Jacques & Hay Furniture Manufacturers
Backgrounder
Between 1835 and 1885, the Toronto-based Jacques & Hay Furniture Manufacturers dominated the cabinetmaking trade in British North America. At its height, it was the largest and best recognized furniture manufacturer in Canada. Founded by craftsmen turned entrepreneurs, John Jacques and Robert Hay, the company’s growth and success were the result of the industrialization of manufacturing in Canada, demonstrated by the vertical integration of the enterprise, its pioneering use of steam technology for mass production, and its embrace of modern techniques such as the division of labour and the organization of the factory by task. The company’s products ranged from inexpensive everyday furniture for the average Canadian to custom-made pieces for the province’s elite. Their clients included government offices, schools, hospitals, asylums, courthouses and hotels and their architectural interiors can be seen at University College, Osgoode Hall and St. James Cathedral in Toronto.
John Jacques (1804-1886) was born in Cumbria, England, and immigrated to York (Toronto) in 1831. Robert Hay (1808-1890) was born in Tayside, Scotland, and immigrated to York that same year. The two men entered into partnership in 1835, forming the company Jacques & Hay with two apprentices. What started as a small craft enterprise became a mass manufactory in less than a decade. The partners’ transition from artisans to industrialists began with the winning of lucrative but unglamorous public contracts in the late 1830s, in combination with smaller, reputation-building commissions from prominent Ontarians. Having embraced steam power and factory production from an early date, by 1851, Jacques & Hay was the largest furniture manufacturer in Ontario, employing 100 men at a time when the factory system was not yet well-developed in British North America.
The establishment of the company’s first factory near Toronto’s waterfront ushered in an age of mass-production and marked the beginning of factory production in Canada. By the height of its success, Jacques & Hays had nearly 500 men and women on its payroll. Furthermore, in collaboration with architects Cumberland and Storm, Jacques & Hay helped produce some of Canada’s most distinctive interiors. The firm’s growth and success paralleled the explosive growth of Toronto itself during the 19th century from a colonial backwater to a booming young metropolis.
By the 1860s, the work of Jacques & Hays was recognized across British North America and beyond. Their work could be seen in thousands of ordinary houses, a variety of institutions, and in the homes of Ontario’s elite. The company also trained a generation of skilled artisans who fanned out across the region. Jacques retired in 1870 and the company was reorganized as Robert Hay & Co. until Hay retired in 1885. By this time, the peak of furniture manufacturing in Toronto was over. The company continued on under a different name until it was bought out by Eaton’s in the 1920s. The mass-produced furniture of Jacques & Hay was ubiquitous and desirable in its day, constituting an early example of brand success in Canada.
The Ball Room at Rideau Hall, with Jacques & Hay furniture (Library and Archives Canada).
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