Canada – ALL I NEED IS MY PASSPORT

Fogo Island

Jun 082022

June 2022

I saw a picture of the Fogo Island Inn in 2013 when it was completed, right then and there I knew I had to visit. It took a while but I finally had a chance to stay at the Inn.

The most beautiful way to see the building is from the water, to photograph it close up does not do it justice, but that is the best I could do.

A shot of the Inn from across the bay

The Inn was designed by a Newfoundland born, Norwegian based architect Todd Saunders. The project was the brainchild of Zita Cobb founder of Shorefast, a non-profit foundation helping to maintain the culture of Fogo Island.

The profits made from the inn are reinvested into the local community, helping to strengthen the once struggling economy.

A view of the Inn from the town of Tilting

Before the construction of the Inn, four artist studios were constructed as a part of Shorefast’s mission to develop the island as an ecotourism destination and to diversify the local economy which is so heavily dependent on cod fishing. An industry that is not terribly fruitful in this day and age.

The Fogo Island Inn website has stunning pictures of the area as seen year round, and there are hundreds of travel blogs out there about the stay. It is an incredible place to stay, the rooms are unique, the food wonderful, and the people gracious to a fault, but I just want to concentrate on the architecture.

The weather was bleak during my visit, so only a few photos will have to tell the story.

The first studio, Long Studio, was completed in 2010. This was probably my favorite, the massing on this barren land was perfect. It was built specifically to give the locals an understanding and prepare them for the unique architecture of the Inn.

Tower Studio

Tower Studio, located in Shoal Bay has a loft, rooftop terrace, and a long boardwalk path to the main road, which was under construction when I tried to visit, so I had to settle for a view from afar.

Bridge Studio

Bridge Studio, located in Deep Bay is a hike of about 10 minutes to get to, and sits looking out at a small lake. I wish I had been able to see inside, but the curtains at the front door were drawn.

Squish Studio

Squish Studio sits on a rocky strip of coastline just outside the small community of Tilting. By the time I had gotten to this studio, the wind was howling and the temperatures had dropped considerably. I settled for a photo from afar.

The Shed

The shed has various uses, but one use is a crab dinner around a communal table.

It is said that most fishing stages on Fogo Island, particularly those located at the end of a long bridge, have a large white dot painted on the door, to help guide fisherman safely to their stages in the dark of night. I think that it was probably something someone did, everyone thought it cool, and it just became a thing.

Fish sheds are where the cod was brought in and the production of salt cod took place. They had to be far out in the water to accommodate a loaded boat, so these long walkways were the only way to reach them.

There is a long history of the Irish in Newfoundland. They came here many years before the potato famine, and thus before they ever arrived in New York. This is the oldest Irish cemetery on the island dating to the 1700s.

Foley’s Shed

Located in the National Historic District of Tilting, The Shed is a lovely representation of the Island’s distinct Irish culture and hospitality. The Shed, known colloquially as “Phil’s shed,” belongs to Fogo Island-born Maureen Foley and her husband Phil Foley. The shed hosts guests and there are shed parties, which according to the owner are just like house parties, but in a shed. There is also an annual pub crawl in September, that I am sure is not only a lot of fun, but rather raucous too.

Sleds used to haul firewood

Fresh water in Tilting

These were gardens in older times, many locals are beginning to bring them back planting interesting new crops. This is in the town of Tilting, and these gardens are specific to the town and the Irish culture.

It took a long time to finally get to Fogo Island, and it is a lovely place. It is horribly expensive, and I am still wondering if it was really worth it. I came thinking I would see things I did not, like ice floes and whales, but I walked away with a wonderful understanding of the cod fishing industry, how it has effected the livelihoods of the islanders, and how they grew up when it was a thriving business. The local people I met, their kindness and openness was worth so very much more than anything, and the true highlight of my visit.

A special thanks to Claire, Martin Foley and Paddy Barry

Tidbits Here and There of Newfoundland

Canada

Jun 082022

June 2022

There are always things I see that don’t fit in a specific post, so here we go with some fun things.

The sculptor was Luben Boykov

I love dogs, but I will admit I know very little about them, so the education I received when admiring these two was edifying.

Nobody knows the origins of the Newfoundland. They most likely came to Newfoundland with fisherman. The Newfoundland dogs from here have a large head, a double-layered waterproof coat, webbed toes, and a large tail to act as a rudder when they swim.

The Labrador is descended from the Newfoundland, but was mated with English Setters and Pointers to strengthen their gaming capabilities.

Rennie’s River runs through St. John’s. Where the houses backed up to the river, people made gorgeous spots to sit and relax. Their is a very nice path that follows the river.

Amelia Earhart in a park at Harbor Grace

Earhart began her “challenge the Atlantic” from an airstrip in Harbor Grace. While all manner of problems occurred on the flight, and she was not able to get as far as Lindbergh, the flight did establish Earhart as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

The S.S. Kyle in Harbor Grace

In the cove just behind Amelia is the S.S. Kyle. It was built in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson from 1912-13. The boat arrived in St. John’s on May 20, 1913, for coastal service.

In 1961 she was converted into a sealing ship, bringing sealers to the ice floes. On one of those trips the ship was damaged and tied up for repairs. Then in 1967, a storm and strong northeast wind blew the Kyle from its moorings, carried her to the mussel bank in Riverhead, Harbour Grace, where she has remained ever since. The Newfoundland government purchased the Kyle for $4,000 in 1972, and is now lauded as a tourist attraction.

Cape Spear is the easternmost point in Canada and North America, excluding Greenland. It has a lighthouse and once served as a very important military post during WWII.

