Blankstein, Cecil Nat

BLANKSTEIN, Cecil Nathan (1908-1989), son of Max Blankstein, was born in Winnipeg on 15 August 1908 and trained under his father in 1922-25. He enrolled in the Dept. of Architecture at the Univ. of Manitoba and graduated in 1929, obtaining a position with the Manitoba Dept. of Public Works where he assisted Gilbert Parfitt from late 1929 until 1932. In that year he formed a partnership with Lawrence J. Green; they were later joined by G. Leslie Russell and Ralph Ham in February 1934 (see list of works under Green, Blankstein Russell & Ham). Blankstein was elected President of the Manitoba Assoc. of Architects in 1955 and continued to practise until 1978. He died in Jerusalem, Israel on 20 June 1989 (obit. Free Press [Winnipeg], 7 July 1989, 30; inf. dated 1983 received from [the late] Cecil N. Blankstein, Winnipeg). The Winnipeg Architecture Foundation published an illustrated monograph on the works by Green, Blankstein & Russell in 2017. Written by Jeffrey Thorsteinson & Brennan Smith, this publication is entitled Green Blankstein Russell & Associates: An Architectural Legacy, and includes a biography of Cecil N. Blankstein, p. 141. A new biography of Cecil N. Blankstein can be found in the book by Murray Peterson entitled Max Blankstein Architect, 2022, pp. 134-36, and published by The Winnipeg Architecture Foundation.