Frederick G. Todd and the Origins of the Park System in Canada’s Capital

Journal of Planning History

Volumn 1, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 29-57

  Gordon, David L a ^a  

^a QUEEN S UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Capital city; Frederick Todd; Ottawa; parks

Indexed keywords

EID: 84992781274     PISSN: 15385132     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/153851320200100103     Document Type: Article

References (171)

1. W. Eggleston, The Queen's Choice: A Story of Canada's Capital (Ottawa, Canada: National Capital Commission [NCC], 1961).
2. W. DeGrace, “Canada's Capital 1900-1950: Five Town Planning Visions,” Environments 17 (1985): 43-57.
3. K. Hillis, “A History of Commissions: Threads of an Ottawa Planning History,” Urban History Review 21, no.1 (1993): 46-60.
4. NCC, A Capital in the Making (Ottawa, Canada: NCC, 1998).
5. NCC, A Capital in the Making (Ottawa, Canada: NCC, 1998).
6. NCC, A Capital for Future Generations (Ottawa, Canada: NCC, 1998).
7. J. Taylor, Ottawa: An Illustrated History (Toronto, Canada: J. Lorimer, 1986).
8. C. Gaffield, History of the Outaouais (Montréal, Canada: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 1997).
9. D. Knight, Choosing Canada's Conflict Resolution in a Parliamentary System (Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press, 1991).
10. Canada Commission of Conservation, Report of the Epidemic of Typhoid Fever Occurring in the City of Ottawa, January 1st to March 19, 1911 (Ottawa, Canada: Commission of Conservation, 1912).
11. J. H. Taylor, “Fire, Disease and Water in the Nineteenth Century—An Introduction,” Urban History Review 8, no. 1 (1979): 7-37.
12. C. A. Young, The Glory of Ottawa: Canada's First Parliament Buildings (Montréal, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995).
13. J. Wright, Crown Assets—The Architecture of the Department of Public Works: 1867-1967 (Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1997).
14. M. Archibald, By Federal Design: The Chief Architect's Branch of the Department of Public Works, 1881-1914 (Ottawa, Canada: National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, 1983).
15. D. Owram, Building for Canadians—A History of the Department of Public Works, 1840-1960 (Ottawa, Canada: Public Relations and Information Services, 1979).
16. S. Gwyn, The Private Capital: Ambition and Love in the Age of Macdonald and Laurier (Toronto, Canada: McClelland and Stewart, 1984), 40.
17. T. Hall Planning Europe's Capital Cities: Aspects of Nineteenth Century Urban Development (London: E & F. N. Spon, 1997).
18. M. Hebbert, London: More by Fortune than Design (New York: John Wiley, 1998).
19. L. Vale, Architecture, Power and National Identity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992).
20. J. Taylor, J. G. Lengelle, and C. Andrew, Capital Cities: International Perspectives (Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press, 1993).
21. P. Hall, Cities of Tomorrow (London: Basil Blackwell, 1996).
22. P. Hall, Cities of Tomorrow, (New York: Pantheon, 1998).
23. W. Laurier, Dearestémilie:The Love Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier to Madame Émilie Lavergne (Toronto, Canada: NC Press, 1989), letter dated 9 August 1891, p. 84.
24. “The Washington of the North,” Ottawa Evening Journal, 19 June 1893, p. 3.
25. Lady I. Aberdeen, The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen, 19 November 1898 (Toronto, Canada: no publisher, 1960), 478-79.
26. Fielding speech to House of Commons, 2 August 1899, Hansard, p.9186
27. An Act Respecting the City of Ottawa, 62-63 Vict.Ch 10.7 (c), assented 11 August 1899.
28. J. H. Taylor, “City Form and Capital Culture: Remaking Ottawa,” Planning Perspectives 4 (1989): 79-105.
