Adam Beck Memorial
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The Adam Beck Memorial is a memorial in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, 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, Canada West to German immigrants, Ja ...
. It is located in the landscaped median of University Avenue 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 eas ...
. 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. Biograp ...
, 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 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
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 Toronto City Council 2022–2026, current term began on Nove ...
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 metalloid ...
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. Biograp ...
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 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 (Toronto), ...
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 () is a structure in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It houses the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and the viceregal suite of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and offices for members of the provincial parl ...
, 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 28, 1969) was a Canadians, 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 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 and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...
in Queen's Park. Adam Beck stands amidst
pine cones A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, : strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scales ...
and maple leaves 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 com ...


References

{{Public art in Toronto Monuments and memorials in Toronto Outdoor sculptures in Toronto Sculptures of men in Ontario Statues in Ontario Cultural depictions of Canadian politicians