Canada's Castles
While Canada's history never called for the construction of
numerous fortified defensives castles or elaborate royal
residences, Canada is full of castles. Some Canadian buildings are
built entirely in the image of castles while others have features
of castles overtly or subtly worked into their architecture.
Canadian castles vary in function from courthouses to hotels to
private residences. The many examples of castles found in Canada
show that Canadians truly love a good castle.
Some of the most well-know structures with which Canadians have
expressed their appreciation for castles are hotels. The most
famous hotels in Canada were built in the image of the
Châteaux of the Loire Valley in France by the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century. The hotels are spread across the country from the Château Frontenac in Quebec City to the Empress Hotel in Victoria and served as stops
where people travelling by train could stay the night in comfort.
The French Château-style was chosen because it was felt to express
the concepts of luxury and elegance that the managers of the
Canadian Pacific Railway Company hoped would encourage people to
travel on the railway. These hotels remain some of Canada's most
magnificent and iconic castles.
The use of castle architecture is not restricted to luxury
hotels; Canadians also expressed their love of castles in the
architecture of public buildings. A great example of the use of
castle architecture in public buildings can be found in a group of
three courthouses in Ontario, the Middlesex County Courthouse constructed in 1827
in London, the Milton County Courthouse constructed in 1855 in
Milton, and the Guelph County Jail and Governor's Residence
constructed in 1911 in Guelph. The architecture of these
courthouses is reminiscent of fortified gothic castles from Middle
Age Europe which, unlike the Château-style hotel's sense of
comfort, conveys the authority of a judicial court. With sparsely
adorned stone facades and crenelated towers, the architecture of
these buildings exudes the strength and sternness of the colonial
judicial authority necessary to govern the Canadian people.
Buildings such as the courthouses show that Canadian love of
castles has not been simply frivolous; the architecture of Canadian
buildings resembles castles so as to be beautiful and commanding at
once.
In a manner similar to Ontario's castellated courthouses,
castles have been used as a model for the
architecture of armouries all over Canada. Similar to European
castles these armouries were built to contain soldiers and weapons
to protect the people. As military institutions the use of castle
motifs in these structures conveys the image of strength and
impregnability. Examples of Canadian armouries built to look like
castles can be found in the Montreal Cathcart Armoury built in 1933 in the imposing
Tudor-Gothic Style and the fortress-like Beatty Street Armoury built from 1899 to 1922
in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadians incorporate the features
of castles into their military buildings for the same reason that
they used castles features in the courthouses; castles remain an
image of authority whether military or judicial.
The true love of castles within Canadians can be seen in the
number of private residences built to resemble castles across the
country. One of the oldest Canadian castles in existence can be
found in Hamilton, Ontario. Hamilton's Dundurn Castle was built in 1834 in the
Classical and Italianate styles with a 13 hectare property for Sir
Alan Napier McNab a Canadian politician and businessman. On the
west coast in British Columbia there is another beautifully
constructed private residence, Hatley Castle, which was built in 1908 and 1909
following the style of Tudor-Revival manor houses. Approximately 70
meters long the castle was designed by famed Canadian architect
Samuel Maclure and lies in the centre of a vast, 229.84 hectare
estate built as a residence for coal baron and provincial
politician, James Dunsmuir. More modest Canadian homes have also
reflected Canadians' love of castles; one example can be found in
the last place anyone would look: Souris, Manitoba! Built in 1910
for Fred Sowden and his wife Maud, the Sowden House resembles a fortress with
crenelations and towers. It is the private residences that prove
Canadian love for castles, these are not commercial buildings meant
to convey comfort and luxury, nor are they government buildings
meant to convey authority, the private castles in Canada are there
because the Canadians who built them liked castles so much they
wanted one for themselves.
Though Canada's great castles are young in comparison to those
in Europe, they are no less loved. The architecture of Canadian
castles shows their owners constant desire to create beautiful and
formidable buildings in which to work and live. Canadians, from
pioneers to politicians, have embraced castles as their own,
because who could resist a castle?