Blackader, Gordon Home

BLACKADER, Gordon Home (1885-1916), son of Dr. A.D. Blackader of Montreal, Que., was born there on 12 August 1885 and graduated from McGill University in 1906. He moved to New York City and joined the office of McKim, Mead & White as a draftsman in 1907-08, then went to Paris to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts and studied under Victor Laloux before returning to Montreal in 1912. In May of that year Ernest Barott invited both Blackader and Daniel T. Webster to form a partnership (see list of works under Barott, Blackader & Webster). The new firm was remarkably successful in obtaining dozens of commissions for major commercial and institutional buildings. At the outbreak of WWI Blackader joined the Fifth Highlanders of Canada and fought in France in 1915. He was seriously wounded near Ypres, Belgium on 2 June 1916 and died in London, Engl. from his wounds on 10 August 1916 (obit. Gazette [Montreal], 11 Aug. 1916, 4). Barott decided to retain the name of his late partner in the title of the practice, and the firm name 'Barott & Blackader' continued to be used until 1953. The Blackader Library at McGill University is named in his memory and now houses one of the outstanding collections of architectural books and journals in Canada. An endowment for the purchase of architectural books was provided by the Blackader family to McGill University in 1917 (Montreal Daily Star, 15 Feb. 1917, 11).