BURGESS, Cecil Scott (1870-1971) was active in Edmonton as an architect, educator and later in his career as a town planner. Born in Bombay, India on 4 October 1870 he was the son of Scottish parents and received his education at Royal High School in Edinburgh. He articled with Sir G. Washington Browne of that city between 1887 and 1891 then worked as a draftsman for R.A. Briggs, London, for J.J. Talbot, Liverpool, and W.H. Brierley, York. He emigrated to Canada in 1903 and settled in Montreal where he was employed as an assistant to Philip Turner and to Percy Nobbs, likely because of his talents as an architectural delineator. Many of his exquisite drawings were published in the Canadian Architect & Builder (C.A.B., xvii, Jan. 1904, illus. plate; with correction, Feb. 1904, 44; April 1904, illus. plate; Nov. 1904, 181 and illus. plate; xviii, July 1905, illus. plate). His interest in architectural education was brought to the attention of Nobbs, then chairman of the Dept. of Architecture at McGill University, and in 1909 Burgess was appointed lecturer at the school (Const., ii, Aug. 1909, 69). His association with Nobbs was to become a mutually rewarding one, for when Nobbs received the commission to prepare the Master Plan for the campus at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Burgess decided to move there in 1913 and to accept the appointment of Professor of Architecture at the invitation of H.M. Tory, the University President. This enabled Burgess to act as local associate architect to Nobbs for several works on the campus during the next fifteen years. Burgess also undertook many commissions of his own for the University and also held the post of President of the Alberta Association of Architects in 1922-23.
In 1929 he was appointed a member of the Town Planning Commission of the City of Edmonton and advised the City on issues relating to parks, schools, civic art and zoning problems. He retired from teaching duties at the University in 1939 and with his departure from the school. the programme in Architecture was terminated (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, May 1939, 119; Nov. 1939, 247; xvii, July 1940, 121). Burgess continued to work for the Town Planning Commission and was active in the Alberta Assoc. of Architects until 1949. He died in Edmonton at the venerable age of 101 years on 12 November 1971 (obituary in the Edmonton Journal, 13 Nov. 1971, 36; biog. & port. in the Montreal Witness, 17 March 1913; Who's Who In Canada, 1938-39, 280; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, May 1946, 122, with port.; biog. and port. Edmonton Journal, 13 Feb. 1959, 38; biog. & port. Edmonton Journal, 24 June 1967, 60; biog. in Folio: The University of Alberta Bulletin, vii, No. 17, 22 Oct. 1970, 1-2, with port.; Royal Inst. of British Architects [London], Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. 1, 298). The University of Alberta Archives holds a substantial collection of manuscript material relating to the career of Burgess (Univ. of Alberta Archives, Acc. 68-12; Acc. 71-213; Acc. 72-28; Acc. 79-33). In addition, the Provincial Archives of Alberta at Edmonton holds a collection of his early drawings including many student works executed in Scotland and Montreal between 1890 and 1910 (PAA, Acc. 68.126)
C.S. BURGESS
(works in Edmonton unless noted)
(with Percy Nobbs) SHAWBRIDGE, QUE., The Boy's Farm, a Training School and Industrial farm, 1908 (list of works in R.I.B.A. Application for Fellowship No. 3147, 7 July 1933)
(with Percy Nobbs) UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA MASTER PLAN, South Edmonton, 1914 (C.R., xxviii, 18 Nov, 1914, 60)
PEMBINA HALL RESIDENCE, University of Alberta, 1914 (list of works in The Gateway [Univ. of Alberta], 21 Nov. 1941)
UNIVERSITY RING HOUSES, Saskatchewan Drive at 116th Street, a group of detached residences for Prof. Bowers, Prof. Sheldon, Prof. Ashworth, Prof. Robb, and a residence for the architect, 1914; several of these buildings later demol. in 1970 for the Windsor Car Park (dwgs. at Univ. of Alberta Archives)
SOLDIER'S CIVIL RE-ESTABLISHMENT HOSPITAL, 1920 (list of works in R.I.B.A. Application for Fellowship No. 3147, 7 July 1933)
STUDENT UNION BUILDING, 1920, an unrealized project which was never built (dwgs. at the Canadian Architectural Archives, Calgary, Acc. 6A 77.7)
(with Nobbs & Hyde) PROVINCIAL COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, 1920 (C.R., xxxiv, 28 Jan. 1920, 49, t.c.; Const., xiv, Jan. 1921, 4-5, 12, illus. & descrip.)
DRUMHELLER, ALTA., hospital for the Dominion Government, 1922 (C.R., xxxvi, 15 Nov. 1922, 47)
RED DEER, ALTA., War Memorial Monument, Ross Street, 1921-22 (Red Deer News, 6 Dec. 1922, 7, illus & descrip.)
UNIV. OF ALBERTA SKATING RINK, 1927 (dwgs. at Univ. of Albert Archives, 27U 538)
BOWKER BUILDING, (also called the Alberta Govt. Administration Building), 109 Street, 1930-31 (R.A.I.C. Journal, viii, Oct. 1931, 352-6, illus. & descrip.)
PONOKA, ALTA., addition to mental hospital, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 3 July 1929, 62)
ECKVILLE, ALTA., Municipal District Hospital, 1942-43 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxi, Aug. 1944, 188, illus; with correction, Oct. 1944, 241; Red Deer Advocate, 7 Feb. 1945, 8-9, illus. & extensive descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
Design for a Farm House to Cost $4500, a competition entry for the Canadian Architect & Builder signed 'Byzantine', 1907 (C.A.B., xx, June 1907, 102, descrip. and plate illus.)
'A Small Suburban Town House', submitted under the pseudonym 'Sir Christopher Wren' and awarded Third Prize, 1907 (C.A.B., xx, Jan. 1907, 3, descrip.; March 1907, 40-1, illus.)
Canadian Battlefields Memorial Competition [for sites in France and Belgium], 1921 (dwgs. at PAA, Burgess Coll., Acc. 68.126)