29. “The Washington of the North,” 3.
30. 1899 Act Respecting the City of Ottawa.Canada has no capital district.
31. D.C. Rowat, ed., The Government of Federal Capitals (Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1973).
32. Laurier, quoted in M.O. Scott, “TheWashington of the North,” The Canadian Magazine 30, no.4 (1908): 321-22.
33. WLMK letter to T. Ahern, 29 December 1926, WLMK correspondence.
34. G. Bertram and M.B. Percy, “RealWage Trends in Canada 1900-26: Some Provisional Estimates,” Canadian Journal of Economics 12, no. 2 (1979): 299-312.
35. OIC minutes 1 May 1903.
36. OIC 9 June 1903, pp. 103-6.
37. OIC minutes 11 June 1903, p.110.
38. Peter Jacobs, “Frederick Gage Todd—Biographic Notes” (n.d., unpublished). Based on University of Massachusetts calendars and interviews.
39. C.E. Beveridge and P. Rocheleau, Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape (New York: Universe, 1998).
40. C. Zaitzevsky, Fredrick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System (Boston: Harvard/Belknap, 1982).
41. Frederick L. Olmsted Sr.“Mount Royal,” reprinted in S.B.Sutton, ed., Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes/Frederick Law Olmsted (New York: Da Capo, 1997).
42. V. Asselin, “Frederick G.T odd Architecte Paysagiste: Une Pratique de l'aménagement ancrée dans son époque 1900-1948” (thesis presented at Université de Montréal, Faculté de l'aménagement, 1995).
43. F.G. Todd, “Circular as to Professional Methods and Charges” (1900), in Asselin; Annexe Todd-Ecrits, 1, Appendix—Todd articles.
44. Todd “Circular,” 2. Twenty-five dollars per day is approximately $475/day C$ 1999.
45. F. G. Todd, “Character in Park Design,” Canadian Municipal Journal 1: 321-22.
46. F.L. Olmsted, Writings on Public Parks, Parkways, and Park Systems, ed.C.E.Beveridge and C.F.Hoffman (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997).
47. “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns,” 25 February 1870, pp.171-205.
48. “A Consideration of the Justifying Value of a Public Park,” 28 January 1881, pp. 331-49.
49. “Mount Royal: Montréal,” 1881, pp. 350-418.
50. OIC minutes 22 April 1903, 101.
51. Letter to Todd from O'Brien (OIC Sec.).22 June 1903, OIC papers, Series A-2, vol.23. Letterbook of Robert Surtees OIC Engineer, p. 308.
52. F.G. Todd, Preliminary Report to the Ottawa Improvement Commission (Ottawa, Canada: Outdoor Improvement Commission, 1903).
53. W.H. Wilson, The City Beautiful Movement (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989).
54. J.C. Walsh, “Modern Citizens for a Modern City? Ottawa's Great Fire of 1900,” in Ottawa: Making a Capital, ed.J.Keshen and N.St.Onge (Ottawa, Canada: University of Ottawa Press, 2001), 165-84.
55. F.G. Todd, Esthetic Forestry (Montréal, Canada: Witness, n.d. [1920s].
56. D. Schuyler, The New Urban Landscape: The Redefinition of City Form in Nineteenth-Century America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).
57. Duke of Argyll (Marquis of Lorne), Passages from the Past, vol.2 (London: no publisher), 444.
58. OIC minutes of 26 November 1903 (OIC vol.1, p.127).
59. OIC vol.1, pp.130-31.
60. NAC, RG19, vol.3166, file 10623b.
61. J. Ellis, RG19, vol. 549, file 139, 1912-16.
62. “How Ottawa as Capital Can Be Made Most Beautiful,” Ottawa Journal, 26 September 1903, p.3.
63. “Wants a Driveway,” Ottawa Citizen, 26 September 1903, p. 12.
64. OIC minutes, vol. 1, 21 October 1903, p. 123.
65. OIC minutes, 26 November 1903.
66. OIC minutes, 31 March 1904.
67. OIC minutes, 16 June 1904, pp.147-49; 23 June 1904.
68. OIC minutes, 23 September 1904, pp. 163-66.
69. OIC minutes, 21 December 1904, pp. 167-80.
70. OIC minutes, 27 January 1905.
71. OIC minutes, 7 March 1905.
