The Architecture of Metis Buildings and Their Builders

Visitors to Metis today marvel at the harmonious architecture that characterizes the village. Even new buildings (with the notable exception of the Metis Beach School) integrate into the built and natural environment.

Black and white photograph of a rustic log house. The house is located at the foot of a hill and is surrounded by many tree stumps of the trees that were probably used to build the house. Four people are outside the house. A woman in a white dress is standing in the doorway and looking at us. A few steps away from her stands a young boy holding a wooden bucket. He observes a man working to remove the bark from a section of tree on the ground. A man approaches the scene carrying a load on his shoulders.

This rustic log cabin was built to accommodate workers during the construction of the Intercolonial Railway in the 1870s.

The passerby might think this integration of styles to be the result of stringent by-laws or citizens who police the choice of materials and building types. In fact, it is mostly the product of a handful of contractors who over generations have sought to ensure that new construction, renovations and repairs fit the mould for their clients.

Engraving of the Ferguson Manor House built after 1854. The stone manor house is located roughly in the center of the picture. A white fence delimits the manor's grounds. Outside the fence, a cow and 4 sheep are grazing. A man and his dog are walking along the fence.

The Manor House occupied a site with priveleged views of the bay and towards the St. Lawrence River.

Most of the community’s buildings were constructed by builders over several generations, like Peter Leggat, Benjamin Page, André Rousseau and Renaud Isabel. They employed talented craftsmen, favoured local materials and used designs obtained from pattern books or culled from their own experience to construct dozens of buildings that display unity in form and function.

Engraving of a Victorian summer house. The 2-storey residence has a wood balcony, a gable roof with a gable edge enhanced by a mantling. A verandah seems to tower over the residence. In front of the main entrance and in the staircase of the verandah is sitting a family. A woman sits on the verandah railing. A man sits in a chair near the door and three children sit on the steps. The garden of the house is composed of several trees.. A vine grows along the house and spreads out to the gallery of the second floor.

William Dawson’s Metis cottage is illustrated in this 1888 engraving. On the steps are William Dawson and his wife Margaret and three of their five children.

Only a handful of buildings in Metis were designed by architects. Several of the churches, notably the Little Metis Presbyterian Church, stand out as fine examples of ecclesiastical architecture. Some homes are clearly the product an architect’s work.

The complex roof of Birchcliffe, an English-style cottage built for Fred W. Molson in 1913, is the handiwork of Montreal architect Robert Findlay. The turreted entranceway of the Bovey house, owned by McGill University’s Dean of Applied Science, Henry Taylor Bovey, was designed by Andrew Taylor. The Arts and Crafts ensemble of the Grier house, commissioned by the co-owner of the Montreal lumber company G. A. Grier & Sons, George W. Grier, is the work of architect Percy Nobbs.

Black and white photograph of the north and west facades of Estevan lodge. The exterior of the building is in wood and the gable roof is made of cedar shingles. The windows are equipped with shutters. The fishing camp is equipped with a generous verandah on which is placed rack for fishing rods. At the back of the main building are outbuildings occupied by the owner's servants. The two-storey building is slightly set back to the west in relation to the main building. The building is surrounded by a flowering meadow. We can see the huge cedar hedge that occupies the front space of the fishing camp. In spite of its size, the fishing camp is rather sober, only the columns of the verandah roof underline the Victorian style of the building's architecture.

Estevan Lodge was designed by architect William Tutin Thomas for Sir George Stephen, completed in June, 1887.

Metis was one of the first villages in Quebec to join the “Les plus beaux villages du Québec”, an association that unites charming villages across the province. It is a formal recognition of what is informally admired – that Metis has a unique collection of interesting buildings and well-manicured properties – an ensemble that distinguishes it from towns both near and far.

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