Modern Hamilton Architecture

 

The city of Hamilton has some of the most unique Canadian modern architecture found in Ontario.

 

Hamilton City Hall by architect Stan Roscoe. (Photo by Tom Bochsler)

 

 

Health Department Building by architect Stan Roscoe

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TH&B Train Station

 

Hamilton Board of Education

Hamilton Courthouse

Hamilton Hydro

HAMILTON MODERN

1950's Architecture in Hamilton

The Art Gallery of Hamilton, Community Gallery, 123 King Street West

September-October 2000.

This exhibition explores the work of architect Stanley Roscoe. During Mr. Roscoe's time as City Architect in the 1950's he spearheaded an innovative design programme that resulted in the construction of some the best examples of 1950's modernism in the Province. These buildings include Macassa Lodge, the Westdale Library and the Health Building. This period of work culminated in the design and construction of the present City Hall in 1960.

DIGGING THE 1950s:

Modern Architecture for Modern Life

An illustrated lecture by:

Larry Wayne Richards, Dean, faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design University of Toronto.

Thursday October 19, 2000

7:00 PM

The Art Gallery of Hamilton, Community Gallery.

Presented By: The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, Hamilton Region Branch

in association with The Greater Hamilton and Burlington Society of Architects.

S T A N L E Y M A U R I C E R O S C O E, b. 1 9 2 2

C I T Y A R C H I T E C T, 1 9 5 2 &endash; 6 0

Hamilton was the first city in Canada to employ a staff architect to design and oversee major projects. Stanley Roscoe was the first architect to occupy that position and as City Architect between 1952 and 1960 he designed over 50 municipal buildings, providing the city with a consistent quality of design and construction as well as a certain degree of stylistic coherence for public buildings across the city.

Roscoe was born in Winnipeg and after returning from service in WW II studied architecture at the University of Manitoba where he acquired an enthusiasm for the most advanced architectural ideas. Graduating in 1949, Roscoe was among the earliest generation of post-war graduates fully indoctrinated with the theories and principles of European Modernism and responsible for transmitting those ideas across Canada.

Throughout his tenure as Hamilton's City Architect, Roscoe was committed to applying modern principles to a wide range of buildings types in order to provide functional and creative solutions. His works from the 1950s are an important record of the impact of the International Style on Canadian architecture.

C I T Y A R C H I T E C T

Hamilton was the first city in Canada to employ a staff architect to design and oversee major projects. Stanley Roscoe, a recent graduate inspired by the new ideas of Moderism and the International Style was the first architect to occupy that position in 1951. During Mr. Roscoe's time as City Architect he designed over 50 municipal buildings and implimented a bold and innovative design programme that resulted in the construction of many excellent examples of 1950's Modernism. These buildings include Macassa Lodge, the Westdale Library and the Health Building among others. This period of work culminated in the design and construction of the present City Hall in 1960.

M A C A S S A L O D G E

701 Upper Sherman Avenue

Built in 1956, Macassa Lodge is located on the east side of Sherman Avenue between Fennell Avenue and Mohawk Road. This seniors residential complex is in the process of being substantially rebuilt, leaving very little of the original or early construction intact.

The original Macassa Lodge was designed by City architect Stanley Roscoe to provide a 300-bed residential facility for seniors who did not require nursing care. The original lodge was intended to accommodate 258 residents and a staff of 42. It comprised three one-storey bedroom wings in an E-form with a three-storey administrative wing and auditorium. Residents could be flexibly housed in one, two and four bed rooms. The administrative wing facing Upper Sherman included a reception lobby, library, offices, a staff dining room and staff accommodation. The 270-seat auditorium at the west end of the complex (closest to Sherman Avenue) was a multi-purpose assembly hall for church services, concerts, theatre productions, etc. According to a newspaper article describing the proposed new facility, "a system of partitions and alcoves will provide for dining in small groups and a minimum of the usual 'mass eating' atmosphere of older institutions". Other features noted in this article included beauty and barber shops, television facilities, smoking rooms, sunken bathtubs for disabled residents, mechanical ventilation and oil radiant heating. A two-storey bed care wing was later added to the rear of the original complex.