A canon at Cape Spear

The canon’s have an interesting history. They are American, and were originally installed at Fort Mott, New Jersey in 1896. There they were placed at a battery on the Delaware River to protect the approaches to Philadelphia. In November 1941 they were transferred and installed at Cape Spear.

The Great Auk

Auks were revered by Native Americans, but they were hunted by European colonists as a food source and for down feathers. Because of that the last great auk was sighted in 1852.

The sculpture was created by Todd McGrain, as part of his Lost Bird Project. It is facing towards another that was placed in Iceland, the last two places the Auks were seen.

And yes, of course I will go searching for the other one on Iceland.

Cod and Port

Canada, Newfoundland, St. John's

Jun 042022

June 2022

Making Fish (drying fish) by Jim Maunder

Cod is such a huge part of Newfoundland’s history, and some of it is tied up with Port wine from Portugal.

After his voyage in 1497, John Cabot’s crew reported that “the sea there is full of fish that can be taken not only with nets but with fishing-baskets.”

The Newmans of Dartmouth England had been traders for generation. By the middle of the 1500s the family had taken advantage of this plethora of cod fish and centered its trade in Newfoundland on fish. By the late 1600’s the family had established a classic shipping route, wine to Newfoundland, cod to Portugal.

For many years Newmans utilized a particular set of caves for their storage, now it is a museum and tasting room. Who constructed these “caves” is unknown, it is thought it was the British built them as bunkers, but there are no records to date.

This is what I love about traveling. Last summer I was in Portugal and learned about the trade of Port from its creation in the Duoro Valley, to its shipping to England from the town of Oporto. I had no idea there was a connection all the way across the ocean. History is so glorious in its twists and turns.

Cod fishing in Newfoundland was simply done at a subsistence level for centuries, but large scale fishing began shortly after the European arrival in the North American continent in 1492

Around 1600 English fishing captains still reported cod shoals “so thick by the shore that we hardly have been able to row a boat through them.

Cod fishing was a family business, when the men returned home, the entire family helped cure the catch. The family would work together to remove the cod’s head, spine, and guts before salting the fish and laying it out on wooden flakes to dry in the sun. The drying process could take weeks and the family had to bring the product inside whenever it rained.

The cod sheds are interesting pieces of architecture and function. The tail and head were cut off and sent down a chute back into the ocean. Then the fish was split and the bones taken out, those went through an opening in the wall and into the ocean as well.

The sheds were always built attached to rocks. The support poles would often freeze in the winter and if they broke, the shed could float out to sea, so the rocks grounded them to the land.

A cod shed where the preparation for salting took place.

Approximately eight million tons of cod were caught between 1647 and 1750, a period encompassing 25 to 40 cod generations. In 1951 factory fishing began using super-trawlers. The cod catch peaked in 1968 at 810,000 ton.

Due to over fishing, the Canadian Government banned cod fishing in Newfoundland in 1992 thus ending more than 500 years of cod fishing in the area of Newfoundland.

The ban put an estimated 30,000 people out of work causing an exodus of people from rural Newfoundland. It was the single largest layoff off of workers in Canadian history. Some social scientists say more than 70,000 people have left the bays, coves and outports of the province since. Today recreational fishing is limited to 5 cod fish per person, and 15 per boat.

Lobster Traps

The cod trap is the most cost and labor efficient method for cod fishing. It was developed in the late 1860’s by Captain William H. Whitely, a Newfoundland fishing skipper operating off the coast of Labrador.

The fisherman I met on Fogo Island, however, told me it was a local fella, sitting in church, thinking of fishing and not the gospel, who invented the concept.

A cod trap. The fish are lured in along the net, called a leader, and then get ensnared in the big net where you see the three orange buoys.

The system for using cod traps is rather detailed but for the sake of brevity I have whittled it down. The cod trap is basically a room, with four walls and a floor, constructed of netting. Fish enter the trap through a doorway in the front wall. Extending outward from the centre of the doorway is a long wall of netting to hold the caught cod.

These are no longer allowed, and the above was put out by a father and son that I met, to show people what they would look like. The son, had never done it before and said, that even one without a net (this one did not have one), the work was really hard, he had no idea how he would have managed to do it with the nets attached.

Newfoundland Architecture

Canada, St. John's

Jun 042022

June 2022

Specific to Port Union

Port Union

Port Union was established in 1916. It is the only “union-built town” in North America. William Ford Coaker and the members of the Fishermen’s Protective Union (FPU) settled the town with the aim of developing a new type of commercial and economic footing for Newfoundland’s fishermen. The row houses were constructed by the FPU to provide affordable housing for the workers/members who moved to Port Union to work in the Union business. Row housing in Newfoundland is unique, sadly, these sit on Canada’s National Trust as endangered properties.

St. John’s

St John’s

The colorful houses of St John’s are all over the town and probably the most photographed feature. As much lore as there is about why so much of the town is painted bright colors, it is really about commerce. The town began painting bright colors in the 1970s to help boost its declining downtown.

St John’s Water Street

In 1892, a large portion of St John’s downtown was destroyed by fire. The 1892 “Great Fire” was economically and socially devastating. Two thousand houses were destroyed and about 11,000 of the city’s 30,000 people made homeless. The buildings above are unique in that they survived the fire, making them some of the oldest buildings in town.

A survivor of the 1892 fire

Fogo Island

Constructed in the early 1830s, The Lane House is the oldest house in Tilting. It is a typical saltbox style, common in Newfoundland during this time period. In the late 1800s, the ceilings on the second floor were heightened, and green trip was added to the exterior of the house to display the outline of the original home. The house was built by Augustin MacNamara.

Saltbox-style houses first appeared in the United States around 1650, making them among the oldest examples of American Colonial-style architecture. This type of construction is all over Fogo Island, although, by now so altered as to be somewhat difficult to discern. The original houses were so small, modern life would never fit into them.

