Church of the Messiah(1906-07)
1491Sherbrooke Street [and Simpson Street], Montreal, QC, Canada
Religious, Church [basement, 2 floors, upper floor: 2 bedrooms]; stone; composite

Client: Church of the Messiah
Architect: E. & W.S. Maxwell

Description: The congregation of the Church of the Messiah (Unitarian Church) purchased a site from the McDougall Estate at the Northwest corner of Sherbrooke and Simpson Streets to relocate its church. Their existing building at La Gauchetière and Beaver Hall Hill was in bad shape and the members lived further away. The idea behind the move was that the relocation to the heart of the Golden Square Mile would rejuvenate the Congregation. It approved unanimously the proposal by the Maxwell Brothers in February 1906, but required important changes to the scheme. Originally to be situated above the nave, the Sunday school was moved in a two-floor extension at the rear, in order to reduce overall costs of $75,000 by $25,000. By June 1906 new plans were approved and contracts were drawn; the building permit was issued November 1906. The church was dedicated on January 5, 1908. Its urbane exterior and the fine craftsmanship of its unified programme of Arts and Crafts decoration make it perhaps the Maxwells’ most successful church building. The Neo-Gothic edifice was constructed on a rusticated grey limestone foundation and faced in buff Indiana limestone, with sandstone trim crandalled and chiselled to give textural and tonal variety. The masonry concealed brick walls and steel support and roof trusses. Bands of cut stone marked the horizontal divisions of the elevations. The restrained detail was Tudor Gothic in inspiration. Crenellated octagonal turrets supporting sculpted angles rose at either corner of the Sherbrooke Street elevation, stopping short of the parapet. The gabled entrance porch, finished in chequered stonework, incorporated small panels of sculpted decoration, as did the midpoint of the gable above the large Perpendicular-type window. The secondary elevation, on Simpson Street, had three shallow bays divided by buttresses that disguised exhaust vents and three tall windows. A larger window dominated the shallow north transept. The Sunday school façade had blunted volumes and squared windows, looking somewhat cramped and awkward. East and rear elevations were finished in brick. The simplicity of the exterior treatment represents an early exercise in Modern Gothic, the Maxwell’s choice in their 1907 competition design for the Justice and Departmental Buildings (424) in Ottawa. The interior arrangement was essentially cruciform, with a wide nave flanked by narrow aisles that ended where the transepts opened. A hammer-beamed ceiling, carried over in the chancel, accentuated the white plaster walls. The church’s minister, William Sullivan Barnes, conceived an extensive programme of memorial gifts. These included elaborated carved woodwork, mostly realised by Félix Routhier (d. 1916) and handcrafted metalwork fixtures provided by Paul Beau (1871-1949). The key decorative element was the series of stained glass windows designed in England by the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts (304). Edward and William Maxwell themselves donated the middle window in the northern aisle. Its inscription read "and the house that is built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnifical." The main body of the church and most of its contents were destroyed by fire on May 26, 1987. The church hall and offices survive. The Unitarian Church ha been since rebuilt near Vendôme metro, on 5035 de Maisonneuve West, incorporating salvalged stained glass panels and stone engravings. See: "Church Organist Held after Collapse of Wall Kills Two Firefighters on Ladder." The Gazette (Montreal), 26 May 1987, p. A-1. Coley Byron, Sandra. "Church of the Messiah." In The Architecture of Edward & W.S. Maxwell. Montreal, QC: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1991, p. 179-182.

Holdings: Church (basement, 2 floors, upper floor: 2 bedrooms); stone; composite
80 Drawings: 60 ink on linen; 4 ink on paper; 8 pencil on paper; 1 watercolour; 6 blueprints; 1 oil on canvas
2 Presentation drawings: interior perspective, exterior perspective
2 Development drawings: elevation, section
10 Working drawings: floor plans, roof plan, elevations, sections
66 Detail drawings: porch foundation, floor plans, ceiling plan, seating plan, elevations, sections, wall sections, chancel, transept, Sunday school, vestibule, janitor's quarters, entries, structure, electrical, stairs, fireplaces, flue, vents, windows, bays, doors, choir gallery, organ, dumbwaiter, furniture, cornice, tablet and lettering, ornamentation, fittings, stonework, turrets
8 Photographs: 2 perspectives; 1 finished exterior; 5 finished details
Edward and W.S. Maxwell [and] Marchand and Haskell

Comments: Edward and W.S. Maxwell [and] Marchand and Haskell