"Something Sounder, Nobler, and Greater": Neo-Gothic Architecture and National Identity in Confederation-Era Canada

Authors

Susannah Morrison, Birgham Young University

Keywords

Architecture, Canada, Gothic Revival

Abstract

The morning of 1 September, 1860 was unseasonably warm for Cananda, but the heat did not deter the thousands of spectators gathered on the southern banks of the Ottawa River to catch a glimpse of the young prince of Wales. As the crowning moment of Prince Albert's royal visit to Canada, the eighteen-year-old prince laid the cornerstone for the new government buildings in Ottawa. Keen to use the Prince's tour as an opportunity to show the colony off at its finest, Canada's leaders had outdone themselves in organizing an unabashedly imperial public reception for their future king. The Union Jack Bew over a life-size portrait of Queen Victoria, carefully positioned in full view of the crowd.' A group of well-scrubbed, fidgeting school-children stood ready to welcome their future sovereign, perhaps with a rendition of 'God Save the Queen.' The colonial government's efforts to impress, however, seem to have been rather lost on their British visitors, with one commentator for the Times rather snidely remarking that," ... mud is the only thing which has, as yet, been completed and brought to perfection in the city of Ottawa."

Recommended Citation

Morrison, Susannah (2016) ""Something Sounder, Nobler, and Greater": Neo-Gothic Architecture and National Identity in Confederation-Era Canada," The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 45: Iss. 1, Article 11.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol45/iss1/11