Page 22 - Demo

On 23 January 1872, only four years after it was built, part of the roof came crashing down with the band of the 1st Prince of Wales Rifles practicing in their armoury at the time. Had someone forgotten to adjust the tie rods? The façade still stood as though nothing had happened – its ornamental towers at the centre and corners gleamed peacefully in the bright moonlight. The drill hall’s wings, being only one-story and not under the high roof of the central drill hall, were also untouched. From the building’s western wing, loud and lively music still rolled out – the bandsmen were blowing and beating the stirring tune, “The British Grenadiers.” They were playing so energetically that “they had not even heard the sounds of the collapsing roof of the central hall.” While the band had escaped without injury, they were somewhat shaken by the experience as they had to wait until rescuers could dig them out. In the days that followed, the size of the wrecked roof made it the biggest attraction in town with citizens coming and going all day long to “stare at the spectacular heaps of stones, iron girders [sic, iron tie rods], and splintered timbers.” Speculation began at once, and explanations proliferated. “Some said the roof had been unable to bear the weight of the accumulated snow, but it was pointed out that the snow, in that winter of 1872, though considerable, “was much less than what fell in the previous year.” Others believed that the abrupt change from mild to severe weather, only the afternoon before the crash, “had so contracted the iron girders [tie rods] of the roof that they snapped ... and no support was left for the rafters and they had at once given way.” 5
Some of the volunteer units found other accommodations, but a few continued to use the undamaged wing apartments for many years. While the drill shed was in regular use, the federal government had paid a rental fee back to the City Corporation, but after the collapse of the roof, the payments stopped, as did any interest in affecting repairs by City officials. But local militia officers, spearheaded by Lt. Col. A. Stevenson, commanding officer of the Montreal Field Battery, would not let the drill hall project drop out of public notice, and finally in 1882, ten years after the roof collapsed, an agreement was reached to construct a new structure at the same location. Plans were prepared in 1883 under the supervision of Thomas Fuller, who had been appointed Canada’s Chief Architect in 1881. The work involved was extensive. The footprint of the building remained the same, but it was decided to enlarge the building by adding a second story. In addition to rebuilding the structure, Fuller had the outdated Gothic Revival details removed and redesigned the façade in a somber Romanesque Revival style. Faced with roofing an uninterrupted space of 123 feet, the Department of Public Works had no alternative but to use an engineering truss. The type chosen was a combination wood and iron truss, which was manufactured by a Montreal company. Compared to other contemporary drill halls, the span of the new Craig Street Drill Hall was not spectacular, but “it was still one of the largest unencumbered interior spaces in Canada. More significantly, this time the roof did not collapse.”6
Two contractors worked on the new drill hall: J.B. St. Louis & Brothers; and Shirley, Brennan & Starrs. The new and improved drill hall would, not surprisingly, feature a stronger roof, with two-story “wings” replacing the former single-story versions which would better meet the needs of the volunteer force. As per the previous arrangement, the more senior 5th Military District occupied the whole of the armouries built along the west side of the drill hall, and part of the eastern, or right wing was used by the 6th Military District; and unit precedence determined its location in the wing apartments. Each unit would have its orderly room on the upper level (with enough space to also serve as a recreation room), with its armoury located immediately below on the lower level. Each of the two rooms was about 60 feet long by 40 feet wide and each unit was completely separated from the others. The drawback in this arrangement was that the two flats for each unit did not directly communicate with one another, so that when the men of any of the units wanted to go from their armoury to their orderly/recreation room, they were forced to use a common staircase for the whole district, one placed at each end of the building.
The Craig Street Drill Hall shortly after the roof collapse, 1872. This contemporary interior drawing shows that the walls of the wing apartments have been shored up to prevent further collapse (Canadian Illustrated News, 8 February 1872). It also shows the latticed arch bracing the wooden truss.
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THE 2ND CRAIG STREET DRILL HALL – “NEW AND IMPROVED”