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R.R. Mitchell House(1/1908-8/1913) 4103 Sherbrooke Street, Westmount, QC, Canada Residential, Urban house [basement, 3 floors]; composite Client: R.R. Mitchell Description: The façade displays a balanced harmony in a tripartite composition. Focusing on the vertical organization of the entrance and the bay window on the central axis, windows are arranged symmetrically on either sides. Bordered horizontally by friezes, each level of the façade is also made distinct in pattern the subtly but elegantly differentiated the coursing of the smooth-cut-stone finish. The predominant straight lines and flat planes are counter-balanced by a touch of Art Nouveau in the decorative carved-stone cartouches and the finials.
Upon entering the house, the visitor is greeted by the spacious chestnut-paneled hall. With the grand stairway located at the end of the central hall, flanked on one side of the hallway the servants’ quarter and on the opposite side a long corridor that leads to the service area and kitchen. On the way up to the living quarter on the first floor, a mural painting commissioned from prominent Canadian artist Maurice Cullen could be seen reflected in the mirrored panels of a false door on the first landing. This painting, which depicts a landscape with sheep grazing beside a stream, could be viewed directly on the way down the stairs under artificial lighting. In the spirit of the Arts and Crafts of the architecture, the mural is mounted onto a semicircular panel in the arch of the stairway ceiling.
The interest in British craftsmanship had been a tradition at Robert Mitchell & Company, founded in 1851 by Richard Mitchell’s father, which specialized in wrought iron and brass metalwork. Other features of the Arts and Crafts style include the stained glass in the window transoms, the vestibule door, the hand-wrought metal work in lighting fixtures and a spectacular hand-hammered copper fireplace which is located in the library on the first floor. The simplicity and fine craftsmanship of the Arts and Crafts tradition are again characterized by the understated newel posts and flat, tapered balusters with pierced decoration in the grand stairway connecting the ground and the first floor.
Upon reaching the first floor, the visitor is welcomed by a corridor that leads to the spacious living room and library on the front side of the building, and the dining room, verandah, and pantry on the back side of the building. At the turn of the corridor, the stairway continues onto the second floor of the building, where the four bedrooms are located.
Robert Mitchell bought the property on Sherbrooke Street in 1907. The house was built shortly after and had remained in the Mitchell family until 1978. It is currently a commercial building. Holdings: Urban house (basement, 3 floors); composite | |
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