What Was I Thinking

Gros Marne, Newfoundland, Trinity

May 312022

May 2022

Sometimes you have to complete a journey to realize it might not have been the best idea. I decided to drive from Bay of Fundy to my final destination in Newfoundland.

So far it has been an interesting experience. It began with a 7 hour ferry ride from Sydney Harbor, Nova Scotia to Port Aux Basques in Newfoundland. The ferry was fascinating and truly enjoyable. It is absolutely huge, and carried many fully loaded semi trucks.

Once I landed at Port Aux Basques, I was headed to my first destination in Norris Point which sits on the edge of Gros Marne National Park. This was a 4 hour, or 210 miles drive. This is where I wondered if I should not have simply flown to one of the airports in Nova Scotia.

Canadian Road, and yes, this one does have lines, but take a look at the potholes

The roads are horrible, bad is not a strong enough word. Now, considering the freeze thaw cycle in this part of the world, truth is, the fact that there even was pavement is rather astonishing. Then consider tractor trailers and chains, you have ruts right down the middle of the road, which happily fill with water in the rain, making driving rather challenging.

Having said that, Canadian highway construction standards vary considerably among provinces and cities. In much of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Trans-Canada Highway system is still in its original two-lane state. Maintenance varies as well.

The view never changes either, no wonder these people are famous for lumber, the trees were miles deep.

The Look for Moose signs were adorable but not anywhere near as prevalent as Watch for Potholes, I assume that is the maintenance program for the roads. On a regular basis, after swerving to miss potholes my rental car would flash a coffee cup and say maybe I should take a break. That at least entertained me.

I took this picture while driving one of the side roads, I could not possibly have pulled over for a photo on the Trans Canada Highway

A large part of Trans Canada Highway in this area is not divided, although it is easy to differentiate between the different directions. What is completely lacking is paint. There were no lines delineating lanes, and that was a major challenge. After several hundred miles, I figured the system out, but when I first encountered it, in the rain, wow!

As I approached a small town, I was laughing when I spotted this, I wonder how long until they get to the Highway?

A large portion of the Trans Canada Highway is elevated, as much as 10 feet, and there are absolutely no places to pull over, so once you have committed, you are on your way. These drops also do not have guardrails, sort of a we don’t need no stinking guardrails mentality. I am rather sure these deep ravines have to do with the massive amount of water that they get in the spring time, and possibly snow removal. Snow removal may also be the reason for lack of guardrails.

This does not give a good indication of how high parts of the highway were, but you can see how little area there is on the side of the road.

On my first drive, there was nothing in those 210 miles, my eyes were peeled to the gas gauge in total fear. Fortunately I had plenty of gas, but I have made sure that I always fill the tank when it gets down to 1/2. I am sure my credit card company wonders why I am buying $50 US worth of gasoline every day.

I did the same thing two days later going from Norris Point to Trinity, this time it was six and one half hours and 355 miles. There was almost nothing between those two points. Again, eyes on the gas gauge.

Another part of my constant concern is that there are very few people on these roads, and there is no cell service for hundreds of miles. I wish I had researched what to do if I had had a problem, as I say, sometimes it takes the adventure to learn what to do on the adventure.

I did mention that I started at the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, there I drove 385 miles for 4 hours on roads that one expects, that were also well maintained.

So was it worth it. Yes, If I had not driven, I would have missed Gros Marne and the Trinity area of Newfoundland and this country is just spectacular the geology is fascinating, the people are beyond nice, and there is so much history here, I was very content.

Would I do it again? Hell no! The Ferry was $90 US and I splurged for a $47 US private cabin, as the main area is a casino and the noise was more than I wanted to contend with. As I have mentioned, gas is $8 US per gallon. I was told by someone that Newfoundland has the highest gas prices in all of Canada – just my luck.

Gros Marne National Park

There is so much more to Gros Morne National Park that this one photo, but the day I was there it was raining buckets and photography was not possible.

The name comes from the largest mountain in the park, interpreted from French it means “large mountain standing alone”. Gros Morne is part of the Long Range Mountains, an outlying range of the Appalachian Mountains. It is the eroded remnants of a mountain range formed 1.2 billion years ago, making it older than the Rocky Mountains.

The park is a UNESCO world heritage site, and was chosen because it illustrates some of the world’s best examples of the process of plate tectonics.

James Cook holding a quadrant

Due to the pouring rain I took a little side trip to Corner Brook to find this statue of James Cooks, British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy. I know the man for his explorations in Tahiti, but what I did not know is that he made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making his three voyages to the Pacific. He accurately surveyed the entrance of the St. Lawrence River as well as surveying the southern and western coasts of Newfoundland, the coast of Quebec and Labrador. In these pursuits he produced the most accurate maps of the area that were used for the next hundred years.

So why a picture of the Gander International Airport? Prior to 9-11 it was already a very important site in aviation. From here, British aviators Alcock and Brown began the world’s first nonstop transatlantic flight and Amelia Earhart began many of her voyages here.

On 9-11 38 flights that were headed to the US landed in Gander, grounding 7,000 people. The graciousness of the people of Gander is well known to those of us that witnessed that horrific day, and I felt a 20 minute side trip was worth the effort to see where Canadians opened their hearts to Americans on one of our most horrific days in history.

Trinity, Newfoundland

I have yet to get to my final destination, but I am nearing St. Johns, the capital of this province, and I believe there will be more civilization along the way. Newfoundland is 144,353 square miles and the population is a mere 1/2 million with 40% of that living in St. Johns area.

This province is a vast and gorgeous, but next time I fly.

