Name/Title
The last stand of the St. James's Club. Political cartoon from The Montréaler magazineEntry/Object ID
2001.02.15Description
Drawing
This image shows the 'old order' under siege: St. James's Club of Montréal members, elderly men in formal dress, defending the Club's elegant headquarters from the wrecking ball. The men are armed with a variety of "weapons" such as golf clubs, potted plants, sling-shots and seltzer bottles, as well as old pistols and muskets, leaning from windows and emerging onto the roof with a Union Jack flag, and some down below are creating protective barricades from plush club chairs and other furniture. And amidst the action, staff are still serving drinks. It is a crowded and spirited scene with Club members and staff, members of the public, demolition crew members with various tools, and uniformed police in attendance inside and outside the Club building. Demolition equipment is visible including a bulldozer to the left and a tall mobile crane with a large hook to the right, presumably awaiting the arrival of a wrecking ball.Artwork Details
Medium
Pen and ink on paperSubject Place
Region
NortheastContinent
North AmericaContext
This political cartoon depicts protest related to the upcoming need for the Club to vacate its second venue at the then corner of University Avenue and Dorchester Street (now corner of Robert Bourassa Blvd. and René-Lévesque Blvd.) in order to accommodate its demolition for the construction of Montréal's Place Ville-Marie high-rise business and shopping complex in 1961. This marked, in part, a further consolidation of the city’s financial core away from Old Montréal to the 'new downtown', and heralded a modernization and building boom in the city.
Reportedly, the discussions were lengthy, and the final decision to raze the Club was prolonged, and like the cartoon, represented a break from the past in many ways. While the "official" rationale for the demolition was based on the need for street widening, there were many other contentious political, identity and socio-economic issues involved. The building was ultimately demolished in the summer of 1961, 'paving' the way for the new.
Founded in 1857, Club St. James - The St. James's Club of Montréal, Québec is the oldest private business club in Canada. It takes its name from rue Saint-Jacques in Old Montréal, where it was founded, which was called St. James Street at the time. The Club, now at its third venue, has been located at 1145 Union Avenue at René-Lévesque Boulevard since 1962.
Rue Saint-Jacques, was to Montréal and Canada what Wall Street is to New York and the U.S.A. For more than a century from the mid 1800s, Montréal was the unrivaled financial capital of Canada, and Old Montréal was at the centre of this banking, business and commercial activity.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
JeffRole
ArtistArtist
The Montréaler magazineRole
PublisherDate made
Oct 1958Time Period
20th CenturyNotes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Further research is needed on the cartoonist Jeff. Another example of his work from the Montréaler magazine (1961 cartoon satirizing the spectre of Westmount's annexation to Montréal) was reproduced in Alice Gubbay's "A View of Their Own. The Story of Westmount" (Montréal, Price-Patterson Ltd, 1998). See Web Links.
PUBLISHER BIOGRAPHY
The Montréaler magazine, was a local and very popular Montréal monthly lifestyle magazine that was published in paper form from 1926 to 1970. There is a new iteration that was founded in 1994, paper and online, that continues to feature information and articles on the arts, travel, philanthropy, personal finance, etc.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Inscription, SignatureLocation
Lower centre (pen and ink): “The last stand of the St. James's Club”.
Lower right: The Montrealer. 1958
In drawing, signed lower right: JeffAcquisition
Acquisition Method
Legacy collection - detail unknown
