais aussi pour les rési-

63 JSSAC / JSÉAC 28, nos 1, 2 (2003)

dants. À cette nouvelle catégorie de « touristes », le guide de Le caractère récent des œuvres sélectionnées permet en l’École d’architecture promet plusieurs découvertes du voisina- outre d’induire une réflexion sur l’acte de création en architec- ge intra-urbain, tout comme il révèle un visage peu exploré de ture actuelle tout en favorisant le repérage des acteurs du milieu la « vieille capitale » : ses monuments récents, présentés ici architectural à Québec. Le commentaire de chaque œuvre (géné- selon une typologie fonctionnelle aussi propice à une consulta- ralement signé par un « duo ») mise sur l’essentiel : avenues tion « en salon » que dans la rue. adoptées par les architectes, typologie de l’intervention (cons- Dévolu à s’inscrire dans le sillon du Québec Monumental, truction, restauration, agrandissement, etc.), contrainte du lieu, 1890-1990 (Luc Noppen, Hélène Jobidon et Paul Trépanier, aux ont permis de contourner les difficultés inhérentes au jugement Éditions du Septentrion), qui recensait 150 œuvres d’architectu- critique, en ouvrant néanmoins plusieurs pistes au-delà de la re nées dans la région de la capitale depuis la fondation de l’Or- simple description. Une grande absente toutefois de cet ouvrage dre des architectes du Québec (qui célébrait alors son par ailleurs honorable : une bibliographie, qui aurait étayé les centenaire), le guide dirigé par Martin Dubois adopte une struc- informations présentées tout en évoquant quelque perspective ture légèrement différente de celle son prédécesseur. Entière- pour qui, séduit par le guide, souhaiterait dorénavant approfon- ment en couleur et d’un format plus compact, Architecture dir ses connaissances. contemporaine à Québec : 112 repères urbains profite d’un décou- page historique restreint pour donner le ton de l’activité architecturale récente dans un cadre géographique étendu. L’adresse, le client, le concepteur et l’année de la réalisation de chaque œuvre sont « fichés ». Deux index des bâtiments, triés par type fonctionnel ou par architecte, jumelés aux cartes de localisation des œuvres, elles-mêmes regroupées selon l’arrondissement où elles se trouvent, permettent un repérage aisé.