Geology and Root Cellars

Bonavista Loop

May 312022

May 2022

A quick geography lesson before the geology lesson. This area is actually called Newfoundland Labrador. The island of Newfoundland is the easternmost region of Canada, while Labrador is located on the mainland to the northwest. This post is about the Newfoundland portion of the province.

With John Cabot’s arrival the island has been called Terra Nova, or, Newfoundland. Labrador probably received its name from the Portuguese designation, “Terra del Lavradors.”

Newfoundland geology is a result of the constant movement of tectonic plates. Approximately 500 million years ago the action of these plates forced parts of the oceanic crust beneath the Iapetus Ocean up and over the eastern margin of the North American plate.

Labrador is part of the eastern Canadian Shield ( a geologic shield) consisting of a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks and intrusive igneous or metamorphic rocks are the most common, with sedimentary rocks in some areas.

In contrast, Newfoundland is largely underlain by younger rocks.

Traveling the Bonavista Loop

When traveling the Bonavista loop there is a 10 mile strip of coastal cliffs that date back 565 million years.

The city of Elliston considers itself the root cellar capital of the world. They are possible because of the geology of this area. The town has 135 documented root cellars, some of which are 200 years old.

The soil in this area is not very fertile, so families, growing their own food, often enriched it with kelp and anything else that made sense. The vegetables were placed in the cellars to last the winter. They are dug into the ground and covered with flagstone.

Inside one of the root cellars

This rock is just off of the shore in Port Union, the area is rife with fossils, in fact, one found in Port Union in 2009 is thought to be the oldest complex animal and the earliest evidence of muscular tissue in the world.

The Chimney at Spillar’s Cove

The Chimney is a prominent narrow sea stack, and is the remains of an igneous intrusion. It is just one more amazing thing to see on the coastline of the Bonavista Loop.

When I was out at Spillar’s Cove I spotted my first iceberg. I expect to see many on this trip, but this one was special.

Shoreline near the town of Trinity

The Bay of Trinity

The Bay of Trinity is a result of the last great ice age of the Precambrian, 580 million years ago. The area is dominated by marine terraces, created as the land rose with respect to the sea.

Red stone near Keels just off the Bonavista Loop

The Dungeon

The Dungeon started out as a cavern with two separate openings to the sea. Continuing erosion led to the widening of the cavern until eventually, the roof collapsed inwards. These collapsed sea caves are known as gloups.

On a trip to Portugal last year I was fascinate by how the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 changed so much of history. It even had an effect here on the Bonavista Loop. The quake generated a massive tsunami that crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and was observed in the Bonavista area, over 2175 miles from the quake’s epicenter. Reverend Philip Tocque wrote in his book of 1846: This event is likely the inspiration for the traditional Newfoundland song “A Great Big Sea Hove In Long Beach”.

The Bay of Fundy

Bay of Fundy

May 272022

May 2022

This stop is for my late husband Michael. He loved to sail, and he had so much fascinating information in his brain it was hard to keep up. One day in passing he mentioned that the Bay of Fundy had the world’s largest tidal difference. I do not know if that was a hint that he wanted to visit here some day, or his just imparting some of his vast knowledge, but he never made it here, so I am here in his stead.

So some background. The tidal flow is not a tsunami, the difference between low tide and high tide in the Bay of Fundy takes 6 hours, plenty of time to enjoy the area while waiting to see one end or the other of the phenomenon.

High Tide from my perch in Burntcoat on May 25th at 9:34 am. This would not be the highest tide as today is a waning moon, highest tides occur on full moons. This tide was predicted to be 42.8 feet

Low tide from my same perch at 4:03 pm. This tide was predicted to be 5.8 feet.

Burntcoat is on the Minas Basin which is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy.

The average tidal range of all oceans around the globe is three feet. The tidal difference in the Bay of Fundy is 52.5 feet at its highest. This phenomenon exists because the bay has a few distinct features: a substantial amount of water and a unique shape and size that causes resonance.

So what is resonance? Liquid in a basin has a characteristic period of “oscillation” and, once set in motion, the liquid will rhythmically slosh back and forth in this time period. The surface rises first at one end, then at the other, while the level in the middle remains nearly constant. The speed at which it oscillates depends on the length and depth of the basin. That oscillation is in perfect sync with the Atlantic ocean tide flooding into the bay every 12 hours and 26 minutes, which results in “resonance”.

Looking up the bay from my perch at high tide

Looking up the bay from my perch at low tide

When the tide is low you can walk out and explore the ocean floor, the best place to do this is at Burncoat Head Park, which is right next to the small resort where I stayed.

These small islands are called Flower Pot islands

Looking back from the water at that same flower pot island.

Caves can be found throughout the island and along the shores making fascinating sounds at the right time.

Looking towards Burntcoat Head Park from my perch at low tide

There is also a thing called a Tidal Bore. This is when the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave that travels up the bay reversing the direction of the bay’s current. I went to view it at the Interpretive Center first thing in the morning. I am afraid what I saw was rather uneventful, so the photo below is from their website.

What it does do at the Interpretive Center is roil the mud to give you a real feel for the color of the water. This color lasts until high tide, so every where you go you will see this mud, that does not come out of one’s clothes.

The mud churning during the tidal bore

Driving the roads around Burntcoat to admire the beauty while waiting for the tides to change:

Looking out at Cobequid Bay the easternmost portion of Minas Bay as the tide is going out

It is spring here and the dandelions are having a field day.

An old home in Maitland which was a major shipbuilding center in the late 19th century

This blog doesn’t often rave about things that this writer considers the purview of more tourist/travel blogs, but the Shangri-La Cottages are the absolutely perfect place to stay if the tides are what you are in the Bay of Fundy to see. There are only 3 cabins spread across a vast piece of property. Restaurants, bars and grocery stores are a ways away, but the location, the peace, the hosts are worth my praising and writing of my appreciation.

