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

Second Empire Style in Canadian Architecture

by Christina Cameron and Janet Wright

Second Empire for Canadian Houses

To explain why in the late 1870s Second Empire suddenly became fashionable for domestic building, one automatically encounters the difficult problem of documenting popular taste. It would be facile to contribute this rising popularity to the influence of American pattern books discussed earlier. Although the connection is obviously valid, as is witnessed by a New York State pattern book which published a design for a Second Empire villa to be erected in Montreal (Fig. 66), access to such specialized publications was probably limited. On the other hand, weekly magazines like the Canadian Illustrated News and its French counterpart L'Opinion publique appealed to a more generalized readership. Published from 1869 to 1883, these magazines usually illustrated newly erected buildings in Canadian cities, many of which drew on the Second Empire style. It is interesting to compare the Canadian Illustrated News, directed toward a fashion-conscious urban readership, with Canadian periodicals aimed at the rural population, such as the Canada Farmer and the Farmer's Advocate. The latter invariably presented house types of austere simplicity, with no hint of Second Empire detail.

Although American pattern books and Canadian publications like the Canadian Illustrated News certainly helped to develop a taste for Second Empire, the physical presence of public and commercial buildings in this new style undoubtedly played a significant role in popularizing the fashion. The intangible qualities embodied by these large structures, such as stability, wealth, progress, power, and so forth, were desirable associations for aspiring gentlemen.

How is one to characterize the influence of Second Empire in Canadian houses? Perhaps the keyword is moderation. It is rare to find in the domestic sphere the sumptuous detail used in high-style public buildings. Reference to Second Empire sources is often manifested by the use of the mansard roof and vaguely Italianate details, which become vaguer as one moves away from the sophisticated urban centres. In its most simple form, the influence is reduced to the use of the mansard roof on otherwise plain structures or on dwellings whose main stylistic roofs lie elsewhere.

The computerized information of the Canadian Inventory of Historic Building has proved invaluable in plotting certain general trends in domestic architecture. It has, for example, confirmed the hypothesis that this style is essentially urban; most Second Empire buildings recorded by the Canadian Inventory of Historic Building are located in cities and towns. Moreover, the computer has allowed us to trace regional variations that inevitably occur when a high style encounters local building traditions. For example, computer printouts readily verify that the predominant construction material changes from region to region; wood in the Atlantic Provinces, stone in Quebec, and brick in Ontario and Manitoba.

The geographical distribution is another element that emerges from an examination of the printouts. Buildings with Second Empire influence are numerous in the Atlantic Provinces, Quebec, Ontario and Winnipeg, but become extremely scarce west of Winnipeg. In spite of an early impression, based on preliminary research, that Second Empire influence was weak in Quebec and strong in Ontario, the cross-Canada printout of approximately four thousand residential buildings with Second Empire influence indicated that over half of these dwellings were in Quebec and less than one quarter were in Ontario. While this anomaly is partially attributable to sample size, the explanation rests primarily with the question of interpretation of "Second Empire influence." For the purpose of this study, the interpretation was made deliberately broad, in order to trace the influence to its ultimate vernacular expression. Hence, the many plain mansard-roofed cottages that dot the shores of the Saint Lawrence River inflate the number of Second Empire buildings in Quebec; on the other hand, though smaller in numbers, the Ontario examples are generally more elaborate in design and depend more directly on Second Empire prototypes.

In examining domestic architecture region by region, we have attempted to choose representatives or typical examples to reflect the variety found in the survey of the Canadian Inventory of Historic Building. That some of the simpler examples are not outstanding in terms of design may surprise the reader. Yet they represent the majority of houses recorded by the Canadian Inventory of Historic Building and may perhaps be considered a fairer reflection of the influence of Second Empire style as manifested at the vernacular or popular level.