Le Chateau Montebello, World’s Largest Log Building
The original idea for Le Chateau Montebello was put forth by H. M. Saddlemire, a Swiss-American. Saddlemire had already built a similar, but smaller, building in Maine, called the Lucerne-in-Maine, as a private club. Montebello was originally to be called the “Lucerne-in-Quebec” and the club was to be called the Lucerne-in-Quebec Community Association Limited.
However, when the Montebello project was undertaken by the Canadian Pacific Railway, it ended up as the private “Seignory Club.” Excavation on the foundation started on March 15,1930. The first log was placed on April 7,1930, and the log work was done by June 7, 1930, with other construction work completed by the official opening on July i, 1930. In just three months, the workers had built the world’s largest log building.
Montebello was designed by Montreal architect Harold Lawson, and its construction was directed by Victor Nymark from Finland, who was considered the world’s greatest log builder. A special 1,110-metre-long extension of the main railway line in the area was built to bring in 100,000 red cedar logs from British Columbia. Four rail cars of logs were unloaded each day and by the end 1,200 cars had been delivered to the site.
At the height of construction 3,500 men worked ten- to twelvehour shifts to complete the main Montebello buildings in time. General labourers made twenty cents an hour and first-class carpenters made fifty-five cents an hour, and they worked mainly with hand tools. Most of the log construction was completed by workers of Scandinavian descent who were familiar with Nymark’s work.
Not surprisingly, the world’s largest log building boasts other impressive construction statistics: 85 kilometres of plumbing and heating materials, 64 kilometres of electrical wiring, 7,600 sprinkler heads, 1,400 doors, 535 windows, and 166 kilometres of wooden moulding. Le Chateau Montebello is now owned by Canadian Pacific Hotels.
Image: hotels.com