Phyllis Lambert Lookback at Career

Montreal: Architecture icon Phyllis Lambert marks urban design | Montreal Gazette
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Montreal architecture icon

Phyllis Lambert helped shape a
city
MARIAN SCOTT, MONTREAL GAZETTE
More from Marian Scott, Montreal Gazette
(HTTP://MONTREALGAZETTE.COM/AUTHOR/MARIANSCOTTGAZ)
Published on: January 20, 2017 | Last Updated: January 22, 2017 7:35 PM EST
Phyllis Lambert, who turns 90 on Tuesday, at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, Jan. 19,
2017. D A V E S I D A W A Y / M O N T R E A L G A Z E T T E
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/phyllis-lambert-looks-back-on-90-years-in-a... 23/01/2017
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Regrets, shes had a few. But then again, too

few to mention.
Phyllis Lambert, founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture
(CCA), can look back on a lifetime devoted to heritage and urban
design and say, in the words of Ol Blue Eyes, I did it my way.
Lambert, Montreals Joan of Architecture, turns 90 on Tuesday. To
mark the occasion, the CCA is hosting a small exhibition on her life
and work. Curated by Lambert herself, it recounts a life of
architectural activism, starting with the commissioning of the landmark
Seagrams Building in New York from 1954-58.
At a press conference last week to launch the retrospective, Lambert
said her proudest accomplishment is having helped change
Montrealers mindset about their built environment.
Theres been greater and greater consciousness, she said.
The idea of renovating a building in the early 1970s, nobody ever
heard of it. You just knocked something down because you didnt
have any use for it anymore.
She said her greatest regret was not saving the 1860 Prince of Wales
Terrace, a magnificent row of houses demolished in 1971 to make
way for McGills Bronfman Building, a bequest of her father, liquor
magnate Samuel Bronfman.
I always felt terrible, she said.
But Dinu Bumbaru, policy director of Heritage Montreal, said
Lambert has left an indelible mark on the city to which she has
dedicated the bulk of her efforts and philanthropy.
Because she is an architect, theres a tendency to judge her career in
terms of individual buildings, whereas in fact, she changed a whole
city, he said.
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For example, Lambert played key roles in projects like the redesign of
McGill College Ave. and redevelopment of the Old Port and in
initiating public consultations on major developments, he noted.
She has a republican approach, in the sense of giving citizens a
voice on how the city is built, Bumbaru said.
An undated Bronfman family photo: (left to right) Edgar, mother Saidye, Charles,
Aileen Minda and Phyllis.
MONTREAL GAZETTE FILES
1. Beginnings
Born on Jan. 24, 1927 to
a life of privilege in Upper
Westmount, Lambert has
been described by writer
Peter C. Newman as the
most interesting
Bronfman extant.
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An artistic child who took

up sculpture at age nine,
she inherited the
legendary temper and
drive of her father, who
built Seagrams into the
worlds largest distiller
Phyllis Bronfman, 2 1/2 years.
after supplying U.S.
FAMILY PHOTO
BRONFMAN
markets in the Prohibition

era.
Art has always been for me the essence of existence, says Lambert,
who was educated at The Study and Vassar College. After the
breakup of her marriage to French banker Jean Lambert, she rejected
bourgeois convention and moved to Paris to be an artist.
Lambert aspired to create public monuments, not small works for
private collections. I was not ever interested in making small objects
that people were going to put in their living rooms, she says.
Architecture would enable her to realize that ambition.
Page 5 of 12
Phyllis Lambert and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with a model of the Seagram
headquarters in New York in 1955.
2. Seagrams Building
In 1954, Sam Bronfman
sent Lambert the
preliminary plans for a
new corporate head
office in New York. She
fired off a quick reply:
NO NO NO NO NO.
Rather than another
vaguely modernized
skyscraper office building
like so many others,
Lambert urged her father
to create a building
which expresses the best
of the society in which
you live, and at the same
time your hopes for the
The Seagrams building at 375 Park Avenue,

New York, upon completion in 1958.
STOLLER / ESTO / CCA
EZRA
betterment of this
society.
Despite his initial hesitation, he let his headstrong daughter take
charge. The result, completed in 1958, was a 38-storey bronze-andglass tower by German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe, hailed as an icon of modern architecture.
My life began then, said Lambert, who subsequently studied
architecture herself, earning a masters degree from the Illinois
Institute of Technology in 1963, and opening an architectural practice
in Chicago. Back in Montreal, her family commissioned her to design
the Saidye Bronfman Centre (now the Segal Centre for Performing
Arts) on Cte-Sainte-Catherine Rd.
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Lambert (third from left) in Master Class Studio at the Illinois Institute of
Technology in 1961. Other students (left to right) are David Sharpe, Myron
Goldsmith, Jin Hwan Kim, and an unidentified student.
LAMBERT FONDS / CCA
PHYLLIS
Exterior of the Saidye Bronfman Centre (now Segal Centre) at night in 1968.
RICHARD NICKEL / COURTESY THE RICHARD NICKEL
COMMITEE
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Lambert demonstrates to save the Shaughnessy House in 1973, the year before
she bought it.
TEDD CHURCH / MONTREAL GAZETTE FILES
3. Heritage Montreal
On visits home, Lambert
rediscovered Montreals
rich architectural heritage
and began
photographing and
researching the citys
historic greystones. In
1973, the demolition of
the Van Horne Mansion
on Sherbrooke St. at
Stanley galvanized
preservationists. They
formed the coalition Save
Montreal to oppose the
senseless destruction of
historic buildings by
staging protests,
publishing pamphlets and
working with residents.
Phyllis Lambert with Liberal MP Jacques
Two years later, Lambert
Guilbault in the Milton-Parc neighbourhood in

