The Adam Beck Memorial is a memorial in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada in honour of the founder of
Ontario Hydro
Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity ge ...
, Sir
Adam Beck
Sir Adam Beck (June 20, 1857 – August 15, 1925) was a Canadian politician and hydroelectricity advocate who founded the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario.
Biography
Beck was born in Baden, Upper Canada (now Ontario) to German i ...
. It is located in the landscaped median of
University Avenue
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
just south of
Queen Street West
Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east-w ...
. Designed by sculptor
Emanuel Hahn
Emanuel Otto Hahn (30 May 1881 – 14 February 1957) was a German-born Canadian sculptor and coin designer. He taught and later married Elizabeth Wyn Wood. He co-founded and was the first president of the Sculptors' Society of Canada.
Biograph ...
, the monument was the first place entry in a design competition for a memorial to commemorate Adam Beck. It was unveiled in 1934.
History
Adam Beck, respected for his efforts in developing the province of Ontario's
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
generation and transmission infrastructure and in bringing hydroelectricity into public hands, died in 1925. Four years later, a committee was appointed by
Toronto City Council
Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022.
Structure
The cur ...
to determine how best to commemorate his life, venerated as Ontario's greatest public servant at the time.
It recommended a
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
statue on University Avenue, and a design competition was initiated with a call for designs on 29 April 1929.
[
]Emanuel Hahn
Emanuel Otto Hahn (30 May 1881 – 14 February 1957) was a German-born Canadian sculptor and coin designer. He taught and later married Elizabeth Wyn Wood. He co-founded and was the first president of the Sculptors' Society of Canada.
Biograph ...
won the competition, while Alfred Howell and G.A. Bachman placed second and third, respectively. The statue was originally to be located in front of the 1915 Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
Building (now part of Princess Margaret Hospital), but this plan proved to be impractical because it would interfere with access to Toronto General Hospital
The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue's Hospital ...
across University Avenue. Hahn rejected the suggestion of Queen's Park as a possible site and after working with him to find an agreeable location, Toronto City Council approved the site in the University Avenue median just south of Queen Street in February 1932.[ In spite of not being located in front of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario office building on University Avenue, the sculpture was oriented northward towards it as a symbolic link, and also to the ]Ontario Legislative Building
The Ontario Legislative Building (french: L'édifice de l'Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is a structure in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It houses the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and the viceregal suite of the Lieutenant Governor ...
, where Adam Beck had served as a Member of Provincial Parliament.
The memorial was unveiled on 1 September 1934 by Toronto Mayor William James Stewart
William James Stewart (February 13, 1889 – September 18, 1969) was a Canadian politician. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada. Stewart also owned and operated the Bates and Dodds Funeral Home on Queen Street West in Toront ...
. In 1947, the Adam Beck Memorial, along with all of University Avenue's monuments, was temporarily removed for the reconfiguration of the boulevard. The median was shifted west, and the monuments were then reinstalled.
Design
The statue depicts Adam Beck as a commanding figure with his hands clenched, right foot slightly forward, and topcoat open. At approximately 3.7 metres in height, the portrait sculpture is one of the two largest such works of art in Toronto along with the equestrian sculpture of Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
in Queen's Park. Adam Beck stands amidst pine cones
A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers ...
and maple leaves
The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada.
History of use in Canada
By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along the ...
carved in stone, evoking Canadian symbolism. The base is composed of large white granite blocks in an L-shape, with a 4.5 metre-high wall at its back end rising to hold the portrait statue up to its arms. The base is 11.8 metres long and 2.8 metres wide.[ From Beck's feet, it gently slopes to ground level with a central channel that allows rainwater to cascade down into a basin, symbolizing the many Ontario waterways dammed to generate electricity.
Its inscription (in all block letters except for the t in "Kt.") reads:
The names of locations in Ontario at the end of the inscription are emphasized in large letters, referencing the locations of contemporary Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario generating stations. Queenston-Chippawa refers to Sir Adam Beck I Generating Station, the commission's largest and most prominent hydroelectric generating station at the time, and is emphasized by its placement on the prominent rounded front tip of the monument's granite base.
]
See also
* Ontario Veterans Memorial
* South African War Memorial (Toronto)
The South African War Memorial is a memorial located at University Avenue and Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Commissioned in 1910, largely as the result of the efforts of James Mason, and designed by Walter Seymour Allward to comm ...
References
{{commonscat, Adam Beck Memorial
Monuments and memorials in Toronto