I M A G E S:
Drawings
Russell A. Alger House(1898)
Riverside Road, Grand-Mère, QC, Canada
Residential, Country house [basement, 2 floors, 3 bedrooms, 1 servant's room]; wood; field stone; wood frame

Client: Russel A. Alger
Architect: E. & W.S. Maxwell

Description: Russell A. Alger, a hero of the American Civil War, was President of the Laurentide Pulp Co. at the turn of the 19th century. Settled in Grand-Mère from 1895, he commissioned Edward Maxwell to build a log house on a wooded site overlooking the Saint-Maurice River. Placed a few hundred meters upstream from the future suspension bridge, the house stood away from the noise and the smells of the power plant and the paper mill further down. The house is a splendid illustration of the poetics of the curve and the design potential of log construction. The architects playfully extended the tips of the logs to create a concave silhouette from grade to the roofline, where log meets shingle. The main entrance is powerfully framed by a fieldstone arch supporting a balcony. Although the main elevation alludes to a symmetrical plan, the plan is actually a juxtaposition of three rectangles, the front one with the living and dining room and main chambers connected in the back with projections, one with a lap pool in the basement (!) and a billiard room above; the other wing has the kitchen, maid’s room etc. A massive fieldstone fireplace with typical rustic details serviced both the drawing room and the billiard room. An extension (circa 1902) to the rear of the house was built for Alger’s successor, George Chahoon (323). This splendid property on Riverside Road was demolished in the 1960s. See Trépanier, Paul. ''Une ville: Grand-Mère.'' Continuité. No. 49, Winter/Spring 1991, p. 46-52.

Holdings: Country house (basement, 2 floors, 3 bedrooms, 1 servant's room); wood; field stone; wood frame
10 Drawings: 10 ink on linen
9 Working drawings: floor plans, elevations, sections
1 Detail drawing: fireplace

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