Peter Smith during his time at Lett/Smith Architects. Courtesy of the Smith family (photographer unknown)
The architectural profession has, we all know, a cast of characters behind the marquee star?those who contribute substantially to the core design itself, without fanfare, and who may be considered the true co-authors of major projects. Peter Smith, who died at age 85 in early July, was one such architect.
With his longtime colleague and close friend Bill Lett, he made his name with Lett/Smith Architects in Toronto. And before that, he was the under-recognized and invaluable architect who steered Ron Thom?s Shaw Festival Theatre into existence.
Peter Smith was born in Birmingham, England, and attended the University of Birmingham?s architecture school, an art-centric institution. Two years after his 1957 graduation, he met his future wife, Heather Hume, while visiting a friend in North Bay. That prompted his immigration to Canada soon afterwards, where he joined Ron Thom?s office on Colborne Street. Ron Thom was at the time one of the most esteemed and sought-after architects in the country, and Smith revered his new boss. ?Ron was the most intuitively skilled architect that I had ever run across,? he told this writer in a lengthy 2010 interview at Massey College. He shared Thom?s artisanal approach to architecture, and he benefited from the continuity that each architect at Thom?s office could have with their work?which, though commonplace now, was rare in the 1960s. In...