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Persoon/organisatie
Durand, George F.
Persoon · 1850 - 1889

George F. Durand was born in 1850 to James Durand, a building and contracting business owner in London, Ontario. Noticing his son’s artistic ability, James Durand wrote to sculptor and drawing teacher J.R. Peel in 1964 arranging for his son to enroll at Peel’s school. In the late 1860s, Durand articled for architect William Robinson where he met his friend and future partner Thomas Tracy. After his apprenticeship, he was hired by Thomas Fuller to work on the New York State Capital building in Albany, New York. The project became embroiled in scandal when the cost of the building ballooned to well over the original projected cost. As a result of the controversy, Fuller was dismissed which led to Durand leaving the project as well. His experience in New York lasted from 1870 to 1876.
Durand returned to London and formed a partnership with Robinson and Tracy in 1878. In 1880, Robinson left and Tracy and Durand worked as partners. This partnership lasted until Tracy became city engineer and Durand then partnered with architect John M. Moore. In 1888, a legal dispute between Durand and Moore dissolved their partnership. In 1889, Durand began to take large lengths of time off work due to illness and on December 20th of that year he passed away.

Gillan, Charles H.
Persoon · 1911 - 1980

Charles Hansen Gillin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in February of 1911 to Hugh Clement Gillin and Margaret Hansen. After Hugh’s death, Margaret married Patrick J.Malloy. Gillin had one sister, Marnie Hubbs-Gillin; four half-brothers, Alexander Molloy, Patrick Malloy, Peter Malloy and John (Jack) Malloy and a foster brother, Gerald Giba. He attended Kelvin Technical High School in Winnipeg and later graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Manitoba in 1936. Gillin began his career as an architect with Green, Blankstein, Russel and Ham and eventually moved to Ottawa where he met his wife Madeleine Belanger. In 1943 he joined the Royal Canadian Engineers and trained as an officer, but did not serve overseas. In 1946 he moved to London, Ontario and began working for the engineering firm, M.M. Dillon and Co. In 1948 he opened his own office, Charles H. Gillin Architect, BArch MRAIC, at 389 Queens Avenue in London. As an architect in London, Gillin worked on several projects for the Separate School Board taking a role in the design and building of many of London’s Catholic schools including Catholic Central High School. Gillin also designed private residences, including the heritage listed Ginsberg residence in London; public buildings, including the Southwest Middlesex Health Centre in Mount Brydges and the club house at the Highland Country Club in London. His advocacy of the contemporary modernist style of architecture can be seen in all of these projects. Gillin and his wife had five children and lived in a house on Cathcart Street in London, which Gillinde signed himself. He was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Ontario Association of Architects and the London Society of Architects. Gillin was also a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Highland Golf Club. He died on September 23, 1980 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario.

Cuthbertson, Thomas
Persoon · 3 July 1848 - 3 April 1894

The son of Thomas and Ruth (nee Bell), Thomas Cuthbertson was born on July 3, 1848 in Oxford County, Ontario. The family would eventually settled in Blandford Township. He worked as a carpenter and as an employer of the Grand Trunk Railway at Brantford, Ontario, while studying architecture. In 1883, he married Clara Avis Baird in St. Thomas, Ontario. That same year, he entered the office of T.H. Goff, an architect of Woodstock, and later bought out the business. In 1886, he formed a partnership with Joseph A. Fowler (b. August 19, 1850) of Toronto. However, it appears Fowler chose to remain in Toronto to pursue his own work while the commissions in the Woodstock office of Cuthbertson & Fowler were carried out under the supervision of Cuthbertson.

The Architect firm of Cuthbertson & Fowler was commissioned to design a number of churches in Woodstock including All Saints Anglican Church, First Congregational Church, and Dundas Street Methodist Church, as well as the manse for Chalmers Presbyterian Church. They designed a number of schools in Woodstock including Chapel Street School, Broadway Public school and the Manual Training Building of Woodstock College, as well as the public schools in Princeton and Drumbo. They were also responsible for designing a number of local businesses including the Woodstock Opera House, Thomas Organ Factory, and the Thomas House Hotel, in Woodstock, as well as a number of impressive residential homes in Toronto, Woodstock, Embro, and Ingersoll. They were responsible for designing the Embro Town Hall and the Oxford House of Refuge and were hired to complete the Oxford County Court House, following the dismissal of the original architect, R.T. Brooks.

Cuthbertson’s designs were eclectic and often highly mannered, incorporating Romanesque Revival features which had rarely been seen outside the large city centres of Toronto, Hamilton and London. In late March 1894, he became ill and passed away in Woodstock, Ontario on April 3, 1894 and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery. Following his untimely death, Joseph Fowler arranged for his son, Henry Ades, to join his Toronto office, but within a year the partnership of Fowler & Son was dissolved. He would move to Clinton, Ontario in July 1895 to supervise the completion of the Huron County House of Refuge. He would later move to Goderich, Ontario and Montreal where he passed away on March 5, 1921.