72. OIC, Special Report of the Ottawa Improvement Commission, from Its Inception in 1899 to March 13, 1912 (Ottawa, Canada: OIC, 1913), 10.
73. M. Miller, Letchworth: The First Garden City (Chichester, UK: Phillimore, 1989).
74. M. Miller and A. S. Gray, Hampstead Garden Suburb (Chichester, UK: Phillimore, 1992).
75. OIC 1906 annual report, p. 4.
76. OIC annual reports, 1912-15 NCC Library, Ottawa.
77. Lord Grey to Sir Henry Bate, 15 September 1911, RLB reel 3960, p.607A.
78. Gordon, “From Noblesse Oblige to Nationalism,” Journal of Urban History 28 (2001): 3-34.
79. “Ottawa Has Opportunities, for Obtaining Ideal City,” Ottawa Evening Citizen, 22 May 1911, p.1.
80. “Movement for Garden City,” Ottawa Evening Citizen, 23 May 1911.
81. T.H. Mawson, The Ideal Capital City and How to Plan and Build It. Addresses Presented Before the Canadian Club of Ottawa, 1911-12 (Ottawa, Canada: Mortimer, 1911), 167.
82. “Improvement Commission Gets Criticism from Landscape Artist,” Ottawa Evening Citizen, 26 May 1911, p.110.
83. “The Planless Capital [editorial],” The Ottawa Citizen, 26 May 1911.
84. “Opinions of Commission,” The Evening Citizen, 26 May 1911, pp.1, 10.
85. “A Valuable Criticism,” The Ottawa Citizen, 27 May 1911, p.6.
86. CPM papers, vol.9, “Rambling Recollections, ‘I'and Gwyn,” 219-20.
87. H. McGiverin M.P., 3 August 1910, copy in WL correspondence, pp.179663-64.
88. “The Glebe Streets: Infusion of a New Spirit into the Ottawa Improvement Commission,” Ottawa Citizen, 20 April 1904.
89. C. Murphy to W.S. Fielding, Minister of Finance, 9 August 1910.
90. Laurier papers, MF 214, 85188-85190.
91. T.C. Boville, Deputy Minister of Finance, to OIC, 24 August 1910.
92. Report and correspondence of the Ottawa Improvement Commission, 2 George V.Sessional Paper No.51a (Ottawa, Canada: C.H. Parmelee, 1912).
93. OIC minutes, 3 October 1910.
94. Olmsted Bros. papers, file 5070, “Ottawa City Plan, Ottawa Canada 1913-1914.”
95. W.B.S. Armstrong (civic guild, Toronto) from CPM, 25 September 1911.
96. CPM from Todd, 26 October 1911.
97. Todd from CPM, 27 October, 1911.
98. CPM papers, vol.5, file 36, OIC, 1911.
99. C. Moore, ed., The Improvement of the Park System of the District of Columbia, 57th Congress, 1st sess.S.Rept.166 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1902).
100. J.A. Peterson, “The Nation's First Comprehensive City Plan: A Political Analysis of the McMillan Plan for Washington, DC, 1900-1902,” Journal of the American Planning Association 55, no.2 (1985): 134-50.
101. T.S. Hines, Burnham of Chicago: Architect and Planner (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974).
102. Laurier speech in House of Commons, 12 January 1912, Hansard, pp. 977-81.
103. CPM to RLB, 13 January 1912.
104. CPM to WL, 13 June 1912.
105. OIC, Report and Correspondance.
106. “Merciless Analysis of Commission's Work,” Ottawa Evening Journal, 23 February 1912.
107. OIC, Special Report.
108. CPM to Todd, 16 April 1912.
109. Todd to CPM, 24 April 1912.
110. CPM to Todd, 25 April 1912.
111. CPM papers, vol.6, file 42.
112. OIC minutes, 4 April and 6 May 1912.
113. Todd from Kearns (OIC Sec.), 21 September 1912.
114. Kearns from Todd, 23 September 1912.
115. OIC from Todd, 28 September 1912.
116. Kearns/Bate to Todd, 30 September 1912.
117. OIC papers, Series B-1, vol. 104, parts 1 and 2, Macdonald Gardens.
118. CPM from Todd, 30 September 1912.
119. Todd from CPM, 1 October 1912.
120. “Mr.Kearns phoned me yesterday for authority to accept your conditions, and it gave me great pleasure in telling him to write to you and go ahead with the work at once.” CPM papers, vol. 6, file 42, OIC 1912.
121. CPM to Todd, 18 January 1912, CPM papers.
122. Todd to CPM, 19 January 1912, CPM papers.
123. T. Regehr, “A Capitalist Plans the Capital,” (unpublished paper to the Canadian Historical Society 1984 meeting).
