Canadian Architecture

I

Introduction

Canadian Architecture, buildings and building practices of the inhabitants of what is now known as Canada, from prehistoric times to the present. Canadians and their forebears on the land have devised varied and often ingenious architecture in response to some of the most daunting climatic conditions on Earth, including extreme cold. Key characteristics of this architecture include the use of building technology to further human comfort, an openness to styles and building ideas borrowed from other peoples, and a desire to express shared values and the people’s relationship to their often inhospitable northern land.

From early European settlements of the 1600s until the late 19th century, Canadian architecture reflected the building styles fashionable in France and Great Britain. In the 20th century American architecture has been the dominant outside influence on Canadian architecture.

II

Beginnings and Colonial Period

At the time of European arrival in about 1600, five major groups of indigenous peoples inhabited the vast land area that became Canada. Each group had developed building forms suited to their environment. European colonization of Canada began in the east. France became the dominant power in the region following the founding of a trading post on the site of Québec in 1608. In 1759 the British captured Québec, ending French rule.

A

First Nations

Canada’s original inhabitants are known as the First Nations. At the time of European arrival, about 40 nations were scattered across Canada. Many of them lived along the coasts, where they could fish. These nations can be classified into five major groups according to their languages.

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In the far north the Inuit perfected construction of the domed snow house, or igloo. (The word igloo comes from the Inuit iglu, meaning “house.”) An outstanding example of human ingenuity, the igloo held in heat, because snow provides good insulation, and protected against wind. Igloos varied in detail but all were round and built of blocks of snow. The walls curved inward toward the top to form a snow vault (arched ceiling). A tunnel entrance had a bend, or cold trap, to preserve heat, and a small hole near the top of the igloo provided ventilation. In spring the melting dome was removed and replaced with a covering of animal skins to form a between-season dwelling called a qarmaq. In summer the Inuit moved to portable tents of seal or caribou hides.

The tipi (also spelled tepee) was the dwelling unit of the peoples of the southern plains, now southern Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Prepared and built by women, the tipi featured a frame of about 20 wooden poles that were arranged in a circle or oblong and met at the top. Animal skins covered the frame to form a cone shape. A central fire heated the tipi in cold weather, and smoke escaped through a hole at the top. The entrance faced east, away from the west wind. Space inside the tipi was allocated according to social status and custom. For example, the belongings of the tipi owner were often placed on the west side. Easily assembled and taken down, the tipi was ideally suited to a nomadic way of life dependent on hunting bison.

Various groups inhabited the forested lands to the east of the plains. The Iroquois lived in the Saint Lawrence River Valley and near Lakes Ontario and Erie, with the Algonquians living to the north and east. The Iroquois lived together in long, narrow buildings called longhouses. A longhouse was constructed of saplings that were bent and then bound at the top to form a barrel vault (ceiling in the shape of a half cylinder). The structure was then covered with bark. Iroquois longhouses featured a number of hearths placed down the middle of the floor, with smoke holes on top to permit smoke to escape. As many as 16 families and eight fires might occupy a single longhouse.

The wigwam was an Algonquian structure. It had a conical or dome-shaped framework that was 4 to 5 m (12 to 15 ft) in diameter and was covered with bark, skins, or reeds. The sweat lodge, a specific form of wigwam, contained hot stones that were splashed with water to produce steam. Small in size, the sweat lodge was used for therapeutic or ritual healing. Sweat lodges are found today in some areas of Canada as a result of renewed interest in First Nations’ customs and spirituality.

The peoples who lived in the temperate rain forests along the west coast of Canada constructed long rectangular houses covered with cedar planks. Many of these plank houses were magnificently carved and painted, and they featured totem poles in front that served as family crests. Several families might live in one plank house. The indigenous people of this region included the Coast Salish, Kwakiutl, Nootka, Nuxalk, Haida, Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nishka. The Salishan-speaking population of the western interior, now British Columbia, constructed pit houses for warmth. These were log-framed structures built over a living space dug into the ground, about 1 m (3 ft) deep and 6 to 12 m (21 to 40 ft) in diameter. Grass, pine needles, cedar bark, and excavated earth covered the roof. A hole in the side of the roof or on the top of the roof, reached by ladder, provided an entrance.

B

New France

The first Europeans to settle in Canada were fur traders. French traders established the first year-round European settlement in Canada in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in 1605, and three years later they founded a trading post called Québec on the St. Lawrence River. Montréal was founded by French missionaries in 1642 on the Île-de-Montréal (Montréal Island) in the St. Lawrence, although that settlement later prospered as a fur-trading center. Most of the early buildings in New France were simple structures of wood or sawn timber frames filled in with stones and mortar. An exception was the second Habitation, a fortified trading post of stone built in Québec from 1624 to 1626. The building had corner towers, high walls, and a steep roof like those found in France at that time. Walls and a moat surrounded it.

By the 1750s New France had evolved an identifiable landscape and architecture modeled on French customs but adapted to local conditions in its forms and building materials. Québec City boasted numerous institutional buildings constructed in four units around an open, square courtyard, such as the Hôpital-Général, built about 1710. Walls were of mortared stone rubble, two or three stories high, with arched windows and a sloped roof of ferblanc (tin tiles) broken by dormers. The houses of the rich, such as the Chậteau de Vaudreuil (1723-1726) in Montréal, emulated those of Paris. These designs featured a high central block, two wings extending from that block, and a gated courtyard in front. The houses were embellished with details based on classical architecture, including columns, pilasters (columns attached to walls), and pediments (triangular forms) over doorways and windows.

A fire in Montréal in 1721 led to a building ordinance in 1727 that encouraged fire-resistant construction. As a result, residents of Montréal and other towns built houses of stone, with fireplaces and chimneys set in outside walls after 1727. Right-angled interior walls extended through the roof to serve as firebreaks. The earliest churches, such as Nôtre-Dame-des-Victoires in Place-Royale (1688) in Québec City, had floor plans in the shape of a traditional Latin cross and a bell tower at the front. The sober exteriors of gray stone hid beautiful interior chapels and naves decorated with gilded wood, painted plaster, and gracefully curved ironwork.

In the countryside, simple houses of wood or stone stretched along the banks of the St. Lawrence. Their low walls, which were covered with stucco or wooden planks, and their steep roofs recalled far-off France. Well-to-do seigneurs (landowners) lived in manor houses next to a church and rectory, all modeled on those of the towns. A surviving example, the Mauvide-Genest Manor (1734-1752) on the Île d’Orléans, an island in the St. Lawrence near Québec City, has been turned into a museum. The frontiers of the French colony were protected by impressive stone forts such as Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island (now part of Nova Scotia), which was built from 1719 to 1745 and was reconstructed as a historic site in the 1960s.

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