Pond, Irving K. | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

POND, Irving K. (1857-1939), partner in the Chicago firm of Pond, Pond, Martin & Lloyd, was credited with one major project in Canada, that for the General Public Hospital, Hospital Street at Alma Street, SAINT JOHN, N.B., 1930-31; demol. 1995 (C.R., xliii, 27 Nov. 1929, 64; xliv, 19 Nov. 1930, 36, illus. in advert.; xlvi, 11 May 1932, 495-97, illus. & descrip.; Const., xxv, April 1932, 78-84, 86, illus. & descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, vii, July 1930, 251, illus.; Aug. 1930, 302-09, illus. & descrip.; J. Leroux, Building New Brunswick - An Architectural History, 2008, 164-5, illus.; Tim Morawetz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada, 2017, 108-09, illus. & descrip.). This imposing Art Deco work, with flanking wings containing 300 beds, was one of the tallest buildings in Maritimes when it was completed in early 1932. The central pavilion, with its refined cut-stone facade, was dominated by a 140 foot tall tower and cupola that made it a distinctive architectural landmark in Saint John. The entire framework of the building was constructed of reinforced concrete.
Irving Pond and his brother Allen B. Pond (1858-1929) were both born in Ann Arbor, Mich. and both graduated from the Univ. of Michigan. Irving P. opened his own office in Chicago in 1885, and in 1887 he and his brother formed a partnership, and they are credited with a variety of ecclesiastical and public buildings in Chicago and neighbouring cities in Illinois. They were later joined by Edgar Martin and Alfred L. Lloyd. When Allen Pond died in March 1929 the firm continued to practice under its former name, although the design of the General Hospital in Saint John is almost certainly from the hand of Irving Pond. The National Archives in Ottawa holds a set of blueprints for this New Brunswick project as produced by this Chicago office (NAC, Acc. 88942, Items 1-17). The Saint John firm of Alward & Gilles acted as local associates for the work, and later carried out several modifications and alterations to the building. Irving P. died in Chicago on 27 Sept. 1939 (biog. Irving P. and Allen P. in H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 478-9; biog. and port. of Irving P. in National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. C, 1930, 126-8)