124. D.L.A. Gordon, “A City Beautiful Plan for Canada's Capital: Edward Bennett and the 1915 Plan for Ottawa and Hull,” Planning Perspectives 13 (1998): 275-300.
125. J. Draper, Edward Bennett: Architect and City Planner, 1874-1954 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1982).
126. H.S. Holt, Report of the Federal Plan Commission in a General Plan for the Cities of Ottawa and Hull (Ottawa, Canada: Federal Planning Commission, 1915).
127. Holt, Report of the Federal Plan Commission, 125-30.
128. Holt, Report of the Federal Plan Commission, 26.
129. J. Zukowsky, ed., The Plan of Chicago: 1909-1979 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1979).
130. T. Adams, “Editorial: Town Planning Is a Science,” Journal of the Town Planning Institute of Canada 1, no.3 (1921): 1-3.
131. T. Adams, “Ottawa-Federal Plan,” Town Planning and the Conservation of Life 1, no.4 (1916): 88-89.
132. T. Adams, “The Future of Ottawa,” Town Planning and the Conservation of Life 6, no. 2 (1921): 33-36.
133. E. von Baeyer, Garden of Dreams: Kingsmere and Mackenzie King (Toronto, Canada: Dundurn, 1990), 36-39, chaps.4 and 5.
134. R. Smythe, King of Kingsmere (Ottawa, Canada: NCC, 1981).
135. E. von Baeyer, Garden of Dreams, 210-14.
136. WLMK debate in House of Commons, 27 May 1935, Hansard, pp.3046-9.
137. “Mr.King Takes the Lead,” Ottawa Journal, 27 May 1935.
138. “Ottawa's Wooded Background,” Ottawa Evening Citizen, 27 May 1935.
139. Department of the Interior, Lower Gatineau Woodlands Survey: Interim Report (Ottawa, Canada: King's Printer, 1935).
140. D.L.A. Gordon, “William Lyon Mackenzie King, Town Planning Advocate,” Planning Perspectives 17 (2) (forthcoming, 2002).
141. “Mr.Jacques Gréber” dated 27 October 1936.
142. WMLK papers, vol.276, file O-303-1.
143. Jacques Gréber, Architecte SADG SC SFU Urbaniste et Architecte de Jardins (Strasbourg, France: EDARI, n.d., est. 1935).
144. Todd to Dr. M. Hershey, forwarded to King, 14 July 1937.
145. WLMK papers, vol. 276, file O-303-1.
146. J. Gréber, Plan for the National Capital (Ottawa, Canada: King's Printer, 1950), 130.
147. J. Gréber, Plan for the National Capital, 130-32.
148. D. Gordon, “Weaving a Modern Plan for Canada's Capital: Jacques Greéber and the 1950 Plan for the National Capital Region,” Urban History Review 29, no. 2 (2001): 43-61.
149. Gréber, Plan for the National Capital, chaps. 11 and 12.
150. E. Howard, Tomorrow! A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1898), diagram 7.
151. P. Abercrombie, Greater London Plan (London: HMSO, 1945).
152. P. Jenkins, An Acre of Time: The Enduring Value of Place (Toronto, Canada: MacfarlaneWalter & Ross, 1996).
153. Gréber, Plan for the National Capital, chap. 8.
154. Kearns to Todd, 9 September 1913.
155. Todd to Kearns, September 1913.
156. OIC minutes, pp.393-94.
157. Meredith from Todd, 26 October 1912.
158. Meredith from Todd, 28 May 1913.
159. Eggleston, The Queen's Choice, 154-66, Appendix 6.
160. DeGrace, “Canada's Capital 1900-1950”.
161. Hillis, “A History of Commissions”.
162. P. Jacobs, “Frederick G.T odd and the Creation of Canada's Urban Landscape,” Association for Preservation Technology Bulletin 15, no. 4 (1983): 27-34.
163. L.D. McCann, “Planning and Building the Corporate Suburb of Mount Royal, 1910-1923,” Planning Perspectives 11 (1996): 259-301.
164. E.I. Wood, “Landscape Architecture in the National Capital,” Community Planning Review 6 (March 1956): 13-25.
165. O'Hara, 25 August, 1936.
166. J.T. Richard M.P. from H. Cram (FDC), 25 May 1949.
167. OIC papers file 104.
168. NCC, Map of the National Capital Region, 1996.
169. OIC minutes, 14 August 1925.
170. Ottawa Citizen, 4 July 1938.
171. OIC papers, “Citizens Petition to Close the Pool to FDC,” 27 August 1938.