The construction of the original building complex was fireproof steel frame and concrete with a variety of cladding materials: stucco, and brick and stone veneer. With its long rectangular mass supported along the front façade by pilotis, horizontal band windows, and louvred windows (ground floor), the administrative wing was stylistically similar to the Health Centre.

H E A L T H D E P A R T M E N T B U I L D I N G

1 Hunter Street East/ 74 Hughson Street South

The former Health Department Building, erected in 1953, is a long, low streamlined structure that is well-integrated into its corner site at the intersection of James and Hunter. Owned and operated by the City of Hamilton, the Health Centre, as it was originally known, provided a range of facilities including a tuberculosis, dental, pre-natal and post-natal clinic and administrative offices. Last occupied by the Hamilton-Wentworth Region Social Services Department, it is now vacant and has been declared surplus.

The former Health Centre stands today as one of Hamilton's best surviving and most intact examples of early Modernist architecture. It was recognised at the time of its opening as being innovative in its style, construction, open plan concept and numerous practical features, and was praised both for its "modernistic beauty" and functional design.

The Health Centre shares in common with other early low-rise buildings designed by Roscoe (notably, Westdale Public Library, Macassa Lodge and several fire stations) a number of features derived from Modernist principles: clean lines and precise edges, long low profiles, continuous bands of horizontal fenestration, juxtaposition of new and traditional materials (brick, stone and concrete) for visual effect, and the absence of any historically-derived ornament.

Apart from the abstract cut-out motif and louvred canopy (removed) on the Hughson Street façade, the exterior was notable for the absence of any applied ornamentation, a characteristic of International style buildings. The use of pillars known as pilotis and plate glass at ground floor level to create a free-floating effect is also a recurring design element of Modernist architecture adapted by Roscoe for the Health Centre. Anchored by the projecting concrete entrance pavilion facing Hughson Street, the building appears to float above the gradually sloping ground on the Hunter Street side. Other notable features include the long horizontal bands of concrete cladding and window glazing framed by projecting concrete slabs, the use of ribbed precast concrete (below the high boiler room windows to the right of the Hunter Street entrance) and ribbed glass (window beside the Hughson Street entrance). Facing Hughson Street is a one-storey projecting entrance porch (intended to provide sheltered parking for baby buggies) enclosed by a precast concrete wall with a whimsical cut-out opening that serves both as a decorative embellishment and source of natural light. The James Street (east) façade features two long horizontal bands of fenestration with exterior adjustable aluminum louvres added for climate control.

H A M I L T O N C I T Y H A L L ( 1 9 6 0 )

"My object was to give the place dignity yet add the human note so essential in municipal government." Stanley Roscoe, 1960

The new City Hall was Stanley Roscoe's largest project as City Architect. The design combines an 8-storey boomerang-shaped office block with a separate appendage in the front that houses the council chamber. Both office tower and council chamber are elevated on pilotis (stilts) and sheathed in glass. A pure white frame encloses these floating volumes and gives them a sense of monumentality, mathematical clarity and machine-like precision typical of International Style architecture.

The new City Hall came at the end of a decade that saw massive changes in the appearance of Canadian cities. Roscoe's design responded to the challenge of providing a civic centre that embodied progressive architectural and social ideals in the hope of creating a more humane environment.

"Civic centres must provide for motorised transportation at the perimeter points, but the land inside these perimeters should be only for pedestrian use, screened from noise and fumes. Trees, plants, water, sun and shade, and all the natural elements friendly to man should be found in such centres, and these elements of nature should harmonise with the buildings and their architectural shapes, sculptural values and colour." Stan Roscoe

V I E W F R O M P A R K S T R E E T

Once a site was chosen for the new City Hall, Roscoe modified the angle of the building so that it would line up on axis with Park Street creating an asymmetrical curve dividing the main block in a 1:2 ratio. The affect of this feature has been diminished by the later Art Gallery-Hamilton Place complex, but was an important aspect for Roscoe who explained that his design responded primarily to pedestrian approaches. Auto access and parking facilities were also given careful attention in the elaborate system of elevated roads in the rear.

The new City Hall was to be the first piece in a major rejuvenation of the whole city core and Roscoe spoke strongly about the need for a civic core that served an important social function of "uniting people and facilitating direct contact and exchange of ideas".

