Gardner, Edwin Alexander | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

GARDNER, Edwin Alexander (1902-1986), of Ottawa, Ont. held the position of Chief Architect for the federal Department of Public Works from 1952 until 1963 and in this capacity he was responsible for the design of all post office, customs and immigration buildings erected in Canada during this post-war period. Born in Pembroke, Ont. on 14 July 1902 he was educated at schools in Ottawa, and graduated from the Dept. of Architecture at McGill University in 1927. He trained in the offices of several Ottawa architects including Richards & Abra (in 1922), with J. Albert Ewart (1923), and with Cecil Burgess, with whom he acted as an assistant until 1930 when Burgess invited him to form a partnership (see list of works under Burgess & Gardner). After the dissolution of their partnership in 1946 he joined the Dept. of Public Works, and in 1949 was appointed Assistant Chief Architect. He succeeded Gustave Brault as Chief Architect in 1952, and was nominated as a member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1955. That same year he became a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada. Gardner retired from the D.P.W. in March 1963 (biog. and port. R.A.I.C. Journal, xxix, May 1952, 157-8; xl, Feb. 1963, 89; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects). He died in Ottawa on 21 December 1986 (obit. and port. Ottawa Citizen, 24 Dec. 1986, B 3).