Morning Coffee

Salt Marsh near the Bay of Fundy

The salt marshes around the Bay of Fundy are an incredibly large Carbon Sink. They are being studied by biologists from around the world for their potential help with global warming.

A Weekend in Vancouver

Canada

May 102019

Vancouver
British Columbia

This Giant W stands at the location of the now partially demolished historic Woodward’s Building in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The original portion of the building was constructed in 1903 for the Woodward’s Department Store when that area of Cordova Street was the heart of Vancouver’s retail shopping district. The building was built in 1903 by Charles Woodward as the second location for the Woodward’s department store. Woodward’s pioneered the concept of one-stop shopping; the store included a food floor which was at the time North America’s largest supermarket, household items, men’s and women’s fashion, and provided check cashing, travel booking and other services. The store was well known for carrying a large variety of goods that were not available anywhere else.

Not far from the big W is Vancouver’s Chinatown. Between 1886-1920, the first wave of Chinese immigrants settled around Carrall Street and Dupont (now Pender) Street creating today’s Chinatown. By 1890, the area was home to more than 1,000 Chinese residents. Today, sadly, the area is seeing some hard times with drugs and homelessness, but it is worth an exploration none-the-less.

The Sam Kee (Jack Chow) Building

Chang Toy was the owner of the Sam Kee company, an import and export business. In 1903 Kee purchased a standard-sized lot, however, in 1912, Vancouver widened Pender Street and expropriated 24 feet of the above-ground portion of the property effectively making the remaining frontage property impractical, Toy decided to build anyway. In 1912, he hired architects Brown and Gillam to design a riveted steel framed structure featuring a second story of bay windows. Though slim the building was heavily used, with the basement originally housing both public baths and a barber shop, the top story for offices and the main floor used for shops. The building is fun to seek out as it is said to be the “shallowest commercial building in the world” according to the Guinness Book of Records. (all though that claim is contested).

The Wing Sang Building is the oldest building in Vancouver’s Chinatown and now houses a private art collection.

An interesting ghost sign on a building in Vancouver’s Chinatown

A trip to Vancouver’s Chinatown should be centered around a visit to the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is modeled after the famous Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) gardens from the city of Suzhou. When this garden was completed in 1986 in time for Expo ’86, it was the first full scale Chinese classical garden constructed outside of Asia.

The Marine Building
355 Burrard

The Marine Building in downtown Vancouver, designed by McCarter and Nairne, is truly one of the world’s most exquisite examples of art deco architecture. When it opened in 1930, it had the distinction of being the tallest building in the British Empire.

Named for its plethora of fine marine-themed ornamentation, the building was conceived by Lt. Commander J.W. Hobbs, an entrepreneur from Toronto.

Hobbs recognized that the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 would greatly increase Vancouver’s importance as a commercial port, and decided that the city needed a grand, iconic building.

Even the elevators are a work of art

A small sampling of the tile work throughout the lobby

No trip to Vancouver would be complete without a visit out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

In 1888, George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer, and land-developer came to Vancouver and purchased 6,000 acres of dense forest on either side of Capilano River. He first built a cabin on the very edge of the canyon wall and then in 1889, he suspended a footbridge made of hemp rope and cedar planks across the canyon.

The bridge and Mackay’s cabin became a popular destination for friends, dubbed Capilano Tramps, who made a journey by steamship then ‘tramping’ up the rough trail to Mackay’s property. After his death in 1903, the hemp rope bridge was replaced by a wire cable bridge.

The bridge has a long history of loving owners that have brought it to what it is today, a great nature hike and a well-designed tourist attraction.

This gorgeous statue is a replica. The original sat on a 1927 building at the NW corner of W Georgia and Hornby Streets. The Georgia Medical-Dental Building was the first art deco skyscraper built in Vancouver and amongst its rich ornamentation were three 11-foot-high terracotta statues of WW1 nursing sisters, gracing the corners of the 10th floor. The architects, McCarter and Nairne, had both served in WWI. McCarter had been wounded and credited the nurses with saving his life. The sculptures, designed by Joseph Francis Watson, were a way to honor them.

In 1989 the building was destroyed, but after a public outcry, copies of the nurses were placed on the lower floor.

Digital Orca is a 2009 sculpture of a killer whale by Douglas Coupland, installed next to the Vancouver Convention Centre and worth seeking out, for the fun of the sculpture and the breathtaking view of the harbor.

Neon sign on the corner of Library Square by Ron Terada. Part of Vancouver’s Public Art Program.

The Vancouver Downtown Public Library covers an entire city block. Designed by Moshe Safdie & Associates and local partners Downs/Archambault it is 9 stories tall and 398,000 square feet, built at a cost of $107 million Canadian.

Designed much like the Roman Colosseum the building is oval-shaped and connects with the federal office tower. It contains both retail and service facilities on the ground floor.

Some Unusual Architecture in Montreal

Canada, Montreal

Sep 192016

September 18, 2016

This is the Grande Bibliotheque, a public library in Downtown Montreal. Its collection is part of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), Quebec’s national library.

The conveyer belt that takes your books, checks them back in and takes them to the sorting room.

The library’s collection consists of some 4,000,000 works, including 1,140,000 books, 1,200,000 other documents, and 1,660,000 microfiches. The majority of the works are in French; about 30% are in English, and a dozen other languages are also represented. The library has some 50 miles of shelf space.

This geodesic dome, called the Biosphere was by Buckminster Fuller. The building originally formed an enclosed structure of steel and acrylic cells, 250 feet in diameter and 200 feet high. The dome is a Class 1, Frequency 16 Icosahedron.

