MURRAY, James Albert (1919-2008), a leading modernist architect active in Toronto after WWII, was born in Toronto on 2 July 1919 and studied architecture at the University of Toronto where he stood at the top of his class and the entire faculty of 180 students, receiving a medal for his accomplishments from the British Assoc. for the Advancement of Science in 1942 (Toronto Star, 12 May 1942, 17). He graduated from the School of Architecture at the Univ. of Toronto in 1943, and received the Gold Medal Student Award from the R.A.I.C. in April of that year (R.A.I.C. Journal, xx, July 1943, 117).
He opened an office in Toronto in 1945 with Robert C. Fairfield, and the following year they were joined by Kenneth Cameron (as Cameron, Murray & Fairfield). By 1948 the firm was renamed Murray & Fairfield, and both partners later began independent practise in late 1950. His first small projects were executed under his own name, but he frequently collaborated with Henry Fliess on large scale multiple housing projects such as South Hill Village Complex in Don Mills which received a Silver Massey Medal in 1958. Murray was also the recipient of numerous awards from the Canadian Housing Design Council. The Council published his illustrated essay entitled The Architecture of Housing (1962) based on a lecture he delivered at the National Gallery in Ottawa on 29 November 1962.
In addition to his contribution to residential designs, his best-known commercial project was the innovative Anglo-Canada Insurance Co. building, St. Clair Avenue West at Deer Park Crescent, TORONTO, ONT., 1953-54; demol. 1999 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxii, May 1955, 163, illus. detail sheet; Toronto Modern: Architecture 1945-1965, 1987, 54-5, illus. & descrip.; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 23 Feb. 1994, C2, illus.). He was one of founders and contributors to a new monthly journal of architecture called The Canadian Architect, first published in November 1955 and still in print at the present time. He served as editor of the magazine for nearly 30 years, and participated on the Jury of the annual Design Awards sponsored by the journal during this period. Murray was nominated as a Fellow of the R.A.I.C. in 1961. He died in Toronto in March 2008 (biog. and retrospective in Globe & Mail [Toronto], 29 May 2009, G6; inf. Univ. of Toronto Archives)
CAMERON, MURRAY & FAIRFIELD
TORONTO, ONT., interiors of a new residence for an unnamed client, 1947 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvi, Aug. 1947, 268, 270, illus.)
J.A. MURRAY
EAST YORK, residence for Vernon H.K. Lang, Bayview Avenue near Moore Avenue, 1947 (C.H.G., xxiv, Oct. 1947, 45-7, illus.)
SPADINA ROAD, near Dupont Street, residence for Robert L. Markon, 1947 (C.H.G., xxiv, Oct. 1947, 45-7, illus.)
EAST YORK, a residence for the architect, Heathbridge Park near Bayview Avenue, 1947 (C.H.G., xxiv, Oct. 1947, 45-7, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxviii, July 1951, 214, illus.)
HEATH STREET WEST, at Oriole Road, eight pairs of houses for Monarch Construction & Realty Co., 1950 (Toronto b.p. 10234, 4 Oct. 1950)
PORT CREDIT, ONT., residence for W.P. Schutte, 1950 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Dec. 1950, 397-99, illus. & descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
TORONTO, ONT., Toronto City Hall, 1958. The Toronto firm of Murray & Fliess were one of nearly 100 Canadian entrants in this international competition. The modernist design submitted by this firm was not among the finalists, but their proposal has recently been published in G.T. Kapelos, Competing Modernisms: Toronto's New City Hall and Square, 2015, 76, illus. The competition was won by Viljo Revell from Finland.