A significant factor affecting Canada’s architectural evolution was the political autonomy that came with the costly sacrifices in World War I. This served as a national coming of age, and Canadians realized that they were now entitled to make their own decisions with regard to their country. The struggles during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the contributions to the World War II effort were followed by a high-spirited postwar era of booming population and extensive development. Canada’s economy relies heavily on abundant natural resources, but technological innovation and development have diversified the country’s research and manufacturing sectors. The perceived architectural colonialism of the early decades has evolved into an architectural vocabulary that reflects a maturing sense of independence and emerging national identity. There were several factors propelling this architectural evolution.

Immigration and Early External Influences

Canada had benefited greatly as a consequence of the global economic depression between 1873 and 1896. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, publicity schemes and land grants attracted thousands of impoverished immigrants from the British Isles and Europe, in addition to young families who migrated from the eastern provinces to settle the western plains. In their new and harsh environment, the settlers experienced limited success at reproducing familiar architecture, and inevitably the use of locally available construction materials merged with cultural heritage, creating a distinctive Canadian “folk” architecture. Such original, vernacular design was particularly noticeable in regions settled by immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Ukraine, Russia, Scandinavia, Iceland, and China. The strict religious beliefs of some prairie settlers, such as the Doukhobors and the Hutterite Brethren, predetermined the form of their community- focused architecture.

With the massive immigration to the newly created prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, as well as British Columbia, governments embarked on an ambitious program to supply new settlements with essential services—legislative buildings, post offices, immigration and customs houses, policing, courthouses, and correctional facilities. The federal government architecture of the early 20th century closely adhered to precedents set by Thomas Fuller, chief architect of the Department of Public Works from 1881 until 1896. His carefully situated and finely detailed buildings with their rusticated masonry and textured surfaces contributed significantly to the High Victorian character still evident in many Canadian communities. However, Victorian eclecticism was gradually over-taken by more contemporary approaches to design, such as the Edwardian baroque, the Richardsonian Romanesque, the Château style derived from the Loire Valley of France, and the neo-classical Beaux-Arts tradition promoted at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The classical principles of rational clarity and ordered planning that were the hallmarks of the teachings of the École des Beaux-Arts influenced Canadian architectural education of this era. Whether the practitioners acquired their skills in Paris or from American architecture schools, many of Canada’s early 20th-century architects converted to this multinational design philosophy. As particular styles became associated with certain building types,

Canadian architecture assumed a more consistent and less decorative character. Beaux-Arts classicism was expressed in the monumental legislatures designed and built in the prairie provinces between 1888 and World War I. These were highlighted by statuesque central domes and entrance porticoes with rhythmic arrays of double-height columns, strikingly similar to the Minnesota and Rhode Island state capitols. The sole exception was the Richardsonian Romanesque design of the Ontario Legislative Building (1892, Richard A.Waite) at Toronto’s Queen’s Park. Neoclassical vocabulary was further adapted to situations such as E.J.Lennox’s Toronto Power Generating Station (1903–13) at Niagara Falls, where his client wished to create a majestic temple to new technology. This building is visually grounded by a large central block and pedimented entrance portico. The extremities of the side wings are anchored by smaller cubic blocks, and the entire facade is unified by the entablature and an imposing arrangement of Ionic columns—a grandiose shell for a utilitarian function.

Climate and the Natural Environment: Technological Innovation

As the first immigrants had discovered, the Canadian climate and physical geography ensured that, over a period of time, it proved expedient to adapt foreign styles and building technologies. Early in the 20th century, the National Research Council, a multidisciplinary institute of the federal government, saw the necessity for developing building materials and techniques to assist Canadians in their perpetual battle against the elements. The Institute for Research in Construction was established to develop materials, insulation, and construction standards suita-ble to every part of the country. This research led to specialized construction appropriate to Arctic conditions, such as cold temperatures, permafrost, low snow cover, and high winds. During the 1970s escalating energy costs fostered interest in solar design and collector panels, heat pumps, superinsulated windows, and low-emission glazing, culminating in the development of the R-2000 building system.