1979. G A R T H P R I T C H A R D /
was a catalyst for the
founding of the
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conservation organization Heritage Montreal, serving as its first

president from 1975-1983. One of its first projects was a series of
family portraits of buildings to raise consciousness of threatened
treasures. Lambert also worked closely with the Milton-Parc
community to save the historic McGill ghetto neighbourhood, where
residents founded Canadas largest non-profit housing coop.
The Canadian Centre for Architecture in 2007. It incorporates the Shaughnessy

House, built in 1874-75 by architect William Tutin Thomas. D A V E
SIDAWAY / MONTREAL GAZETTE FILES
4. Canadian Centre for Architecture

While promoting
conservation and
renovation, Lambert, who
had amassed a vast
collection of architectural
photographs, books and
other documents,
decided an institution
was needed to foster
awareness and stimulate
research in the field. In
1974, she bought the
threatened Shaughnessy
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House, two semidetached mansions built

in 1874-75 that had been
owned by three of
Canadas early railway
Phyllis Lambert at the Canadian Centre for

Architecture in 1989. P E T E R M A R T I N /
barons, including
Canadian Pacific Railway president Thomas Shaughnessy. Lambert
hired architect Peter Rose to design a 12,000-square-metre addition
for the museum, built from 1985-89. She also commissioned artist and
architect Melvin Charney to design the sculpture garden on the south
side of Ren Lvesque Blvd., facing the Shaughnessy House, which
features a ghost-like mirror image of the CCAs foundation. A leading
international research centre, it hosts lectures and exhibitions,
including one last year on the Archaeology of the Digital, on the
preservation of digital archives.
Phyllis Lambert, who turns 90 on Tuesday, at the Canadian Centre for

Architecture.
DAVE SIDAWAY / MONTREAL GAZETTE
5. Honours
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Lambert has received

innumerable awards for
her contributions to
architecture, heritage,
urban advocacy,
research and museology.
She is a Companion of
the Order of Canada,
Grand Officer of the
Ordre national du
Qubec, fellow of the
Royal Society and Royal
Architectural Institute of
Canada and holds many
international distinctions.
In 2014, she was
awarded the Golden Lion
for lifetime achievement
Dinu Bumbaru, policy director of Heritage

Montreal, shown with Phyllis Lambert in 2009,
says Lambert has left an indelible mark on
Montreal. P I E R R E O B E N D R A U F /
MONTREAL GAZETE FILES
by the 14th International

Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. In 2016, Israels Wolf
Foundation awarded her the Wolf Prize in Arts for her contributions to
architecture over six decades.
Phyllis Lambert: 75 Years at Work (http://www.cca.qc.ca/en/calendar?
event=41218) is on at the Canadian Centre for Architecture until June
4. The CCA at 1920 Baile St. is open Wednesday through Sunday

(http://www.cca.qc.ca/en/visit) . Admission costs $10 ($7 for seniors;
entry is free for students and children and Thursdays after 5:30 p.m.)
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3 Comments
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Iris Shestowsky
Amazing person, I had the privilege of knowing her way back when I worked for awhile in
the private sector.
Like Reply 7 hrs
Teresa Howick Wilson

Wow! That's amazing! Congrats on such an amazing career. And as a fellow woman,
she's a trailblazer. So thank you.
Like Reply 2 hrs
Allan Clark
Way to go Phyllis!
Thanks!
Like Reply 6 hrs
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Montreal: Architecture icon Phyllis Lambert marks urban design | Montreal Gazette

Montreal architecture icon

Regrets, shes had a few. But then again, too

MONTREAL GAZETTE FILES

An artistic child who took

Phyllis Bronfman, 2 1/2 years.

after supplying U.S.

markets in the Prohibition

MONTREAL GAZETTE FILES

The Seagrams building at 375 Park Avenue,

TEDD CHURCH / MONTREAL GAZETTE FILES

Phyllis Lambert with Liberal MP Jacques

Two years later, Lambert

Guilbault in the Milton-Parc neighbourhood in

was a catalyst for the

MONTREAL GAZETTE FILES

conservation organization Heritage Montreal, serving as its first

The Canadian Centre for Architecture in 2007. It incorporates the Shaughnessy

4. Canadian Centre for Architecture

House, two semidetached mansions built

Phyllis Lambert at the Canadian Centre for

Phyllis Lambert, who turns 90 on Tuesday, at the Canadian Centre for

DAVE SIDAWAY / MONTREAL GAZETTE

Lambert has received

Dinu Bumbaru, policy director of Heritage

by the 14th International

4. The CCA at 1920 Baile St. is open Wednesday through Sunday

Teresa Howick Wilson

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