A complete environment was created including a vast public piazza and modern fountain in front of the Hall and modern furniture and abstract art inside. The glass walled Council chamber was meant to express a sense of openness so that the workings of the municipal government were clearly visible to the citizen in the street.

H A M I L T O N P U B L I C L I B R A R Y

W E S T E N D B R A N C H ( W E S T D A L E )

Preliminary planning and design studies were carried out early in 1955, with specifications finally being set in March, 1956. The buildings construction was carried out late in 1956 and early 1957, opening on June 6th,1957

Modern architecture and city planning, influenced by new technology and mass production, were dealing with increasingly complex social needs. One of the important characteristics of modern architectural works is the use of expanses of glass. Advances in technology, including air conditioning, and electric illumination have all had important effects. Together, the use of glass, air conditioning and electric lighting were integral components of the library

The heating and ventilation solutions afforded by the use of air conditioning contributed significantly to the sealing of the building's exterior fabric, giving rise to new expressions of design. The sealed state which air conditioning afforded, allied with the lighting and the infusion of natural light made possible by the availability of new building technologies gave the West End Branch a light airy feeling which was not possible with the earlier classically derived designs.

The most significant visual design feature of the library was the luminous ceiling method. This employed fixtures which were embedded in the ceiling and covered by light diffusers. The lighting ran the full width of the library's interior - and beyond, between the acoustic baffles which stretched across the ceiling and extended a full 5 feet outside, beyond the exterior glass. The effect of this large expanse of glass, lighting and the up-turned exterior edge of the baffles drew the eye inwards, towards the publicly displayed books, much like a store-front would.

This Roscoe design was featured in the American publications, the Library Journal and the Saturday Review of Literature. The later comparing it among the best being built at that time, including the (then) new Douglas Colborne Simpson (1916-1967) designed Vancouver Public Library Main Branch, and the Mies van der Rohe / Walter Gropius inspired suspended glass cube of the New Orleans Main Branch. Picture-window walls, open stacks, lounge chairs, colours, light and textured surfaces incorporated into the building's design and furnishings were an attempt to entice the reader to stay, read, and return.

H A M I L T O N ' S M O D E R N H E R I T A G E - T I M E T O A C T

"As we enter the 21st century, there is an increasing awareness of the built heritage of the modern era. Nevertheless, many Canadians including heritage professionals and decision-makers, are still reluctant to consider buildings, ensembles, and sites dating from about 1930 to the mid-1970s as "heritage". (Susan Bronson, "Canada's Modern Heritage: Time to Act", Heritage, Spring 2000. )

In Hamilton, three landmark buildings from the 1930s, ranging in style from Beaux-Arts Classical (CN Station) to Art Moderne (T.H.& B. Station) have been designated under the Ontario Heritage Act by a City of Hamilton by-law, which provides some measure of protection from demolition and inappropriate alterations. However, it was not until the former Health Department Building was threatened with demolition by a proposal in 1992 to replace it with a parking garage, that the preservation of more recent buildings of architectural merit first became a focus of attention for the Hamilton LACAC (Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee). A cursory survey was then undertaken to identify the most significant buildings from the 1945-65 era, none of which have as yet been recognised and protected through municipal designation. Stanley Roscoe's landmark Hamilton City Hall is an obvious candidate. Much less appreciated but equally worthy based on its intrinsic architectural merit is his municipal Health Centre, the future of which is again uncertain. In April 2000, the property was declared surplus to the requirements of the City of Hamilton, City Council voted against heritage designation, and a Request for Proposals calling for the demolition of the existing structure and the redevelopment of the site as multi-storey, mixed use building was advertised (submissions due September 8, 2000).

Hamilton should be following the lead of other cities which have taken steps to recognise and protect their modern architectural heritage, before more buildings are demolished or severely compromised by unsympathetic alterations (recent fate of Roscoe's Westdale Library. The former City of Toronto, for example, has designated (under the Ontario Heritage Act) two outstanding works of architecture dating from the 1960s: Toronto City Hall (1965) and Massey College, U of T (1963).

Text made available by KEN COIT of the Hamilton Branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

More Information:

http://www.hpl.hamilton.on.ca/Collections/landmark/cityh.shtml

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