ADAMSON, Anthony Patrick Cawthra (1906-2002), an architect, planner, and professor of urban studies, was born in Toronto on 7 October 1906 and educated at elementary school in Port Credit, Ont. He moved to England to attend Wellington College, and obtained an M.A. degree from Jesus College at Cambridge University and after his return to Toronto he spent a year in the office of Darling & Pearson in 1926-27, then enrolled in post-graduate studies at the University of London. Trained as an architect, he began to practice in partnership with Eric Arthur in Toronto, and discovered a life-long interest in Ontario's historic architecture, becoming a founder and first secretary of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario in 1933. In September 1935 he was hospitalized with tuberculosis and spent several years regaining good health. He was then able to return to full-time work, establishing a practice as an architect and town planner. He was a professor of town planning at the University of Toronto (1955-65) and served as President of the Town Planning Institute of Canada in 1946 and again in 1951. His knowledge and planning experience led to his appointment as chief design consultant for the creation of Upper Canada Village (1956-61). There, he made a major contribution to the retention and relocation of heritage buildings displaced by flooding caused by the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway project in 1957-58 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxvi, May 1959, 165). He was also active in the preservation movement to retain Union Station in Toronto when it was threatened by destruction in 1971 (Toronto Star, 7 Dec. 1971, 8, interview and port.; R. Bebout, The Open Gate: Toronto Union Station, 1972, with essay by Adamson p. xvi-xvii).
Adamson served as Vice-Chairman of the National Capital Commission in Ottawa from 1959 to 1967, and was consultant on the restoration of Dundurn Castle at Hamilton, Ont. (1965-67). He was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1961 and received the Coronation Medal from Heritage Canada in 1981 for his work in heritage preservation. He was appointed as officer of the Order of Canada in 1974. Adamson died in Toronto on 3 May 2002 (obit. Globe & Mail, 8 June 2002, F9, illus.; biog. and port. Financial Post [Toronto], 3 June 1944, 6; Who's Who in Canada, viii, 1958-60; biog. and port on rear flyleaf of dustjacket of The Gaiety of Gables, 1974; biog. and port Toronto Star, 19 June 1988, D1, illus.; inf. Stephen Otto, Toronto; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont. )
A. ADAMSON
PORT CREDIT, ONT., residence for the Adamson family, originally designed for Mrs. Agar Adamson in 1921 by Sproatt & Rolph, altered 1935 (C.H.G., xii, Aug./Sept. 1935, 21-3, illus.; Globe & Mail, 25 Oct. 1963, 10, illus.)
ADAMSON & ARTHUR
EDMONTON, ALTA. Canada Packers Ltd., offices and meat packing plant, 70th Street at Fort Road, 1936 (C.R., vol. 50, 12 Aug. 1936, 719-20, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, Feb. 1937, 20-1, 24, illus.; March 1937, 43; Aug. 1937, 78, illus.)
TORONTO, ONT., residence for Eugene Hawke, Park Lane Circle, 1936 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, Feb. 1937, 24; May 1937, 78, illus.)
BOOKS BY ADAMSON
(with Marion MacRae) The Ancestral Roof: Domestic Architecture in Upper Canada, 1963
(with John Willard) The Gaiety of Gables, 1974, an illustrated essay on the gingerbread style as applied to 19th C. residential architecture in Ontario
(with Marion MacRae) Hallowed Walls: Church Architecture in Upper Canada, 1975
(with Marion MacRae) Cornerstones of Order: Courthouses and Town Halls of Ontario 1784-1914, pub. 1983
SELECTED ARTICLES
'Lion Among Sheep', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, Nov. 1938, 243-44, about Frank Lloyd Wright and Anthony Adamson
'Vive Monsieur Chausse', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, April 1939, 89-90, about the Montreal architect J. Alcide Chausse and the founding of the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada
Appointed 'Foreign Correspondent' to the R.A.I.C. Journal, xvii, April 1940, 54, covering European architecture
Book review of J. Steegman, 'Cambridge', pub. B.T. Batsford, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xviii, April 1941, 76
'As a Result of Enemy Action', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xviii, May 1941, 83
'As a Result of Enemy Action Indirectly' in R.A.I.C. Journal,, xviii, July 1941, 113-14, on Castle Howard in Yorkshire
'As a Result of Enemy Action' in R.A.I.C. Journal, xviii, Sept. 1941, 147-58, on the Houses of Parliament in London, showing before and after illustrations of war damage
Editorial advisor for the compilation and editing of 'Canada Reviewed', the special issue of the British architectural journal called The Architectural Review [London], Vol, 91, April 1942, 81-83, and cited in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, March 1942, 37; May 1942, 126)
'As a Result of Enemy Action' in R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, July 1942, 147, on Beauvais Cathedral
'The Periodicals Shelf' in R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Oct. 1942, 208, a column on architectural journals concerned with reconstruction, and continued by Adamson in later issues under this title
Book review of 'Shelter for Living', by E. Pickering, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xx, Feb. 1943, 28
Book review of 'Brazil Builds', by Philip L. Goodwin, and review of 'Architecture in Cambridge' by T. Fyfe, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xx, July 1943, 117
Tritych Designs for War, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xx, Aug. 1943, 130-31, illus.
Serves as co-editor of special issue of the R.A.I.C. Journal devoted to Town Planning in Toronto, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxi, June 1944, 111-34, illus.
'Bill 183', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxi, Oct. 1944, 235-6, 241, an analysis of the new National Housing Act
Book review of 'Your City Tomorrow', by G. Greer, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiv, Aug. 1947, 290
'Report on the First National Conference of the Community Planning Association', in R.A.I.C. Journal,
Xxiv, Nov. 1947, 417-18
Book review of 'Local Style in English Architecture,' by T.D. Atkinson, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Dec. 1948, 462
Obituary article on Toronto architect Hugh F. Secord, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvi, Oct. 1949, 361
Book review of 'Cathedrals and How They Were Built' by D.H.S. Cranage, 1950 in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, July 1950, 248
Book review of 'How the Greeks Built Cities' by R.E. Wycherley, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Oct. 1950, 362