Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 25

Gothic Revival in Canadian Architecture

by Mathilde Brosseau

Introduction

As its name indicates, the Gothic Revival proclaims a return to the architectural forms of the Middle Ages — those of the 13th and 14th centuries in particular. This period was later termed "Gothic" because of an erroneous belief that this architecture, considered vulgar, had been conceived during the dark ages of domination by the Goths.

The spirit of the last century, with its strong leanings toward historicism, took particular delight in resuscitating certain architectural periods of the past. This attitude gave birth to fashions which, although they reanimated the formal repertoire of past architectural periods, tended to neglect the guiding principles which had given life to them.

In the 18th century, the first manifestations of the Gothic Revival in England followed a similar pattern. Some of the architects serving a class of intellectual aristocrats enjoyed taking often whimsical Gothic designs and applying them to the composition of residences built according to the architectural principles proper to the 18th century as one might add lace to a piece of clothing. However, unlike other historicist fashions, Gothic Revival was to be an enduring style accompanied by several mutations. After the whims and fantasies of an initial romantic stage, theorists encouraged architects to show greater archaeological discipline in their works; these theorists imbued them with the underlying principle of structural rationalism of the Gothic era.

Once this principle had been mastered, there followed a period of highly original Neo-Gothic construction that went beyond mere imitation of specific antique models. This period accepted outside influences and led to new visual effects devoted to a picturesque turn of mind. This is the period known as High Victorian Gothic. After this firm expression of brilliance, the Gothic Revival continued its existence under another identity. During the first decades of the 20th century, it survived in the form of great architectural projects along lines subject to the academic criteria of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

In Canada, the Gothic Revival appeared at a crucial moment of population growth and this appears to have favoured its adoption in widely diversified geographic areas and its recognition as a symbol of an emerging Canadian nation. The full development of this situation naturally favoured the choice of this style for the prestigious parliamentary complex in Ottawa. It was a style that left its mark on several types of construction such as public buildings, institutions, schools, houses and sometimes even stations and other so-called commercial buildings. However, its influence was felt more in the field of religious architecture, where it was a very strong evolutionary factor.

This report gives a broad view of the varied manifestations of the Gothic Revival in Canada through almost the entire 19th century and even into the first decades of the 20th century. Each of the above-mentioned stages has its place and can be defined by visual criteria and a certain space in time.

However, it should be noted from the outset that chronological limits are only roughly laid out; they actually remain quite vague because different regions were culturally out of step with one another. For example, compared to Ontario, the Prairies show a lag in architectural development because some ideas did not take root there or arrived much later, often with a diluted content. In the analysis of each stylistic period, a sampling will be found of various types of buildings affected by the Gothic Revival; among these, the church holds a predominant position. We also limit ourselves to the study of exteriors, since this work is primarily based on the data collected during phase I of the Canadian Inventory of Historic Building, the purpose of which was to catalogue building exteriors across Canada. Moreover, our analysis distinguishes between the main geographic regions, as we illustrate the various versions of Gothic Revival engendered by regional differences. We also test the hypothesis whereby the treatment of an architectural style is said to vary according to the climate, raw materials, native traditions and the genius loci peculiar to each region.