Sir George-Étienne Cartier Monument(1913-15)
Park Avenue at Rachel Street, Mount Royal Park, Montreal, QC, Canada
Government, Memorial; stone

Client: Federated Liberal and Conservative Clubs
Architect: E. & W.S. Maxwell

Description: Sir George-Étienne Cartier (1814-1873), born in Saint-Antoine sur Richelieu, Québec, is one of the fathers of the Canadian Confederation. Leader of the Conservatives in Eastern Canada, he was joint Prime Minister of Canada with John A. McDonald in 1857-1862 and a Federal minister in the first MacDonald Cabinet (1867-1873). He was created Baronet of England in 1868 and died in London in 1873. The impressive memorial planned for the one hundredth anniversary of his birth was one of many city beautification projects being envisioned or implemented at the time. In 1906, the Province of Quebec Association of Architects formed a City Improvement Committee; William Maxwell became president the next year. Many proposals for parks, thoroughfares and civic art were put forward. The newly created City Improvement League pursued similar goals, and again, William Maxwell was involved. A 1909 plan for Fletcher’s Field (now Jeanne-Mance Park) by Rickson Outhet called for a large monument on Park Avenue at Duluth Street. The latter, one block south of Rachel, was the only street that joined both Mount Royal and Lafontaine Parks and was to be turned into a wide, tree-lined boulevard. It was finally at the foot of Rachel Street that the very visible (now famous for its Sunday "tam tam" gatherings) and commanding memorial would be erected under the patronage of the Federated Liberal and Conservative Clubs. Sculptor George W. Hill (440) (1862-1934) had his house and studio on Bleury Street remodelled by the Maxwells in 1907. Born in Shipton, Quebec, he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, 1889-1894. Back in Montreal in 1894 he immediately collaborated on some of the buildings by Edward Maxwell, among them the Henry Birks and Sons Jewellery Store (100) and the Merchant’s Bank of Halifax on Notre-Dame Street. Later he provided sculpted decorations for the C.R. Hosmer (106) dining room and the piano for Louis-Joseph Forget (230) house on Sherbrooke Street. He was also a member of the Arts Club (274) which premises on Victoria Street were designed by the Maxwells. The Cartier statue is one of his most prominent commissions. The Maxwells designed the podium for the statue and also the surrounding square together with Rickson Outhet. Outhet was Canada’s first landscape architect and designer of many private gardens for Edward and William Maxwell clients, such as Percy Cowans on Ontario Avenue (355).

Holdings: Memorial; stone
56 Drawings: 19 ink on linen; 6 ink on paper; 29 pencil on paper; 2 blueprints
28 Development drawings: site plans, plans, elevations, sections
4 Working drawings: foundation plan, floor plan, elevations, section, terraces, sidewalks, steps
18 Detail drawings: foundation, site plan, elevations, sections, pedestals, parapet, terrace, steps
6 Consultant drawings: perspective, plans, elevations
8 Photographs: 8 finished exteriors
Comment: Commissioned in 1911 to commemorate centenary of Cartier's birth. Sculptor was George Hill. 6 drawings by A.E. Anderson, Architect, are included.

Comments: Commissioned in 1911 to commemorate centenary of Cartier's birth. Sculptor was George Hill. 6 drawings by A.E. Anderson, Architect, are included.