BRYDON, Arthur MacKenzie (1881-1971) was born in Howick, Roxboroughshire, Scotland on 11 January 1881 and articled with William Leiper, FRIBA, a prominent architect in Edinburgh. After emigrating to Canada in 1907 he worked in a number of offices in Toronto including Curry, Sproatt & Rolph (in 1908), Wickson & Gregg (in 1910, 1913, and 1921-25), with Chapman & Oxley (in 1926), with W. & W.R.L. Blackwell (in 1928), with Page & Steele (in 1931), with Craig & Madill (1938-41) and with W.L. Somerville (in 1946). When commissions were available to him he maintained an office under his own name in 1911-12 and 1932-48, and also worked in partnership with Peter W. Lindsay and John W.D. Greig in 1914-16 (see list of works under Lindsay & Brydon), and with Charles Brooks in 1929-30. He took a particular interest in ecclesiastical architecture, and was sought out by John Pearson to assist him in Ottawa with the reconstruction of the Parliament Buildings in 1917-20.
Brydon's designs for churches displayed his own personal interpretation of modernism and stand out in contrast to the more eclectic and ornate work of other ecclesiastical designers such as Arthur W. Holmes or Gordon & Helliwell. The design for Bonar Presbyterian Church (1909) reveals his extensive historical knowledge of Gothic precedent and how this could be convincingly reinterpreted in a bold, almost stark contemporary manner. This characteristic was evident in his competition entry for Knox College, University of Toronto (Const., iv, Feb. 1911, 62-4, illus. & descrip.). His scheme was not premiated however, and Chapman & McGiffen were declared the winners. In late 1948 Brydon decided to move to Alberta and worked in the Buildings Branch of the Dept. of Public Works but he retired in December 1952 and returned to Ontario. He died in Orillia, Ont. on 14 May 1971 (death notice in the Globe & Mail [Toronto], 17 May 1971, 33; inf. Alberta Assoc. of Architects; inf. Mrs. R.B. Hall, Ridgeville, Ont.)
(works in Toronto unless noted)
HAWTHORNE AVENUE, at Dale Avenue, residence for Charles C. Cummings, 1908 (C.R., xix, 15 April 1908, 27; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 30 September 2022, page H 8 and H 9, illus. & descrip., but lacking attribution to the architect)
BONAR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, St. Clarens Avenue near College Street, 1909; closed 1969; demol. c. 1970 (C.R., xxiii, 13 Oct. 1909, 21; Const., iv, July 1911, 67-71, illus. & descrip.)
BLOOR STREET EAST, near Sherbourne Street, apartment block for J.E. Squirrel, 1911 (Toronto b.p. 26894, 2 May 1911)
SCARBOROUGH, ONT., Knox Presbyterian Church, Sheppard Avenue East at Agincourt Drive, 1926 (Knox Church: 100 Years of Presbyterianism in Scarborough, 1948, 12)
CANADIAN SCHOOL OF MISSIONS, St. George Street opposite Sussex Avenue, 1929, an addition to the former residence of John Downey built in 1889; altered 2009-10 and incorporated into additions to the Rotman School of Business, Univ. of Toronto (Year Book of the Toronto Chapter: Ontario Association of Architects, 1933, Plate 87, illus.)
CONN, ONT., Westcott United Church, 1927 (Westcott United Church History, 1967, illus.)
MANOR ROAD UNITED CHURCH, Manor Road at Redpath Avenue, 1927 (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, Aug. 1928, viii, illus. in advert.)
MONCTON, N.B., First Presbyterian Church, Park Street near Highfield Street, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 11 July 1928, 72, t.c.)
DEER PARK UNITED CHURCH, St. Clair Avenue West at Foxbar Road, major addition for Sunday School, gymnasium, classrooms, banquet hall and chapel, 1931 (Toronto Star, 6 March 1931, 32, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, x, March 1933, 55)
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD, post office and Treasury Building for the British Government, 1935-36 (list of works in Alberta Assoc. of Architects, Application dated 4 Dec. 1948)