Sadly, on May 20^th, 1976, , during structural renovations, a fire burned away the building’s transparent acrylic bubble, but the fortunately the steel truss structure remained. The site remained closed until 1990 when Environment Canada bought the site for $1.75 million and turned it into an interactive eco-museum about the Great Lakes water system.

Habitat 67 is a model community and housing complex designed by Israeli/Canadian architect Moshe Safdie. It was originally conceived as his master’s thesis in architecture at McGill University and then built as a pavilion for Expo 67, the World’s Fair held from April to October 1967. Habitat 67 is widely considered an architectural landmark and one of the most recognizable and significant buildings in both Montreal and Canada.

Habitat 67 comprises 354 identical, prefabricated concrete forms arranged in various combinations, reaching up to 12 stories in height. Together these units create 146 residences of varying sizes and configurations, each formed from one to eight linked concrete units.

The last architectural wonder of this trip was Montebello, about 2 hours outside of Montreal. In the late 1920s, Harold M. Saddlemire, a Swiss-American entrepreneur envisioned a private wilderness retreat for business and political leaders.

The Scandinavian log construction project was supervised by Finnish master-builder, Victor Nymark and construction manager Harold Landry Furst. Construction and woodworking teams worked in overlapping shifts around the clock using electric lighting at night.

A crew of 3500 laborers finished the project within four months, and the club opened on the first of July 1934.

The centerpiece of the building is a hexagonal rotunda, containing a six-sided stone fireplace that rises more than 66 feet to the roof. It features 60 foot long logs and two mezzanines that completely encircle the rotunda.

Interestingly, during this time, the church did not approve of working on the Sabbath; but by coincidence, the local curé was dispatched on an all-expenses paid trip to Rome for two months while the work proceeded apace.

The building consists of 10,000 logs, 500,000 hand-split cedar roof shakes and 103 miles of wooden moulding. The log walls are painted black on the outside, but the interiors simply show the beauty of the wood that was shipped in from British Columbia.

There are sitting rooms scattered throughout that are so inviting, you just want to stay for the week.

More of Montreal, its landscape and architecture.

Canada, Montreal

Sep 182016

September 17, 2016

Looking back into Dorchester Square

Montreal is laid out in an interesting pattern. Every fourth street was created wider in order to allow horse drawn drayage carts to turn around. There are public parks spread throughout and more common that in most towns, but not consistent such as you find in New Orleans.

One of the main squares downtown is Dorchester Square, once Dominion Square. It is especially interesting because it was once served not only as a park but much of it was used for the Catholic Sainte-Antoine Cemetery, a hastily arranged cemetery for the victims of the 1851 Cholera Epidemic.

Between 2009 and 2012 a $3.5 million renovation took place, headed by Montreal landscape architect Claude Cormier. It would have been impractical to remove the graves. The designers, instead, added soil and raised the height of the park in order to protect the graves underneath. There are crosses in the pavement as an homage to the cemetery. The crosses are stylized to match those often found on maps marking cemeteries.

The public restroom in Saint Louis Park

Another interesting park that represents the system is Square Saint-Louis. During the depression the mayor was Camillien Houde. He initiated a program similar to America’s WPA, thanks to his policies Montreal got her Botanical Garden, the chalets of Mount Royal and La Fontaine park, viaducts, and these public baths and public urinals. These bathroom facilities are now used for various purposes, in the case of Square Saint-Louis it is now a small coffee shop.

Square Saint-Louis was named by the Project for Public Spaces as “the closest thing to a European neighborhood square you’ll find this side of the Atlantic”, with its Victorian homes facing the park.

Saint Lawrence Boulevard or boulevard Saint-Laurent (its official name, in French) is a major street in Montreal. A commercial artery and cultural heritage site, the street runs north south through the near-center of city and is nicknamed The Main. This street is the heart of what once was the Jewish area. The street, and the Jewish section divides the Plateau district with the English speaking to the west and the French to the east.

At one time there were a very large number of synagogues, but as the area changed these were all either lost to progress or from the lack of members.

Interior of the Bagg Street Shul

The one synagogue that has survived is Temple Solomon or the Bagg Street Shul as it is locally called. Active since 1906 with no permanent rabbi, it has been lovingly cared for by volunteers throughout its life. It received a $350,000 grant from the Montreal Heritage Program in 1999 and the building was restored and shored up. Since then it has operated on donations and an all-volunteer staff.

The end of the Montreal Island, the borough Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, was developed during the 1800s. The area was industrial with primarily shoe factories. The last vestige of this period includes the house Chateau Dufresne.

The home was built and owned by two brothers Oscar, who ran the factory and Maurice, an architect and a utopian.

Just one of the many works by Guido Nincheri.

Built from 1915 to 1918, the mansion was designed in the Beaux-Arts Style by the Parisian architect Jules Renard and Dufresne brother, Marius. The architects based their plans on the Petit Trianon in Versailles, France. The building has forty rooms covering about 20,000 square feet. In the 20s and 30s the interior was decorated with paintings by Guido Nincheri. Nincheri was known for his piety and devout religious leanings, the secular subject matter of the Château Dufresne’s interior decor is an exception to the rest of his work. Alfred Faniel, a Belgian born artist, also decorated the house during this period.

This area was, with the exception of Chateau Dufresne, razed for the Olympic Village in 1976. An economic boondoggle for the city, as it was only paid off in 2006.

Designed by French architect Roger Taillibert, the Olympic Stadium’s design is meant to evoke gigantic hands with curved fingers, the 34 cantilever panels, with four shortened panels at the base of the Tower, determine the overall geometry of the Stadium. They support the technical ring, the roof and the electronic score boards. Sadly, although the roof, made of canvas, was supposed to be retractable into the Tower, it has never worked.