In addition, prefabrication and standardized housing designs have often been used to offset construction costs. During the World War II era, available housing was at a premium, forcing the federal government to establish Wartime Housing Limited to design and build thousands of small family homes. Many Canadian cities still retain neighborhoods of these “wartime” houses, originally considered to be an expedient yet temporary measure to alleviate the housing shortage. The lessons learned from such projects were adapted to other circumstances, where the lumbering, mining, pulp and paper milling, and hydroelectric power generation industries established company towns in remote parts of the country. On a site selected for an aluminum smelter because of its deep-water access to the Pacific, the hydroelectric power capacity of the Nechako River, and the broad alluvial plain on which a town could be built, the planned community of Kitimat, British Columbia, was created by Alcan Aluminum during the early 1950s. Referencing Ebenezer Howard’s garden city concept, the model town included a greenbelt that encircled distinct residential and commercial districts.

Many of Canada’s rapidly constructed northern and aboriginal communities are also distinguished by standardized and prefabricated buildings. Although the earliest of these quickly proved unsuited to the climatic extremes of the northern territories, recent buildings were more appropriately designed. They are now raised off the ground, with an insulating barrier under the main floor to prevent the building’s heat from melting the permafrost; walls and roofs are totally insulated with no vented roof crawl spaces; and the windows are few and small in area. Even though these engineered structures are not necessarily architectural masterpieces, they are very characteristic of Canada’s north. With continued improvements to materials and technology, northern communities now have many examples of a creatively designed yet pragmatic architecture. The Nunavut Legislative Assembly (1999), designed for the new northern territory by The Arcop Group and Full Circle Architecture, combines the latest in energy-conservation technology with a series of interior spaces and symbolic forms important to Inuit culture.

Geography and Transportation: Regionalism

For centuries, aboriginal communities existed along trade routes or wherever agriculture was viable, and with a growing European interest in Canada’s natural resources, particularly furs and lumber, permanent settlements sprang up near trading posts and transshipment centers. In the late 19th century, completion of the first Canadian transcontinental railway (1886) expedited the shipment of goods and people and fostered the establishment of towns along its route. The western railway towns of wooden false- fronted buildings overlooking a broad Main Street greeted thousands of immigrants as they disembarked to begin their homesteading life. By contrast, government buildings, prosperous businesses, and financial institutions were usually constructed of brick or assembled from prefabricated components that had been shipped from the east. The thriving agricultural economy of the 20th century added another prominent feature to prairie towns: the grain storage elevator, or “prairie sentinel.” These mammoth wooden structures, with steeply pitched roofs and the town’s name boldly emblazoned on their sides, could be identified from a great distance. Industrial versions of these elevators can be found at the major Great Lakes and ocean ports, where a phalanx of massive concrete silos stretches along the waterfront, with the railway spur line on one side and the freighters tied up on the other. It was a complex such as this that attracted Le Corbusier’s admiration for their honest industrial form.

The high costs of transporting goods, materials, and labor over immense distances and the climatic extremes in this, the world’s second-largest country, continue to foster regionalism in Canadian architecture. Professional architects have incorporated local characteristics in their projects, as seen in Peter Rose’s post-modern Bradley House (1979) in North Hatley, Québec. This country home evokes the spirit of a 16th- century Palladian villa, adopts Queen Anne Revival features prevalent in the community, and incorporates local building materials. One of the most outstanding examples of postmodern Canadian regionalism is the Mississauga City Hall and Civic Square (1986), designed by Edward Jones and Michael Kirkland to reflect both the maturity of this sprawling Toronto suburb and its roots as a rural farming community. A lofty clock tower presides over an intricate collage of massive agricultural forms, fronted by an open agora that is enclosed by modest colonnades. The dramatic interior spaces continue these historical references, and the intricate detailing and high-tech finishes imbue the building with a modern persona.

