Faces of our history: John Ostell, in the Montreal landscape


Portrait of John Ostell

A new Montrealer

Born in London, John Ostell (1813-1892) was a young man of barely 21 when he arrived in Montreal around 1834. The son of a saddler and from a background of craftsmen, he arrived already trained in architecture and land surveying. according to British techniques. However, he seems to understand that it would be wise to know the Montreal terrain well, still strongly structured according to French methods. This is what he did in 1834 with the surveyor André Trudeau, since at the time, architecture and surveying were closely linked. The early years of Ostell’s career in Montreal made him an authority on surveying, forensic assessment and training. In 1837, he married Éléonore Gauvin, a Catholic French Canadian from a good family whose brother, Dr. Alphonse Gauvin, was one of the leaders of the Patriote movement. The couple’s good relationship with Catholic networks will be crucial for Ostell’s career.

Achievements

Satisfy all customers


The old customs.

Photo courtesy, Jacques Viger album, city of Montreal. Management of documents and archives

The old customs.

On Place Royale, in what is now Old Montreal, the Old Customs House building (now part of the Pointe-à-Callière museum) was John Ostell’s first major project. Built between 1836 and 1838, it concentrates a large part of Montreal’s port economic activity. After this success and thanks to his marriage, Ostell – still Anglican – found himself at ease in frequenting French-Canadian circles. This facility earned him the position of principal architect of the diocese of Montreal, then headed by the powerful Monsignor Ignace Bourget. At the height of his career between 1836 and 1859, Ostell drew up the plans for more than twenty institutional buildings in Montreal. He then devoted himself to various municipal administration tasks and especially to his lumber business, which notably exploited the hydraulic power of the Saint-Gabriel lock on the Lachine Canal. We even see him getting involved in rail transport and the first horse-drawn public transport!

Heritage

A well-known built heritage


Facade of the Notre-Dame basilica.

Photo from the City of Montreal Archives

Facade of the Notre-Dame basilica.

The name of John Ostell is certainly not heard very frequently these days, but the buildings he left in Montreal are among the most famous! In addition to the Old Customs House, we owe him, among other things, the old courthouse on rue Notre-Dame, the Grand Séminaire and the Collège de Montréal, rue Sherbrooke, the Faculty of Arts at McGill University and the renovated facade the church of Sault-au-Récollet – the oldest church on the island. It also completes the towers of the bell towers of the Notre-Dame basilica, named Perseverance, to the west and Temperance, to the east. The whole, almost entirely built in gray limestone, typical of the Montreal basement. What seems like a long list, on the contrary, gives the extent of the legacy of the surveyor-architect who participated in making Montreal the metropolis of a still young Canada. He converted to Catholicism shortly before his death in 1892.


Facade of the church of Sault-au-Récollet.

Photo from the City of Montreal Archives

Facade of the church of Sault-au-Récollet.

– Research and writing, Éliane Bélec, historian




Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com

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