Ice is hardly to be classed as a building material, save among the Innuits, but
the ice palaces erected at Montreal, at the winter carnival during the last three years
[1883-1885],
show what can be accomplished with ice
if the temperature is always below the
freezing point of water.
The ice palace
is erected in the Dominion Square, at
Montreal, being built out of blocks of ice
three feet four inches square and fifteen
inches thick; sixteen thousand of these
were used in this structure, which covers
an elliptical area one hundred and sixty
feet by one hundred and twenty feet. At
each end are embattled towers thirty-eight
feet high, and at the sides pairs of round
towers extend to a height of forty-four
feet. Arched entrances between these
towers lead to the interior. The main
tower at the centre of the palace reaches
to a height of one hundred feet, and is
connected to the other series of towers by
walls.
When the blocks of ice are brought
from the Lachine Canal and trimmed to
dimension, a little water is poured over
the bed of the block and at the interstices
at the sides until securely frozen in place.
The interior of the palace is illuminated
with electric lights, and at the storming of
the palace fireworks are thrown over the
structure, both from within and from the square. The first ice palace built
at Montreal in January, 1883, had a roof made of
boughs which was rendered solid by water
thrown upon them, but for the last two
years no attempt has been made at a roof.
The ice decorations of this city for the carnival are not limited to the
Palace, for
in the Champ de Mars a structure, called
from its Hindu origin "the Condora", is
built from twelve thousand blocks of ice.
In outline it is a stepped cone fifty feet in
diameter, one hundred feet in height, and
surmounted by a snow statue twenty-four
feet in height, representing a Canadian
with snow-shoes. In its construction the Condora is built of
concentric walls increasing in height as the diameter decreases. It is approached from the interior, and during the times of celebration
hundreds of the members of the snow shoe
clubs can stand on the tiers encircling the Condora, and add to the brilliancy by
torches and fireworks. The architect of
the Condora is Theodore Daoust of Montreal.
The third ice structure is the
colossal statue of a lion, modelled by Arthur Vincent, of Montreal, and situated
in the Place d'Armes. The pedestal is
twenty feet high and surrounded by four
buttresses, the main portion being hollow
and illuminated by electric lights, which
impart a very fine effect at night. The lion was built up of snow and
afterwards
wetted, so that it is frozen into a hard
mass. Many years ago a life-size statue
of a lion was cut out of ice at Lubeck, by
a German named Von Meinert. The only
precedent of any similar ice palace is
probably the one built on the banks of the
Neva at St. Petersburg in 1740 for the
empress Anne. This was a smaller structure, covering an area of fifty-six feet by
eighteen feet, and measuring twenty-one feet to the top of the roof, but the
published accounts of the elaboration of the
ice ornaments suggest the possibility that:
Far and wide the tale was told,
Like a snowball, growing as it rolled.
It is alleged that the ice window-frames
were colored to represent green marble,
while the panes were formed of sheets of
ice so thin as to form a perfect substitute
for glass. The palace was guarded by six
cannon, with their carriages all of ice.
One-twelfth of the usual charge of powder --
not ice this time -- was used in this ordnance; and the penetration of the
projectile was sufficient to pierce a two-inch
board at sixty paces. An ice elephant
with his mahout, and several dolphins, without their Proserpine, projected fountains of lighted naphtha to a height of
twenty-four feet. Fireplaces and dining-tables, dressing-rooms and bath, are
included in the schedule of furnishing, but
when the account further states that the
drawing-room contained a timepiece with
wheels of ice, it seems as if the description was not limited to frozen truth.
