Montreal Board of Trade Building([1891])
300 Saint-Sacrement Street, Montreal, QC, Canada
Commercial, 26 Drawings: 12 ink on linen; 1 ink on paper; 13 blueprints

Client: Montreal Board of Trade
Architect: Sheply, Rutan & Coolidge [E. Maxwell, supervising architect]

Description: The Board of Trade was originally founded in 1822, as a lobbying group on matters of commerce and trade. It arbitrated conflicts between members, monitored business activities and educated members on import tax legislation. The company rented a space in the Merchant’s Exchange Building located on Saint-Sacrement Street for ten years between 1855 and 1865, and later resided in the Corn Exchange Building for twenty-three years from 1866 to 1893. In 1890, President of the Board, Robert Archer, decided that the company should have its own building. The search for the architects had already begun in the late 1870s when the President and the Secretary of the Montreal Board of Trade conducted a study tour of the United States. They returned to Montreal with the perception that Canadian architects could not design a sufficiently grand new building for their company. Moreover, the reputation and the competence of the American firm they had in mind had been established beyond any doubt during that period. The board members conducted a competition for design of their new building and appointed a prominent American architect Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895), as the sole judge. Hunt who was the first American to train at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the first to adapt French academic methods in his New York studio, brought to the Board-of-Trade competition an international prestige which no Canadian architect could match. The competition was won by three architects from Boston: George Forter Shepley, Charles Hercules Rutan, and Charles Allerton Coolidge, heirs to the practice of H.H. Richardson. Theirs was a transcontinental practice, with projects that stretched from the Stanford University campus in California to the New Orleans central library and back east. In addition, the ''Richardsonian Romanesque,'' which the firm adopted was popular not only in the United States but also in Canada, Europe and in Australia. Edward Maxwell, an employee in their Boston firm from 1888 to 1891 was assigned to supervise the construction of the Board of Trade Building. The building, whose construction started on May 19, 1892, was inaugurated on March 1, 1893 by Lord Strathcona (199). The building consisted of six storeys of ashlar stone in a U-shaped layout. The principal entrance was through the central pavilion, although the two lateral wings also had double doorways. The entrance from the central pavilion was the important feature of the façade, which had a spectacular lamp post on either sides and was, surmounted by a semi-circular fanlight and a highly decorated frieze. Arched windows distinguished the fifth storey. A pronounced cornice capped the entire building. Unfortunately, the beauty of the façade could not be fully appreciated since it faced the narrow Saint-Sacrement Street. On January 23, 1901 a raging fire which had started at Saxe & Sons in Old Montreal consumed the Montreal Board of Trade Building. The building was rebuilt on the same foundation but with different design by David Robertson Brown Architects in 1903. For Edward Maxwell, the Board of Trade Building was the turning point in his career. After the successful completion of this project, his new position gave him great publicity since he was a native Montrealer with the desired American expertise, legally qualified to practise, and in charge of the centerpiece of Montreal commerce. The skill and approachability of this pleasant young man intrigued businessmen and industrialists. A variety of commissions were given him, already before the Board of Trade Building was completed. He opened his own office in the new structure and began to produce work that inevitably resembled that of his former employers.

Holdings: 26 Drawings: 12 ink on linen; 1 ink on paper; 13 blueprints
12 Working drawings: floor plans, elevations, sections
14 Detail drawings: floor plans, elevations, offices, restaurant, barber's shop, bar room, beer cellar, entry, mechanical, fire escapes, door, fixtures, cornice
Comment: The Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge designed the Montreal Board of Trade and sent Edward Maxwell, who worked in their office, to Montreal in 1891 to supervise construction.

Comments: The Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge designed the Montreal Board of Trade and sent Edward Maxwell, who worked in their office, to Montreal in 1891 to supervise construction.