I will end with a very unique garden I tripped over. This is Park Gamelin. The idea for the park was to make a rough public spot more welcoming for all Montrealers and tourists, and yes it is pretty covered with homeless, but it is also an amazing space. Think Beer Garden with fun games, sun and art.

The park is named for Roman Catholic nun Émilie Gamelin, founder of the Sisters of Providence religious community, which had operated a convent on the property. Émilie Gamelin and her sisters were known for running a soup kitchen (l’Œuvre de la Soupe) for the homeless community, as well as other needy people, of Montreal.

There are games spread throughout

One day in Ottawa

Ottawa

Sep 172016

September 16, 2016

The Parliament building with the Peace Tower

In 1841, Lower Canada (now Quebec) and Upper Canada (now Ontario) joined to form the Province of Canada. Its seat of government alternated for many years. In 1857, Queen Victoria was asked to select a permanent capital. Surprisingly, the Queen chose the lumber town of Ottawa over the established cities of Toronto, Kingston, Montréal and Québec City. Ottawa was obviously a political compromise but more importantly it was farther away from the American border.

The Center, East and West blocks of the Parliament Buildings were built between 1859 and 1866 (excluding the Tower and Library).

A fire took place in 1916 and burned the center building down, the library was saved, but seven people lost their lives.

The new structure, designed in the Modern Gothic Revival style by John Pearson and Jean Omer Marchand, was completed by 1922. The Peace Tower was finished later in 1927.

The West Block contains offices for parliamentarians. Built in the Victorian High Gothic style, the West Block has been extended twice since its original completion in 1865. The building appears on the obverse of the Canadian five-dollar bill and is presently undergoing a $863 million restoration, scheduled to be completed in 2017.

Built in the Victorian High Gothic Style the East Block also contains parliamentary offices.

The ceremonial entrance to the Center Block contains a magnificent archway of carvings designed by the first Dominion Sculptor, Cleophas Soucy, and his assistant, Coeur de Lion McCarthy under the direction of Alan Keefer, a noted architect for the Department of Public Works. The intricate designs around the door were carved between 1937 and 1938 by a team of six carvers, along with Soucy and McCarthy. This beaver, a symbol of Canada was done by Cleophas Soucy.

The archway is flanked by on either side by a lion and a unicorn. Known as “supporters” in heraldry, these two beasts are found on the Arms of Canada as well as the United Kingdom. The Lion carries a Union flag and supports the Royal Arms, while the unicorn carries the Royal flag of France and supports the Arms of Canada.

The House of Commons is in the Center Block of the Parliament Buildings. Decorated in Green as is the British House of Commons, it presently has 338 members, and is fast growing out of its present space.

The ceiling of one of the magnificent rooms between the Senate and the House of Commons.

The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords and consists of 105 members appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Senate has a higher representation of minorities because the seats are appointed.

An interior hallway in the Center Block

The Library is one of the more magnificent rooms in the Center Block. Designed in the High Gothic Revival style by Thomas Fuller and Chilean James, the library opened in 1876. The circular shape and use of galleries and alcoves came from the first Parliamentary Librarian Alphas Todd. He also wisely suggested it be separated from the main building to protect it from fire. Due to this fact, and two huge metal doors, the library was saved from the fire that destroyed the rest of the building. The library underwent a four year restoration and was reopened in 2006. The library is for the sole use of Parliamentarians.

The Library

Some other sights found in the Center Block of the Parliament Buidlings.

Just a few of the hundreds of exterior carvings

There are four gargoyles on the Peace Tower, three of them are typical, why this one is different I have been unable to find out.

The dedication plaque at the front door to the Center Block

The exterior of the Library

Running behind the East Block of Parliament is the Rideau Canal connecting the city of Ottawa to the city of Kingston on Lake Ontario. It is 125 miles long and derives its name from the French word for curtain. The canal system uses sections of two rivers, the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as several lakes.

The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States. It remains in use today primarily for pleasure boating, with most of its original structures intact and is operated by Parks Canada. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Across the Canal is the Château Laurier, commissioned by Grand Trunk Railway president Charles Melville Hays, and constructed for $2 million, between 1909 and 1912. When the hotel first opened, private rooms cost $2 a night; 155 of the 350 bedrooms featured a private bath while the other 104 rooms had washstands with hot and cold water connections. In addition dormitories and common bathrooms were available as were rooms for travelling salesmen with sample tables to display goods. Today it is a Fairmont Hotel.

The magnificent ceiling of the Notre Dame Cathedral

The main structure of Notre Dame Cathedral was completed in 1846. In 1859, Father Damase Dandurand, OMI, designed the two Gothic spires which were added to the west front in 1866. The steeples are covered with tin, which is typical for French-Canadian churches. The ornate interior was designed by Georges Buillon.

Ottawa was founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as “Ottawa” in 1855, the city has evolved into a political and technological center of Canada. The city name “Ottawa” was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River nearby, which is a word derived from the Algonquin word Odawa, meaning “to trade”.

The city is the most educated in Canada, and it is home to a number of post-secondary, research, and cultural institutions, including the National Arts Centre and the National Gallery. Ottawa also has the highest standard of living in the nation and low unemployment.

The town is walkable, approachable and architecturally wonderful.

Montreal, Canada

Canada, Montreal

Sep 162016

September 15, 2016
Walking all around Montreal
Attempting to get a sense of history and architecture

Montreal, is the most populous city in Quebec and the second most populous municipality in Canada. Originally called Ville-Marie, or “City of Mary,” it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city.

Montreal is actually an island, a very large island. The Ile de Montreal sits at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers and is surrounded by the Lawrence River (called the front) and the Prairie River (called the back).
Montreal is also one of the centers of francophone culture in North America, in fact, French is the mother tongue of about 7.3 million Canadians. Most of these native French speakers live in Quebec, where French is the majority official language.