International Architecture and Canadian Identity

When Canada acquired dominion status with the 1867 confederation of four British provinces, Canadian sensibilities turned toward the picturesque neo-Gothic and its High Victorian interpretation. Used for religious buildings, educational institutions, and most outstanding, the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa (1865, Frederick Warburton Stent and Augustus Laver; 1866, Thomas Fuller and H.Chilion Jones), the neo-Gothic style defined Canada’s affiliation with the British Empire. It was subsequently reproduced in the Centre Block (1927, John A.Pearson and J.Omar Marchand), which was redesigned and rebuilt following a disastrous fire in 1916. Even though the heavy masonry and mansard roofs of the Second Empire style had been popular for a brief period at the turn of the century, particularly in Québec, where it expressed the province’s historic ties with France, Victorian neo-Gothicism remained the prevalent form of architectural expression in English-speaking Canada well into the 20th century. This style was evident not only in large public buildings but also in vernacular architecture, as manifested in the numerous white, clapboarded community churches and gable-fronted farmhouses of Ontario. Because it symbolized a valued affiliation with all things British, Victorian Gothic remained in vogue in the Canadian architectural landscape long after it fell from favor elsewhere.

Nonetheless, Canadians were becoming ever more preoccupied with defining their own distinctive and recognizable architectural style. The most successful of these efforts was achieved by a series of luxurious railway hotels, initiated at Québec City with the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Château Frontenac (1892–93, Bruce Price). The last and undoubtedly most impressive of these, the Banff Springs Hotel, was constructed in two phases to enlarge the original wood-frame resort. Designed by the railway’s own personnel, Walter S.Painter in 1911–14 and John Wilson Orrock in 1925–28, this building was characterized by steeply pitched roofs, multiple dormer windows, corner turrets, and solid massing. This unabashedly picturesque style has been termed either Northern French Gothic or Canadian Château. In acknowledging the effect of this Canadian architectural idiom, the federal government approved an urban plan for the national capital, Ottawa, which made particular reference to the appropriateness of the Château style. Consequently, several mansard-roofed government buildings were constructed in the vicinity of Parliament Hill during the Depression era. Even after World War II the federal government commissioned H.L.Allward and G.R.Gouinlock of Toronto to design the East (1949–56) and West (1954–58) Memorial buildings in this idiom. These interconnecting buildings successfully combined the Château style with the restrained and subtle detailing of the “stripped” classicism that had emerged during the 1930s.

Whereas the federal government was attempting to define a national style, John M.Lyle, a Toronto architect and teacher, encouraged his colleagues to study European modernism. Canadian architects and their clients were generally reluctant to wholeheartedly embrace new trends, and even John Lyle’s own approach sought to combine traditional forms with a new language of ornament reflecting Canadian history and regional diversity. An example of his approach to modern classicism was the Bank of Nova Scotia (1930) in Calgary, which contained neoclassical elements compressed into the building’s facade and highlighted by decorative imagery of western Canada, such as Mounties, aboriginal figures, horses, bison, wheat sheaves, and oil wells. Lyle’s ideas were taken a step further by Ernest Cormier, who successfully combined attributes of the neoclassical, Art Deco, and moderne to create dramatic architectural statements. For his 1920s design of the Université de Montreal (1943), situated on the slopes of Mont Royal, Cormier arranged a brick and reinforced-concrete structural system in a symmetrical Beaux-Arts organizational plan, complemented by the precise, vertical piers that articulate the main elevation and delineate the tall, domed central tower.

It was not until after World War II, however, that most Canadian architects discarded historicism. With technological development instigated by wartime research and the booming population, architects largely ignored the International Style in its pure form and turned to the Modern movement. This trend first made inroads in Vancouver, nurtured by a vibrant community of young artists and designers led by Charles B.K.Van Norman, B.C.Binning, Frederic Lasserre, Robert A.D.Berwick, and Charles Edward Pratt, who were followed by Ron Thom and Arthur Erickson. The first Massey Gold Medal, jointly established by the Right Honorable Vincent Massey, governor-general of Canada, and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), was awarded in 1952 to Semmens and Simpson for Vancouver’s Marwell Place, one of Canada’s earliest renditions of international modernism.

