Frederick Gage Todd, Landscape Architect, a National Historic Person

Frederick G. Todd, 1909, first resident landscape architect in Canada, was designated a Canadian National Historic Person on October 21, 2020 (Notman 1909).

It is not often that a landscape architect is designated a “National Historic Person.” But on October 21, 2020, Frederick G. Todd joined 729 other individuals, from medical researchers to politicians to arctic explorers on the Canadian list (Parks Canada, 2020). Frederick G. Todd, the only landscape architect on the list, was the first Canadian landscape architect.

An 1896 alum of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, later to become the University of Massachusetts Amherst, he studied botany, biology, agriculture and site engineering. While the program of Landscape Gardening (today’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning) was not established until 1903, Todd joined the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot upon graduation in 1896.

While working at the Olmsted’s firm in Brookline, Todd was involved with the firm’s Mount Royal project in Montreal, a project that subsequently took him to Montreal in 1900. In the following years, he opened his own firm and completed many projects in Canada such as a comprehensive plan for the future growth of Ottawa, the nation’s capital (1903), Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg (1907) see images below (Hilderman et al., 2004; Selwood et al., 1996), and the plan for the Town of Mont-Royal (1912), Quebec (Parks Canada 2007).

Mount Royal, Montreal, the project that brought Todd to Canada from the Olmsted office in Brookline, Massachusetts. To the left, skiing on Mount Royal in 1904 (Montreal Import Co., Ltd 1904) and to the right, Todd’s design for the Town of Mount Royal in c. 1912 (Town of Mount Royal Archives c. 1912).

Assiniboine (originally Urban or Suburban) Park indicated on the Winnipeg city map of 1917 (Chataway 1917); and plan of the park in 1967 (Winnipeg Parks and Recreation 1972) showing the Zoo to the left, the Pavilion to the center right of the park, and the Formal Gardens in the lower left of the map.

Assiniboine Park Pavilion c. 1920 (Anon. c. 1920) and the Pergola at the Pavilion between 1910 and 1920 (Heliotype 1910-20).

The Assiniboine Park Pavilion, c. 1929. (Anon. 1929)

References

Hilderman Thomas Frank Cram. 2004. Assiniboine Park Framework Plan, May 2004. City of Winnipeg Assiniboine Park Enterprise. Accessed April 19, 2023, https://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/dmis/ViewPdf.asp?DocID=4154&SectionId=67994&isMobile=yes.

Parks Canada. 2020. Government of Canada Announces Two New National Historic Designations: Frederick Gage Todd and the Former Paris Town Hall recognized for their national historic significance. October 21, 2020. Accessed April 19, 2020, https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2020/10/government-of-canada-announces-two-new-national-historic-designations.html.

Parks Canada. 2007. Model City of Mount Royal National Historic Site of Canada. Accessed April 19, 2023, https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=11871&i=75919

Images

Anon. c. 1920. Assiniboine Park (City Park). City of Winnipeg Arcives, RC i02921. Accessed April 19, 2023, https://winnipeginfocus.winnipeg.ca/i02921.

Anon. 1929. Assiniboine Park Pavillion. City of Winnipeg Archives, RC i01431. Accessed April 19, 2023, https://winnipeginfocus.winnipeg.ca/i01431.

Chataway, C. C. Chataway’s Map of Greater Winnipeg Enlarged & Revised Edition Including the City of Winnipeg City of St Boniface Town of Tuxedo Town of Transcona and Parts of the Municipalities of Assiniboia Charleswood Rosser East Kildonan West Kildonan Springfield Fort Garry and Saint Vital [map]. Scale not given. Winnipeg: The Western Map Company, 1917. Accessed April 19, 2023, https://flic.kr/p/5zmN7L.

Notman, William & Son. 1909. Federick G. Todd, Montreal, QC, 1909. Silver salts on glass – Gelatin dry plate process – 17 x 12 cm. McCord Stewart Museum. Accessed April 19, 2023, https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/109519/frederick-g-todd-montreal-qc-1909.

Selwood, John, John C. Lehr and Mary Cavett. 1996. Manitoba History: “The Most Lovely and Picturesque City in All of Canada”: The Origins of Winnipeg’s Public Park System. Manitoba Historical Society, No. 31, Spring 1996. Accessed April 19, 2023, http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/31/winnipegparks.shtml.

The Heliotype Co. Ltd. c. 1910-20. Pavilion City Park, Winnipeg, Man. Ottawa: Printed by the Heliotype Co.Ltd., Ottawa. University of Alberta Libraries, PC002125: “Pavilion City Park, Winnipeg, Man.” Accessed April 19, 2023, https://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards/PC002125.html.

Winnipeg, Parks and Recreation Dept. Assiniboine Park as Existing in 1967 [map]. 1:1,000. In: Winnipeg, Parks and Recreation Dept. The history and development of Assiniboine Park and Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. [Winnipeg]: Winnipeg, Parks and Recreation Dept, 1972. Accessed April 19, 2023, https://flic.kr/p/53CdVa .