MITCHELL, Robert (fl. 1782-1810), active in London, England as early as 1782 where he designed several residences in a neo-classical style with Palladian features found on many domestic English country houses built in the late 18th Century. Mitchell was the author of Plans, etc. of Buildings erected in England and Scotland, with An Essay to Elucidate the Grecian, Roman and Gothic Architecture, 1801. His only Canadian work is that for the Nelson Monument, Notre Dame Street, MONTREAL, QUE., 1808-09; restored in 1900 by Andrew T. Taylor of Montreal, and still standing in 2023 (Newton Bosworth, Hochelega Depicta, 1839, 154-5, descrip.; Gazette [Montreal], 26 July 1860, 2, descrip.; 7 April 1886, 7, descrip.; Montreal Daily Star, 10 Aug. 1900, 7, descrip.; and 21 Oct. 1905, 11, history of the monument; Country Life [London], 24 July 1969, 210-11, illus.; L. Maitland, Neoclassical Architecture in Canada, 1984, 38, illus.).
It is unclear how Mitchell obtained this commission in Lower Canada, but it can rightly be considered as the earliest monument in the Neoclassical style in Canada. Constructed of local limestone with decorative elements made from cast Coade stone, the column sits at the north end of Place Jacques Cartier, on axis with the Square, and adjacent to Montreal City Hall. A detailed biography and list of works by Mitchell can be found in Howard Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1995, 658-59. The Nelson Monument was restored and repaired by Taylor & Gordon of Montreal in 1900 (Montreal Daily Star, 10 Aug. 1900, 7, descrip.)