There is always a fascination in discovering new connections between architects of different generations and from different places. A link has emerged between Eric R. Arthur (1898-1982), the highly esteemed Professor of Architecture at the University of Toronto, and Ronald J. Thom (1923-86). Arthur may be best known for his books, including Toronto: No Mean City; Thom was the talented designer from British Columbia who is particularly remembered for his buildings at Trent University and Massey College.
The liaison between the two was the little-known Robert Calvert, an architect who graduated from studies with Arthur at the University of Toronto in 1949. Calvert moved to Vancouver to work with Sharp and Thompson, Berwick, Pratt, where Ron Thom was working as a talented apprentice. Principals R.A.D. (Bob) Berwick and C.E. (Ned) Pratt, leaders in the development of West Coast Modernism, had also been Eric Arthur?s students at the University of Toronto, a decade before Calvert. In a joint interview with the present author in 1973, Berwick and Pratt expressed their immense admiration for Arthur as a teacher. Pratt added that Arthur ?was a little ? too much of a dilettante. He could have been a good architect, but I think he liked teaching too much.? A.K. Tateishi House, Islington, Ontario, interior. Fleury, Arthur and Barclay (Robert Calvert, principal designer), 1951. (Photo: Panda, 1953, courtesy of the Canadian Architectural Archives at the University of Calgary.
Bob Calvert...