Barker, Robert Joseph Kent | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

BARKER, Robert Joseph Kent (1912-1989) distinguished himself by winning First Prize for his Small House Design in a national competition sponsored by the T. Eaton Co. in 1936 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, July 1936,, 132, 138, illus.) and Third Prize in the Canadian Small House Competition sponsored by the Central Mortgage and Housing Corp. in 1947 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiv, Jan. 1947, 21, illus. & descrip.). Born in Toronto he graduated from the School of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 1936 and studied at the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan under Eliel Saarinen in 1936-37. He moved to Montreal in 1938 to work in the offices of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. While there, he submitted two entries in the American Gas Association Housing Competition held in New York City. Nearly 550 proposals were sent in from the United States and Canada, and the jury, headed by the eminent town planner Clarence Stein, cited the design by Barker for the innovative Neighbourhood Plan which was published in The Architectural Forum [New York], lxix, July 1938, 72, illus. & descrip. During WWII Barker worked for the Dept. of National Defence in Ottawa. He returned to Toronto in 1946 and accepted a teaching position at the School of Architecture there. In 1948 he was appointed planning consultant for the important development of a new post-war town at Ajax, Ont. (Globe [Toronto], 20 Nov. 1948, 5). Barker retired in 1978 and died in Toronto on 30 September 1989 (biography in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxii, May 1945, 111; xxvii, Jan. 1950, 40). A biography and photographic portrait of Barker was published in the Daily Commercial News [Toronto], 20 Oct. 1936, 1.