Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 24

Second Empire Style in Canadian Architecture

by Christina Cameron and Janet Wright

Commercial Building

The frequent use of Second Empire for public and institutional buildings implied that it could embody or symbolize such intangible values as permanence, stability, wealth, dignity, power — all attributes eagerly sought by the commercial sector. It is therefore hardly surprising that commercial enterprises in the 1870s chose this style for their structures.

The symbolic associations of the style may have been of particular value to the bankers of this country who faced faltering public confidence as a result of the economic depression of 1873. Second Empire was certainly their preferred choice in the 1870s. That bankers themselves were conscious of the link between architectural design and public confidence is aptly illustrated by a contemporary advertisement for the Jacques Cartier Bank in Montreal, a lavish building designed by Perrault. "These are institutions which prove both by their dividends and their palatial structures the vitality of Canadian commerce."¹

In some instances this was not an idle boast, for such buildings as the Molson Bank in Montreal (Fig. 47) and the Dominion Bank in Toronto (Fig. 48) were indeed palatial. Others were less ornate, like the row of banks that occupied prime sites on Wellington Street in Ottawa across from the Parliament Buildings (Fig. 49). Here, soon after Confederation, several banking firms erected handsome buildings in the Second Empire style: the Bank of Quebec, the Bank of Ottawa, the National Bank, the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the Bank of Montreal. Together, they formed an imposing architectural ensemble, resembling one another in their height, scale, Italian repertoire and, of course, their mansard roofs. As a group, these banks once served as an attractive complement to the dignified public buildings across the street. By contrast, the structures erected by the Eastern Townships Bank are more subdued in character (Fig. 50-51). While they have mansard roofs with a suggestion of central pavilions and certain Italianate features such as semicircular windows, the overall treatment is restrained, far from the exuberance of the full-blown Second Empire style.

Like bankers, businessmen who put up multi-purpose commercial buildings to contain shops, offices and apartments had to contend with the high cost of property in the urban core. This consideration meant that land had to be exploited to its full extent. In practical terms, buildings had to come right out to the street frontage, so that valuable space would not be lost through wasteful pavilions. Consequently, commercial blocks in the Second Empire style — unlike public buildings — rarely have projecting and recessed wall planes. The suggestion of pavilion massing is restricted to the mansarded towers at roof level (Figs. 52-53).

When grouped together along major thoroughfares in large cities such as Montreal, these tall blocks with rich façades and ornate roofs offered a magnificent and imposing streetscape to the passerby (Fig. 54). The enormous corner building in this street view, known as Barren Block, illustrates another feature of this type, namely the corner entrance. The breadth of these immense buildings, often occupying entire municipal blocks, required at least two principal façades and special treatment of the rounded corners (Fig. 55). On a smaller scale, these blocks mushroomed in developing urban centres in Quebec and Ontario (Figs. 56-58) and with marked frequency in Winnipeg where the rise of Second Empire popularity coincided with the initial phases of that city's development (Fig. 59).

The early use of Second Empire for railway hotels in England has already been observed (Fig. 4). In Canada at least one first class hotel was designed in this style, the Windsor Hotel in Montreal (Fig. 60). A market the prestige of this luxurious hostelry is the fact that Lord and Lady Dufferin were among the guests who attended the gala inaugural festivities. While in no way matching the scale and significance of the Windsor Hotel, other smaller hotels built in Canada at this time often had mansard roofs and sometimes featured other traits of the Second Empire style (Figs. 61-62).

The use of this elaborate style extended even to utilitarian buildings like railway stations, warehouses and factories. The North Street Terminal in Halifax is surely one of the most palatial stations ever designed in Canada (Fig. 63). The fancy appearance of such a building as the Organ Factory of W. Bell & Company in Guelph (Fig. 64) belies its internal function. While the façade of the Guelph factory is articulated by a simple grid system, the roof is alive with clock tower, flagpoles, cresting and coloured slate tiles. In contrast to this flamboyance, the Chinic warehouse in Quebec (Fig. 65) is a conservative design, reflecting the influence of the Second Empire mode only in the mansard roof.

Although its period of glory was perhaps short-lived, Second Empire touched almost every aspect of commercial building in Canada, from banks and office blocks to hotels, stations and warehouses. Its widespread use in this area undoubtedly contributed to its popularity on the domestic scene.