GAULT, ANDREW FREDERICK
Andrew Frederick Gault was a merchant, industrialist, and philanthropist born on April 14th 1833 in Strabane (Northern Ireland). Known as the “Cotton King of Canada,” he was born into a large, prosperous, Anglo-Irish family in County Tyrone. He was the eighth of nine children.
Andrew Frederick Gault turned to a career in trade. In 1858 a new company was formed by Andrew and his brother Robert Leslie. Within a decade Gault Brothers and Company sales reached $2,000,000.
The firm continued to grow, branches opening in Manchester, England, Winnipeg, and Victoria. In 1896 it incorporated as Gault Brothers’ Company Limited with a capital of about $1 million. It was through his investments in the manufacture of cotton textiles, that Gault managed to secure the continued growth of both his wealth and his reputation acquiring the title of Canada’s “Cotton King.”
Gault died in July 1903. His funeral, “one of the largest . . . seen in Montreal in years,” according to the Montreal Daily Star, took place on July 10th and he was buried in Mount Royal Cemetery.
WAREHOUSE STORE FOR GAULT BROTHERS & CO.
In 1870, Andrew Frederick Gault purchased land to build a new warehouse store for Gault Brothers & Co., a wholesaler of dry goods (fabrics, haberdashery, etc.).
The owner retained the services of architect John James Browne for the project, which was to house the firm’s offices and showrooms.
The new five-storey warehouse-store with mansard roof was built in 1871 and fully occupied by the owner from 1872.
The main entrance on the street corner is particularly striking, reflecting the company’s brand image.
In the mid-1990s, the building underwent major renovations and was converted into a hotel. Hotel Gault opened its doors in June 2002.
ARCHITECTURE
With its exuberant decor, the Gault Brothers & Co. warehouse store is an example of the gentrification trend in the area, where shopkeepers tried to compete with their competitors by offering their products in state-ofthe- art premises.
Here, the architectural style proposed by architect John James Browne is mainly Second Empire with Renaissance influences.
Its main feature is a prominent, richly ornamented mansard roof.
In addition, the grey limestone is richly ornamented, whether in the motifs above the window and door arches, the matching of the different floors or the pilaster capitals. Finely wrought metalwork on the windows and mansard completes the elegant look.