The 1950s and 1960s heralded an era of profound change and development that saw the destruction of many buildings, structures, and societal institutions. Glass-enclosed skyscrapers began to dominate the major Canadian cities, and Toronto in particular saw the emergence of the large, multidisciplined corporate design firm. One of most prolific of these was John B. Parkin Associates, renowned for its collection of rectilinear buildings designed in the international modern style. The characteristic traits of this design firm—formality, precision, and technology—are evident in the Ortho Pharmaceutical (1956) office’s bold, white concrete frame; the dark recessed glazing with steel spandrel panels; and the adjacent manufacturing plant of white glazed brick and contrasting dark ribbon windows. The John B.Parkin firm, with Bregmann and Hamann, also worked with Mies van der Rohe on the Toronto-Dominion Centre (phase 1, 1969), a high-rise development in Toronto’s financial district. The resulting pair of finely detailed black towers, with exposed I beams traveling the full height of the immense curtain walls, immediately became a city landmark.

Montréal experienced an exuberant proliferation of new architecture with its hosting of the world’s fair, Expo 1967, during the centennial year of Canada’s confederation. This celebration was an opportunity for the nation to showcase its achievements to the world, and the Expo pavilions were an eclectic sampling of architectural modernism. Two of the Government of Canada theme pavilions (1967) occupied a massive assembly of interconnected tetrahedrons constructed of exposed-steel space frames that were designed by the Montréal firm of Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopulos, Lebensold, and Sise. Another remarkable Expo 1967 project was the experimental housing complex of prefabricated concrete block units, Habitat (1967). The original but unsuccessful intention of the young architect, Moshe Safdie, was to create a prototype for low-cost housing.

Although large urban centers benefited from these major design projects, smaller-scale regional architecture continued to flourish. Still a source of creative inspiration, the prairie provinces produced unique Expressionist projects by young architects. Their designs employed natural materials, sinuous lines, and organic forms to mold structures that successfully achieved the contradictory objectives of blending with the landscape and drawing the attention of the viewer. Partially set into a hillside, Clifford Wiens’ St. Mark’s Shop (1960) was an artisan’s studio with a conical concrete roof, reminiscent of the tepees of the plains aboriginal cultures. In Manitoba, Étienne Gaboury’s church for the Paroisse du Précieux Sang (1967) reflected recent changes to the Roman Catholic liturgy with a circular interior space, capped by a conical wooden roof that spiraled up to a strategically placed window at the apex. A third innovator was Douglas Cardinal, whose first major commission was St. Mary’s Church (1968), constructed in Red Deer, Alberta. This structure of sinuously curving walls of red brick enclosing a semicircular nave displays what has become the architect’s signature style. Above this looms a prestressed-concrete roof whose form resembles the experimental tensile fabric structures of the era.

The 1970s and 1980s saw the emergence of several architects, such as A.J.Diamond and Barton Myers, Raymond Moriyama (Moriyama and Teshima Architects), and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, who addressed the requirements of urban living. Given the sobriquet of late modernism, their design approach was typified by projects such as Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre (1976) by Diamond and Myers, with Richard L.Wilkin. Occupying a busy corner site in the city center, the glass walls, awnings, and skylights of the reception area initiate a visual conversation between the people on the street and the theater’s activities inside.

A growing concern over the destruction of the country’s historic architectural fabric evolved into the heritage conservation movement. In addition to numerous local heritage initiatives, this received federal government support through the conservation programs of Parks Canada. Heritage conservation created a need for architects who were skilled at combining new technologies and public sensibilities with an appreciation for older structures and traditional building methods. One of the earliest projects was the midcentury reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisbourg, originally built by France on Île Royale during the early 18th century and subsequently destroyed by the British. The 1995 declaration of the British colonial port of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (established 1753), as a World Heritage Site underlines the importance of Canada’s architectural heritage.

