THE ACADIA: 1227 SHERBROOKE STREET WEST

 

Across the street from the Ritz Carlton lays a building of incredible craftsmanship. It is not a building I have noticed before, lacking the larger more intricate marquis that usually commands all my attention when I walk by, nor the menu nor photos of specialty food at heartstopping prices, nor windows of Tiffany jewelry. It is, however, worth a few minutes of admiration itself.

According to the plaque placed by Heritage Montreal, the Acadia Apartments where designed by David Robertson Brown. It was the first apartment building  to take advantage of  a new municipal by-law that allowed buildings to exceed ten stories, following the standards and of apartment buildings in New York City at the time. It was built by 1925 in the Golden Square, with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Ritz Carlton already in situ. It is described to have been decorated with an artificial "cast" stone from Canadian Benedict Stone Limited, although I am not sure which if any stones apply.

From my perusal, The Acadia appears to be an apartment building with the intricate details above the entrance and near the top of its 12 story frame. There are elaborate corner extrusions that, on second glance, are not functional but represent a time when gargoyles drained the roof of water when it rains. The arcades repeat in the centre, above and below, with floral motifs and elaborate moldings that are almost too busy for my taste followed by faux arches in even numbers reminiscent of Venetian facades. 

When you take a closer look at the building, you see flawless brickwork. The shelf of Ventian arches are build out of cleverly cut out bricks, which leads you to notice a line of perpendicular bricks below that quickly becomes a stepping stone to discovering other patterns buried in the wall of dun coloured brick. 

Above each window is a simple interruption of vertical laying brick. Between two sets of evenly spaced window pairs is a wonderful upright herringbone pattern. At the top of these are another pattern of two stripes woven into long vertical rectangles.

Everything is to the scale of a humble brick, likely brought in by train in the era of the Golden Mild construction. The geometric balance of paired, and unpaired, is perfection.  A smaller brick woven in between other bricks of a varying neutral yellow colour that gives the aging building a patina worthy of praise and adoration.

Smaller brick layers (or are they just turned perpendicularly on end) are the "bonding courses".

My apologies to the Ritz Carlton, because the next time that I turn your corner, I may not be looking your way.