Saint John’s Architecture Gets Celebrated With New Brunswick Museum Exhibit

More than most cities, Saint John can be defined by its architecture. It is the physical expression of its very history. From its first wooden structures to the rows of century old brick homes that dominate its streetscapes today, history has gifted the city a rich heritage of character. That didn’t happen overnight, or without reason (with the possible exception of The Great Fire). The New Brunswick Museum is relaunching an exhibit this week that highlights of that history of architecture and its influences.

Returning to showcase the architectural history of Canada’s oldest incorporated city, the Music of the Eye is seeing its second installment since the original 1991 exhibit. Titled Music of the Eye II: Architectural Drawings of Saint John and Its Region, the exhibit will comprise 28 graphics, 5 of which are brand new. Curated by Gary Hughes, New Brunswick Museum’s Curator of History and Technology, each drawing will come with its own dissertation regarding the project and its author.

The exhibit begins with the flood of 15,000 American Loyalist refugees who arrived in the city’s harbour in 1783, and along with it an influx of Long Island-, New Jersey- and New York-style two-and-a-half-storey, pitch-roofed colonial houses further influenced from the provinces booming lumber industry.

Following with the War of 1812, British immigration made its mark on the city — especially by the Scots who favoured stone over wood as a building material. The British immigrants also had great influence over church architecture, particularly the Anglican neo-Gothic 14th century-style structures.

Of course, the greatest impact on the city came in 1877, when the Great Fire of Saint John destroyed two-thirds of the city, leaving it to be rebuilt by an army of architects competing for their chance to leave their mark. From this came the abundance of beautiful brick and stone buildings located in the city centre and the south end today.

Curator Gary Hughes walks you through Saint John’s architectural history, explaining the influences of John Cunningham, Matthew Stead, and Andrew Jackson Downing, the examples of Victorian Gothic and Italianate in the city, and the gradual transition from ostentatious to austere.

“The inspiration for the original exhibition and for this one as well are the challenges awaiting an architect when confronted with new building purposes like the coming of the railway,” says Hughes.

“Domestic and institutional projects from the early to mid-19th century could be sourced through pattern books but a railway station or a round house was a different animal. Usually the split between the architect’s role and that of the engineer was uncertain and sometimes the architect had to cover engineering ground and vice versa.”

Here are a few examples of Music of the Eye II’s beautiful architectural drawings, and some of the history behind them.

NBM 1990.35 Assumption Church, 1904-05. “Instead of basing the church plan on medieval the basilican plan of the early Byzantine period (4 – 6th centuries) was used and its source was J.F. Bentley’s Westminster Cathedral in London in the mid-1890s. This employed a rounded apse with Roman and Byzantine exterior styling. It remains a unique example in the city of this style and its English source remains a prototype that inspired architect J.T.C. McKean.”

NBM 20261 European & North American Railway Terminal. “Matthew Stead was the architect for this unique station. It combines a pavilion from American author and architect Alexander Jackson Downing with a long train shed to form a unique combination. There were no models or pattern books that illustrated railway stations so the architect (or engineer) was on his own. Stead took inspiration from a group of suburban buildings on nearby Mount Pleasant that followed Downing’s various styles from the late 1840s. I have seen nothing like it in any architectural publication since.”

NBM X10635: “The Henry Gilbert house represents one of the most outstanding hybrid stylizations in British North America. The house alone is a fine example of a hipped roof stone product that might have existed on a city street or a country residence but the appendices including side wings, screens and pavilions transform it into a rarity not just in what became Canada but the United States as well. This is John Cunningham’s first known commission in the city. He became a freeman of the city in 1818 listing his trade as a stonemason and would not sign his drawings with the term architect until the 1830s. A remarkable piece of work.”

The first showing of this exhibit 27 years ago was accompanied by a catalogue of 40 drawings. While no new catalogue has been printed for this year’s event, the original catalogue will be available for purchase once again.

Music of the Eye II: Architectural Drawings of Saint John and Its Region opens this week at the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John’s Market Square.

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