Design competition

A few months after the November 11, 1918, Armistice (end of the First World War), it was agreed that Canada would be awarded eight^* battle sites for commemoration by the governments of Belgium and France as a sign of thanks for our help in liberating their countries. Each of these sites represented significant Canadian engagements. For that reason it was originally decided that each battlefield would be treated equally; all eight of them would be graced with identical monuments. With that in mind, the newly created Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission (CBMC) launched a national architectural and design competition in December 1920. (CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

^*Belgium: Saint-Julien, Passchendaele, Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood)
^*France: Hill 145 (Vimy) Dury, Bourlon Wood, Courcelette, Le Quesnel

The competition took place in two stages. In the first stage, only drawings were submitted. Here are a few of the 160 designs placed before the jury.(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

Close up and details of previous entry.(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

The jury submitted its report on
April 21, 1921. Out of the 160 submissions from all around the country, 17 were chosen for the second phase of the competition and each artist was given $500 to prepare a plaster maquette (a 3-dimensional model for sculpture or architecture projects).(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

Look closely – you will recognize some of these plasters from the earlier drawings...(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

Walter Allward's entry, however, was so striking and original that the jury quickly suggested it not as a model for all eight battlefield memorials, but as Canada's one and only national war memorial in Europe.(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

Hill 145 – the highest point on Vimy Ridge and the Canadian Corps' main objective on April 9, 1917 – was arguably the site of one of Canada's greatest military achievements. It was for that reason that the government approved the idea of a single national war monument at that location.(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)

The only other design that did become a monument was F.C. Clemesha's second place entry (left). It was intended to grace the other seven battlefields but, once unveiled in St. Julien on July 8, 1923, it proved so impressive that many believed that repeating it would detract from its importance.(CBMC Competition. Veterans Affairs Canada.)