Although modernism continued to dominate Canadian architecture during the last decades of the 20th century, a new technical style has evolved that merges urban modernism, industrially based design strategies, and the exuberant individuality of small innovative firms. This new style has been masterfully executed by several architects with roots, once again, in the western provinces. The design team of Patricia and John Patkau has been internationally recognized for their expressive geometric building forms that successfully reflect the inherent characteristics of the natural surroundings. The small scale of many of their projects has not precluded them from making bold and unapologetic architectural statements. In a similar vein IKOY Architects (formerly the IKOY Partnership), with principal architect Ron Keenberg, has become known for their High-Tech style, as evinced by the Conservation Laboratories (1996) for the National Archives of Canada in Gatineau, Québec. Glazed walls completely enclose the large, climate controlled archival storage vaults on top of which many conservation lab functions occur. The shallow arched roof is supported on intricately assembled columns, reminiscent of high-tension power transmission towers. As a major cultural institution, the National Archives has continued to reflect Canadian cultural identity via architectural expression.

Throughout the 20th century, Canadian architectural expression generally lagged a decade or so behind international tastes. Even when influenced by international trends, Canadian architecture has evinced a restrained and carefully considered personality, often because geography and climate have enforced a pragmatic respect for the economics of design and construction. In contrast the dramatic and varied natural Canadian landscape has inspired architects and encouraged a philosophy of limited interference with the environment.

For several decades Canada’s major urban centers produced renowned architects of the Modern movement whose works speak the language common to the rest of the world. The search for a recognizable Canadian identity has colored efforts by regional architects to create a distinctive style rather than following the internationally approved but anonymous design trends. Unfortunately, their work has frequently gone unnoticed by the international architectural community, which fails to appreciate the environmental and cultural constraints under which Canadian architects work. As new technologies shrink the perceived disparities and distances between countries and settlement increases in the northern regions of the world, the 21st century may see a new appreciation for Canadian architecture and building technology.

RHODA BELLAMY

Sennott R.S. Encyclopedia of twentieth century architecture, Vol.1 (A-F).  Fitzroy Dearborn., 2004.

FUTHER READING

The growing recognition of the contribution of aboriginal cultures to Canadian society, combined with the effect of immigrants arriving from all corners of the globe, heralds an era of boundless architectural creativity in the 21st century. The following works enable the reader to explore Canadian architecture and acquire an understanding of its rich and diverse history. Alan Gowans’s classic book, although somewhat dated, offers a perspective from the midcentury period. The most recent comprehensive survey of Canadian architecture is Harold Kalman’s update to his previously published two-volume history. In Adele Freedman’s collection of articles published in a major Canadian newspaper, she offers the reader some insight into the architectural issues that attracted public attention during the 1980s. 

Bernstein, William, and Ruth Cawker, Contemporary Canadian Architecture: The Mainstream and Beyond, Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1982; revised edition, Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1988

Freedman, Adele, Sight Lines: Looking at Architecture and Design in Canada, Toronto, New York, and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990

Gowans, Alan, Looking at Architecture in Canada, Toronto and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958; revised and enlarged edition, as Building Canada: An Architectural History of Canadian Life, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1966

Kalman, Harold, A History of Canadian Architecture, 2 vols., Toronto and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994; as A Concise History of Canadian Architecture, 1 vol., Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 2000

Maitland, Leslie, Jacqueline Hucker, and Shannon Ricketts, A Guide to Canadian Architectural Styles, Peterborough and Deddington: Broadview Press, 1992

Simmons, Geoffrey, Bibliography of Canadian Architecture; Bibliographie d’architecture canadienne (bilingual English-French edition), Ottawa: Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, 1992

Wright, Janet, Crown Assets: The Architecture of the Department of Public Works, 1867–1967, Toronto; Buffalo, New York; and London: University of Toronto Press, 1997