(1,571 kb)
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For many Canadians, the historic Château Montebello in Quebec takes a back seat to a handful of more famous 20th-century construction projects—Toronto's CN Tower, the Confederation Bridge linking Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick, and the West Edmonton Mall, the world's largest shopping centre, to name a few.
But anyone who looks back to 1930, when the Château Montebello was built on the north shore of the Ottawa River between Montréal and Ottawa, is sure to reconsider. Since it was constructed, the star-shaped luxury hotel complex—originally built as the private 186-room Seigniory Club, and converted in 1970 to a 210-room Canadian Pacific Hotels resort—has been known far and wide as the world's largest log cabin.
The Château owes its fame to the fact that it was built entirely from western red cedar logs, without the chain saws and power tools used by modern-era constructors. Notable as well is that the three-storey hotel—the dream of H.M. Saddlemire, a Swiss–American millionaire—was built within four months. Saddlemire, one of the few who could afford such an ostentatious undertaking during the Great Depression years, wanted the building erected at lightning speed so its doors would swing open for members in time for the summer season in 1930.
Designed by Montréal architect Harold Lawson, and built under the direction of Finnish master log builder Victor Nymark, the project caught the imagination of Canadians for its sheer size. Close to three Canadian Football League playing fields in area, the Château's facilities included a ballroom, a ski jump and tennis courts.
From the moment excavation began in March 1930, crowds streamed to the site by train and by car, eager to view the progress of the huge Château and two adjacent log structures, an immense garage for 150 vehicles, and Cedar Hall, which would house staff. "The buildings' construction—the whole performance, if you will—contained from beginning to end all the drama and interest of a three-ring circus," wrote Lawson.
Eight hundred log builders armed with axes and scribers were recruited to mimic a building technique used for hundreds of years in Russia and Scandinavian countries, where log buildings are known to be solid, weather-tight and well insulated.
The first guests on July 1, 1930 were welcomed into a magnificent log Château with a billiard room, a tavern and an immense 30-metre-wide central lounge dominated by a six-sided stone fireplace and an atrium that soars three floors above the lobby. Those who delved beneath the surface were amazed to learn the three buildings consisted of 10,000 logs, 500,000 hand-slit cedar roof shakes, 85 kilometres of plumbing and heating pipes, 1,400 doors and 166 kilometres of wooden moulding.
More recently, the Château hosted the Log Builders' Association's 26th annual general meeting and international log building conference in March 2000. In a fitting tribute, conference organizers praised the hotel as "a pilgrimage site for log builders from around the world."