Rivière-du-Loup Town Hall National Historic Site of Canada
Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec
General view
(© Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada.)
Address :
65 Hôtel-de-Ville Street, Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1984-11-23
Dates:
-
1916 to 1916
(Construction)
-
1972 to 1973
(Restoration)
Event, Person, Organization:
-
Georges Ouimet
(Architect)
-
Lachance et Fils
(Builder)
Other Name(s):
-
Rivière-du-Loup Town Hall
(Designation Name)
Research Report Number:
Town Hall Study - 1984
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: On wall of city hall, to left side of door 65 Hôtel-de-Ville Street, Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec
Rivière-du-Loup was one of many communities that built imposing town halls in Canada after 1900. Such buildings provided accommodation for the growing number of services administered by municipal governments and also served as symbols of civic pride and aspirations. Construction of the Rivière-du-Loup Town Hall in 1916 to the design of Georges Ouimet proclaimed the town's emergence as a major pulp and paper manufacturing centre. Its imposing clock tower harkened back to a centuries-old European design tradition which established town halls as conspicuous landmarks and public gathering places.
Description of Historic Place
Rivière-du-Loup Town Hall National Historic Site of Canada, located on a prominent site in downtown Rivière-du-Loup, Québec, is an eclectic, two-storey red-brick city hall constructed in 1916. The building, was renovated and enlarged between 1972 and 1973. The formal recognition consists of the building on its legal property at the time of designation.
Heritage Value
Rivière-du-Loup City Hall was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1984 because: a symbol of civic pride and aspirations, it harkens back to a centuries-old European design tradition which established town halls as conspicuous landmarks and public gathering places.
The decision by the town of Rivière-du-Loup to build a new municipal building in the middle of the First World War symbolized the town’s determination to modernize its municipal services and to increase its profile in the Lower St. Lawrence region of Québec. The eclectic styling of the elegant building, including references to the Arts and Crafts movement in its decoration, sets it apart from the surrounding commercial buildings in the town.
Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, November 1984, November 1986.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that relate to the heritage value of this site include: its prominent siting in the commercial centre of Rivière-du-Loup; its eclectic style, notably its Second Empire derived two-storey massing with a projecting central section and flanking corner pavilions, symmetrically organized window and door openings, including its large, square-headed double-hung windows, and its classically derived decorative vocabulary including a stone entablature, and brick corner quoins; the elements associated with town hall buildings, including its imposing central entry, square clock tower, and its brick facing material; its use of architectural devices associated with the Arts and Crafts movement such as the use of polychrome and textured surfaces created by varied brickwork and contrasting masonry trim, the deep eaves and angled corners of its gabled roof cap, and the picturesque composition of its side elevation windows.