By Sarah Fox
Hidden within the Canadian galleries at the National Gallery of Canada is the Rideau Street Convent Chapel – home of Janet Cardiff’s Forty-Part Motet, a hallmark of Tudor-Gothic architecture in Ontario and a work of art in its own right. A treasure of ecclesiastical architecture, the chapel was consecrated in 1888 in the Rideau Street Convent. What is lesser known to younger generations is the story of how the chapel came to be rebuilt inside the National Gallery, a century later. That story tells of the efforts and mobilization of the Lowertown community and National Gallery staff who saved the chapel from imminent destruction. As a result, the success of one generation led to the preservation of a heritage and art historical icon to be appreciated by generations to come.
The Gothic Revival chapel was designed by priest-architect Georges Bouillon in 1987-1988 for the Rideau Street Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, a girls’ school run by the Sisters of Charity. With decline in enrolment and architectural decay, in 1971 the chapel and its host building were threatened with destruction. It is only for the public appeal and the work of local groups to save the chapel that it remains a symbol of the Lowertown community to this day. Citizen groups, including Action Sandy Hill, were pivotal in the process of ensuring the chapel’s survival; and from their efforts, the Heritage Canada Foundation was established.
This is a unique heritage preservation case: ironically, the Rideau Chapel cannot be called a heritage monument. Though once a notable feature of Lowertown Ottawa’s historical landscape, the relocation of the chapel from its original site into the National Gallery removes its heritage status. That being said, if we consider the term “heritage” in the context of efforts made to preserve something deemed to be an emblematic testament to the past, then the Rideau Chapel and the story of its relocation exemplifies just that. The National Gallery of Canada director at the time, Jean Sutherland Boggs, acquired the chapel and it was clear that the preserved interior would soon have a new home.
In late 2014, I had the privilege of speaking to Charlie Hill, the former curator of Canadian Art at the National Gallery, about the Rideau Chapel’s integration into the Canadian collection and the history and process of its relocation and restoration. Hill describes the acquisition of the Chapel as “curious”, as the National Gallery was not located on Sussex Avenue at the time, but in the Lorne Building, an office building on Elgin Street. The office building had no space to reconstruct the interior on site, and so the dismantled chapel stayed in storage from the years 1972 to approximately 1984.
Hill revealed just how ambitious of a project the National Gallery undertook in the relocation and restoration of the Chapel into the Sussex Avenue building. Walking into the Rideau Chapel today, one is immediately dwarfed by its extravagance. The reconstruction and replication efforts sought to make it more accessible to the public, while evoking the feeling for the original space as much as possible.
Photo © NGC
For example, lights are installed in the gallery interior to replicate natural light that would have been present on the original site. Reconstruction of the floor, walls and window frames was necessary for the chapel’s interior to translate into the new space. The chapel retains some original glasswork in the galleries from as early as the 1920s, and the altar was easily transferred into the new building. The chapel columns were a challenge: after the demolition, they were kept in storage outside, where they lost their finish. Luckily, two columns behind the altarpiece were preserved and their finish was replicated on the columns that populate the central space. Also housed within the chapel are sculptures that were not originally in the building, but are contemporary to it. As the Rideau Chapel is now part of the broader narrative of Canadian art, Hill says, it complements the adjacent gallery spaces and does what all other galleries do: define a particular time period of artistic expression.
Typically, preservation efforts aim to keep the heritage where it is. With relocation to a new home, where it serves a main function as a piece of art, the inspiring heritage story of the chapel runs the risk of being lost. In the new setting, different generations will value the presence of the Rideau Chapel for different reasons. Some will appreciate its beauty and aesthetic space, while perhaps unfamiliar with the preservation struggles. Others will fondly remember the contributions and efforts they made to save it from demolition. What the heritage warriors have accomplished is that the chapel survived and is recognized as a work of art and a hallmark of religious architecture in the region, ensuring that even without the official heritage status badge, the importance of the site continues to resonate in the community.
Charlie Hill’s recommended reading: Luc Noppen, “In the National Gallery of Canada: One of the Most Beautiful Chapels in the Land” (Ottawa: NGC 1988)