Research concerning Jacques and Hay furniture.
In addition, to being the largest Victorian furniture manufacturer in Canada--some historians, say North America--Jacques and Hay also created the wood interiors for St. James Cathedral, University College, and the core of Osgoode Hall. Their six-acre factory factory was located where Union Station is now.
As I am in the process of preparing a PhD thesis on the consumption of mechanically-produced furniture in the Canadian nineteenth-century, with a strong focus on Jacques and Hay,I would be most grateful if individuals, having why they suspect are articles of Jacques and Hay, might be in touch. I should caution that as the cabinetry was almost never signed, and as Jacques and Hay trained so many apprentices who went on to produce similar furniture, precise identification is usually impossible.
Despite these difficulties, I would like to preserve this small, but important part of Canadian patrimony and early Toronto culture. For more background, and to see the photo of the Jacques and Hay chair, I donated to Rideau Hall to join the collection of Jacques and Hay furniture already there, you may wish to consult the Heritage Ottawa website for its newsletter for spring 2006, vol. 33, no. 2.
Denise Jacques denisejacquesaitken@yahoo.com