By the Official Languages Act in 1969, Canada recognized English and French as having equal status in the government of Canada, so much of the government work throughout the country, not just in Quebec, is handled in both languages.

Montreal was originally founded in 1642 as a missionary colony under the direction of Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance, it soon saw fur trade became its main activity. However, the religious entity is still felt heavily in today’s Montreal, especially with the Order of Saint-Sulpice, who were responsible for developing much of Old Montreal, around their Seminary which is adjacent to the Notre Dame Basilica.
In the late 1850s expansion of the St. Lawrence canal system and the deepening of the channel to Québec City made Montreal the area’s principal seaport, while railway construction, particularly of the Grand Trunk Railway, made the city the hub of the railway system. Today Montreal’s main income comes from being a Financial Center. This legacy of ever changing industries has left a variety of buildings including factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries, that, today provide an invaluable insight into the city’s history.

Notre-Dame Basilica

Some of the city’s earliest remaining buildings date back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Although most are clustered around the Old Montreal area, such as the Sulpician Seminary (1685) and the residence of Governor of Montreal Claude de Ramezay, Chateau Ramezay (1705) , you will find examples of early colonial architecture throughout the city.

Since 1960, a new downtown area has grown up along René-Lévesque Boulevard (before 1987 known as Dorchester Boulevard). This downtown expansion led to the remodeling of the city. Many historical buildings were demolished, ancient residential areas were radically altered, and thousands of low-income residents were displaced.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is spread across four pavilions, and has 140,000 square feet of exhibition space. One of these pavilions is the church that once anchored the Golden Square Mile.

The residential area of architectural note that still has remnants of its grandeur is called the Golden Square Mile. During its heyday 70% of Canada’s wealth was concentrated in this square mile.

A street of Old Montreal, now revitalized with restaurants and shopping.

Old Montreal had become too industrial so wealthy people began to move up the hill. It began with James McGill. His was a farm that, upon his death, became the Royal Institute for Learning, or McGill University today.

James McGill

After McGill, the first concerted effort to develop the area was by developers creating terrace housing, a style of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share sidewalls.

Then the rich began to move in and build houses. Many of these houses are now part of McGill University.

Redpath Museum is the oldest building built specifically to be a museum in Canada. Built in 1882 as a gift from the sugar baron Peter Redpath, the collections were started by some of the same individuals who founded the Smithsonian and Royal Ontario Museum collections.

Redpath Museum is the oldest building in Canada built specifically to be a museum. Built in 1882 as a gift from the sugar baron Peter Redpath, the collections were started by some of the same individuals who founded the Smithsonian and Royal Ontario Museum collections.

The Redpath Library

John Redpath, a Scots-Quebecer businessman and philanthropist was also a contributor to the University and has both the library and a museum in his name.

These homes of the wealthy were followed by churches, then stores and then hotels.

The Mount Royal Club was built as a club to service the wealthy of The Golden Square Mile

You can see the influences of the railroads, as building materials began to change. These buildings were now being constructed of Sandstone from New Brunswick, Indiana Granite and Vermont Marble, to list a few.

After the war you saw smaller homes, with common walls, being built in the area

During World War I 90% of the sons of the families in the Square Mile were killed. This left no heirs, it was also a time of changing economics so staff was no longer available and the area was no longer what it was.

After the war apartments began to be built in the area, these were prepared for the coming age of the automobile

The homes were built of what was once considered a material for the lower classes, brick, as quarrying the Montreal Limestone that makes up so much of the older buildings of Montreal, was getting too expensive. There was also a change in sensibilities that allowed the concept of a shared wall, rather than great homes on great lots.

A very large apartment building in the Golden Square Mile

Eventually larger apartments started to show up, while the exterior architecture continued to have the French and Scottish influence, their floor plans and interior designs were actually influenced by New York.

Interestingly, Montreal did not allow buildings to be divided and owned by individuals , i.e. condo conversion until 1989. Most likely contributing to the fact that much of this area maintains its architectural integrity.

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) is a museum of architecture and research center that incorporates the second empire style Shaughnessy House. The CCA sits within the Golden Square Mile.

Across the street from the Center is their sculpture garden. It is framed by a concrete replica of the lower stories of the Shaughnessy House.

Within the garden are allegorical columns that line up with building types around town that can be seen from the escarpment that surrounds the park. These consist of chimney stacks, tenements, grain silos, and the twin spires of a church. The permanent installation is by Melvin Charney.

This was just one day of walking Montreal, just a taste of its rich history and architecture. Here are some other fun things spotted around town.

The police were having a union dispute about their retirement package. They chose to wear non-uniform pants in protest, while on duty.

The Moulson family is still prominent throughout Canada. Here is just one of their enterprises.

The Molson family is still prominent throughout Canada. Here is just one of their enterprises, the Molson Bank.

Ornamentation found on buildings around town

A statue in front of Notre Dame Basilica celebrating Montreal’s founder Maisonneuve

On a lower level is co-founder of Montreal Jeanne Mance. Since she was a woman it would not have been proper to put her at the same level as a man at the time the sculpture was commissioned.

Buildings surrounding the statue on the same plaza as the Notre Dame Basilica

Throughout its growth Montreal was a town of neighborhoods. These neighborhoods surrounded the church representing the faith of its neighbors. In 1995 the government realized that many of the churches were being torn down, or falling down, and the city was loosing its sense of neighborhood.

For that reason the allotted $300 million to support the restoration of those churches that defined these neighborhoods. The project took 25 years and restored over 1000 buildings.

Mary Queen of the World Cathedral

The Seaman’s Chapel in Old Montreal

The lamps in the Seaman’s Chapel