BECKETT, Harold Champ (1890-1970) was born in Hamilton, Ont. on 24 February 1890 and articled with A.W. Peene in that city. He moved to Toronto and worked as assistant to Wickson & Gregg in 1910-12 while at the same time enrolling in extension courses at the University of Toronto. He entered the competition for the Toronto Housing Co. development on Bain Avenue in 1912, and received an Honorable Mention for his design (Canadian Builder & Carpenter [Toronto], ii, Oct. 1912, 13, illus.) He then moved to New York City to study architecture at Columbia University and graduated in 1915 after receiving '...four medals in Class A design'. He served in Europe with Canadian Expeditionary Forces during WWI and from 1919 lived in Riverside, Ont. near Windsor, commuting across the border to his office in Detroit where he practiced, at first under his own name, and later in the partnership of Beckett & Akitt, Architects from 1922 until 1934. Their office designed many substantial Tudor Revival homes in Grosse Pointe, in Lansing and in Detroit, including the H.F. Harper mansion at Lansing, Michigan, 1927-29.
During the Depression, Beckett worked as Dominion Government Architect for the National Park site at Banff, Alta. where his interest in landscape architecture was convincingly displayed at the Cascades of Time Garden (1934-36), as well as in designs for other park structures including the Administration Building and the entrance gates to the park. In 1937 he became research director at Purdue University, then continued to operate his own office in Detroit in 1939-42. He then joined Detroit's largest architectural firm Smith Hinchmann & Grylls in 1943-45 and designed ordnance plants for the U.S. Government. He re-commenced his own practice in Windsor, Ont. in 1946 and retired in 1962. Beckett died at Ancaster, Ont. on 20 September 1970 (obit. Windsor Star, 21 Sept. 1970, 6; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects). A photographic portrait of Beckett can be found in the Windsor Star, 11 Jan. 1947, 30.
H.C. BECKETT (works in Canada)
BANFF, ALTA., East Gate to Banff National Park, 1934 (H. Kalman, History of Canadian Architecture, 1994, 725, illus. & descrip.)
BANFF, ALTA., Administration Building at Banff National Park, 1934-35 (C.R., xlviii, 7 Nov. 1934, 965; xlis, 17 April 1935, 347)
BANFF, ALTA., Cascades of Time Garden, Banff Avenue at Cave Avenue, 1934-36 (Calgary Daily Herald, 1 April 1936, 11; 16 May 1936, 27 & 36, illus. and extensive descrip.; 17 Aug. 1936, 9; Detroit Free Press, 20 Dec. 1936, 18, illus. & descrip., and port. and interview with Beckett)
OWEN SOUND, ONT., residence for Leone Anne Robertson, 6th Street at 5th Avenue East, 1948 (Owen Sound Daily Sun-Times, 15 April 1948, 5)
WINDSOR, ONT., Metropolitan Centennial Gardens, Tecumseh Boulevard, a civic garden of nearly 88,000 square feet, in front of the Metropolitan General Hospital, 1953 (Windsor Daily Star, 11 May 1953, 5 & 6, descrip.)
H.C. BECKETT (works in Michigan)
DETROIT, MICH., Little Wonder Stove Co., Elon Avenue, a large two storey factory and warehouse, 1917 (Detroit Free Press, 25 Feb. 1917, Section Four, p. 4, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., F.J. Towar Auto Showroom & Garage, Cass Avenue opposite Davenport Street, 1919 (Detroit Free Press, 16 Nov. 1919, Section Four, p. 16, illus. & descrip.)
BECKETT & AKITT (works in Michigan)
DETROIT, MICH., a three storey apartment block for W.P. Stephen Co., Calvert Avenue, between Byron Avenue and Wilson Avenue, 1922-23 (Detroit Free Press, 26 Nov. 1922, 18; 7 Jan. 1923, Section One, Part Two, p. 4)
DETROIT, MICH., Public Market & Community Building, Grand River Avenue, for John E. Mark Corp., including retail stores, offices, ballroom, and public market, 1923 (Detroit Free Press, 1 April 1923, Section Two, p. 11, illus. & descrip.)
LAKESIDE PARK, MICH., The Lakeside Park Club, on Lake St. Clair, one mile east of Defer Road, 1923 (Detroit Free Press, 29 April 1923, Part Two, p. 7,, illus. & descrip.)
LANSING, MICH., a mansion for Harry F. Harper, Cambridge Road, 1927-29 (Kathryn B. Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 297)
GROSSE POINTE, MICH., large residence for Clarence L. Ayres, Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe Farms, 1929 (Detroit Free Press, 15 Dec. 1929, Section Four, p. 5 & p. 8)
GROSSE POINTE, MICH., large residence for C.M. Day, 1929 (Detroit Free Press, 15 Dec. 1929, Section Four, p. 8)
GROSSE POINTE, MICH., a mansion for Reginald L. Colton, Vendome Avenue, between Ridge Road and Grosse Pointe Boulevard, 1930 (Detroit Free Press, 7 May 1930, 13, descrip.)