The Woman who Brought Architecture Closer to the People
It is 1959, and a young Phyllis Lambert is sitting at her desk in Mies van der Rohe’s Studio in Chicago. She is wearing a skirt, legs crossed, her head resting in her hands and looking down at the project on the table, focused and dedicated. This photograph shows an early moment in Lambert’s extensive career as an artist, architect, activist, museum director, and protagonist working for the transformation of the environment in many senses. Moreover, in her career Lambert rarely appeared in the way she is shown in the picture. She is usually seen occupying much less traditionally-feminine postures, not sitting at a desk working on projects, but rather in action, following her agenda of connecting society with the architecture of Canada.
Lambert was always very keen on her independence, especially from her family. She had her ideas, and worked hard to implement her visions. She grew up in a rather influential and wealthy family in Montreal. She first left her home city to study at Vassar College, New York, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in 1948. Only a year later, she went abroad to France, and married Jean Lambert. The marriage for her was less a way of showing her love for him than to separate herself further from her family, and gain distance from the family name. The marriage did not last too long, and the couple divorced in 1954. In the same year, she returned to the USA, determined to help build a New York headquarters for the Seagram Company Ltd, owned by her father, Samuel Bronfman. Indeed, it was Lambert’s influence that led to the construction of the Seagram building by Mies van der Rohe, a design which would forever change the face of New York. Her work on the project was also the beginning of her close relationship with Mies.
Early on, Lambert started focusing on urban and social issues rather than working on projects. She collected parts of cities in the shape of photographs, plans and experiences. Those mementoes were important to her because of her interest in the history of cities, especially when it came to Montreal. As a leader in social issues of urban conservation, she founded Heritage Montreal, a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting the history and architecture of Montreal and its metropolitan area. The idea was sparked as a countermovement against the demolition of great parts of the cities by the government.
Furthermore, Lambert established the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in 1979 as a way of bringing her passion for architecture and the history of Montreal closer to society. The building of the CCA, completed in 1989, contains a library, museum and a big public garden. Like Heritage Montreal, the CCA symbolises Lambert’s agency in bringing architectural and urban knowledge closer to society and the people. Her agency, therefore, can be described as a counter-agency of the government, with both Heritage Montreal and the CCA.
As a protagonist working for the promotion and preservation of the built environment, Lambert adopts a position for the people and the city with a very personal approach. Her family and upbringing might have helped her to get to where she is now, but she used the influential power that was given to her to give back to the development of her hometown, and create a civic space that really gives something back to the people of Montreal. She has come a long way from where she started, but her dedication to architecture, cities and her thinking remains.
Image Credit: Photo by Ed Duckett, Fonds Phyllis Lambert, Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Montreal.
