page_title: Adam Beck Memorial
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Adam Beck Memorial / Design
caption_attribution_description: University Avenue looking south, with statue of Adam Beck in the boulevard betweeen northbound and southbound lanes. Toronto, Canada.
context_page_description: The Adam Beck Memorial is a memorial in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in honour of the founder of Ontario Hydro, Sir Adam Beck. It is located in the landscaped median of University Avenue just south of Queen Street West. Designed by sculptor Emanuel Hahn, the monument was the first place entry in a design competition for a memorial to commemorate Adam Beck. It was unveiled in 1934.
context_section_description: The statue depicts Adam Beck as a commanding figure with his hands clenched, right foot slightly forward, and topcoat open. At approximately 3.7 metres in height, the portrait sculpture is one of the two largest such works of art in Toronto along with the equestrian sculpture of Edward VII in Queen's Park. Adam Beck stands amidst pine cones and maple leaves carved in stone, evoking Canadian symbolism. The base is composed of large white granite blocks in an L-shape, with a 4.5 metre-high wall at its back end rising to hold the portrait statue up to its arms. The base is 11.8 metres long and 2.8 metres wide. From Beck's feet, it gently slopes to ground level with a central channel that allows rainwater to cascade down into a basin, symbolizing the many Ontario waterways dammed to generate electricity.
  Its inscription (in all block letters except for the t in "Kt.") reads:
  Erected by the Corporation of the City of Toronto & the Toronto Hydro Electric Commission in grateful commemoration of the public services of Sir Adam Beck, Kt. L.L.D. M.L.A., whose labours have ensured that the citizens of his native province under co-operative municipal ownership shall enjoy the benefits of low-cost electrical energy derived from water-power resources to serve the industrial and domestic needs of the Province of Ontario MCMXXXIV Queenston-Chippawa Niagara : Nipigon : Trent : Eugenia : Severn : Muskoka : Rideau : Nipissing
  The names of locations in Ontario at the end of the inscription are emphasized in large letters, referencing the locations of contemporary Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario generating stations. Queenston-Chippawa refers to Sir Adam Beck I Generating Station, the commission's largest and most prominent hydroelectric generating station at the time, and is emphasized by its placement on the prominent rounded front tip of the monument's granite base.
caption: The portrait sculpture of Adam Beck faces north towards the 1915 Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario office building and the Ontario Legislative Building.
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