OF THE BUILDING
OUTSIDE DECORATIONS
Like all modern architects, he who conceived the plan of this building is an eclectic. He has too much taste, however, and is too well educated to fall into that confusion of styles into which one is apt to fall nowa:days ; a confusion which can be tolerated in a building intended for ordinary purposes, but which should be avoidedin a monument devoted to the patriotic labors of legislation and to the perpetuation of the historical glories of our country.
The style of the Government Buildings may be called the Renaissance style of the 17t. century ; for the revival of classical forms has manifested itself in many ways
in France, Germany, Italy, etc.; and these manifestations have been successively modified and have formed à species of secondary epochsin the general epoch.
The main front of the vast square of the Government Buildings is remarkable for the fine proportions of its central tower, dedicated to Jacques Cartier ; for the purity of the lines of the fore paris added to this tower, one dedicated to Champlain, the other to Maisonneuve ; for the elegance of the pavilions at the angles, and the entire ornamentation.
On the ground floor of the campanile or central tower is the principal entrance by which the Lieutenant-Governor proceeds to the Legislative Council to meet the members of both Houses of the Legislature, on the occasion of grand official ceremonies, at the beginning and end of each session.
In the centre of the entablature of the portico of the main entrance, the arms of the Province of Quebec, with the motto ‘ Je me souviens” are carved in Deschambault
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limestone. This entablature is supported on each side by double Ionic colums, of polished green granite from Quincy (Massachus:tts) and by corresponding double pilasters of the same stone. ‘fo the right and left of this main entrance are pedestals built into the basement, in the form of piers intended for statues of great men of the present or future generations. The idea has been expressed that they should not be used for any of our
‘contemporaries, during their life-time.
The nichés in the masonry of the front of the campanile and of the central forefront will hold the statues of Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada; of Champlain, the founder of Quebec ; of Maisonneuve, the founder of Montreal; of Laviolette, the founder of Three-Rivers ; of Pierre Boucher, Governor of Three-Rivers, an accomplished type of the old Canadian seigneur ; then those of Father de Brebeuf, the great Jesuit martyr; of the Recollet Fuher Nicolas Viel, drowned by the Indians in the rapids since called Sault-au-Recollet; of Monseigneur de
Montmorency - Laval, the first bishop of Quebec ; of M. Olier, the founder of the Society of St. Sulpitius and of that of Notre- Dame de Montreal ; finaly those of Frontenanc, Levis, Wolfe and Montcalm, and of two celebrities of the nineteenth century, Lord Elgin and Colonel Charles Michel de Sulaberry.
The arms of cach of these personnages, those of their family, of their town, or order, are carved in stone above each niche À.
The manner in which these niches and
statues are disposed indicate a very clear perception of the main lines of Canadian history ; in their distribution there is also a noticeable parallelism which denotes an experienced hand.
1. The mottoes of several of the personages have also been carved in stone. Here are some of them: Laval : Dieu aide au premier baron chrestien ; ’ Montcalm : ‘4 Mon innocence est ma forteresse, and “ Draconis extinctor ; Elgin : “ Fuimus ; ” de Salaberry : Force à superbe, mercy à foible.”” The motto of the Jesuits : “ Ad majorem Dei gloriam ; ’ that of the Franciscans (Recollets) : ‘6 Absit mihi gloriari nisi in cruce D. N. J. C. ; ” that of Levis : “ Dieu ayde au second Chrestien, Lévis.”
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In the piers of each story and up to the walls of the attic of this main front, trophies, surrounded by oak leaves, cartouches, panoplies and floating draperies bear, cirved in relief, the arms and names of the Governors and Lieutenants of the King : Montmagny, d’Ailleboust, d'Argenson, Tracy, Callières, Vaudreuil, Murray, Dorchester, Prevost, Bagot ; of the discoverers Marquette, Joliette, La Verendreye, La Salle ; of the intendant Jean Talon ; of the warriors Daulac, de Beaujeu, Hcrtel, d'Iberville.
The lantern of the campanile, consisting of a story of the Corinthian order and of an attic, is flanked at the angles by four small towers and is pierced by bull’seyeson each face. d
One of these opening-, on the main front, is masked by an escutcheon, elliptie in form, containing the Royal Arms carved in high relief, The key of the frame of this opening bears the monogram V.R., surmounted by an imperial crown.
Jacques Cartier’s statue will be plaeed im-
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mediately below in an ordonnance in the Corinthian style.
The transparent dial-plates of the clock in the campani'e are lighted at night by an electric lamp in the interior of the tower.
To the right and left of these dial-plates, torches with flickering flames, emblems of the flight of time and of life ever self-consuming, are carved 1n the stone
The attics of the fore-parts joined to the campanile are divided into three arcades separated by Corinthian pilasters. In the central arcades are niches intended for the statues of Champ ain and Maisonneuve.
The pediment of the fore-part dedicated to Champlain is surmounted by a fine group in bronze by Mr. Philippe Hébert : “ Poetry and History.” Another bronze group by the same sculptor : Zeligion and Patrix”” crowns the pediment of the fore-part dedicated to Maisonneuve.
In front of the main entrance, at the foot
of the campanile, on the slope of the ground, is the monumental fountain dedicated to the
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aboriginal tribes of Canada already referred to. Its portic», of the Tuscan order, is ornamented at the top by a bronze group representing an [Indian family. At the very foot, at the back of the sheet of water formed by an almost elliptic basin, forty-five feet long and twenty-eight wide, a bronze Indian with a xigogue or fish-spear, spearing a salmon fish in the middle of à cascade, completes the ornamentation of this graceful piece of work.
The following statues executed by Mr.
Philippe H'bert have already been placed on the front of the Legislative Building :
Campanile : Wolfe and Montcalm.
Champlain foré front : Frontenac, Elgin, Poetry and History.
Maisonneuve fore-front : Levis, Salaberr y, Religion and Zatria.
Fountain : An fndian family and Indian fish-spearer.
The models of each of these statues were approved by a committee appointed by the Government and consisting of Mr. Siméon
Lesage, Assistant Commissioner of Public Works; Mr. Eugène Hamel, artist, and the architect, Mr. Taché, Assisant Commissioner of Lands, Forests and Fisheries.
Rose granite pedestals, placed as a border on the fountain avenue, to the right and left of the basin, await ‘twisted columns which, in Mr. Taché’s designs, are surmounted by Grecian lamps. The columns and lamps will be of bronze.
