GILBERT, Henry Bryan (1885- c. 1940) was born in Bristol, England on 15 November 1885 and trained in Reading, Engl. with Joseph Morris & Son, ARIBA from 1901 to 1904. He emigrated to Canada after 1905 and settled in Toronto where he opened an office under his own name in 1909. He took a particular interest in developing multiple-unit tract housing for large industrial companies, and designed several housing schemes in Toronto, Ojibway, in Walkerville, Ont., and in Detroit. He was among the first architects to promote the concept of houses made entirely of concrete, and presented his scheme for 'A Concrete Bungalow for A Suburban Site' in 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 12 May 1909, 48-9, illus. & descrip.). He moved to London, Ont. in 1912 and formed a partnership there with H.C. McBride (see list of works under McBride & Gilbert). He was later hired by the Canadian Steel Co. to develop their townsite at Ojibway, Ont., and by General Motors Ltd. of Detroit, Mich. who erected hundreds of tract homes for employees of the subsidiary companies in various locations in the United States. Gilbert's expertise was called upon in 1920 when the Border Cities Housing Company of Walkerville, Ont. commissioned him to design over one hundred houses in Walkerville for employees of nearly a dozen industrial companies active there after WWI. He later severed his connection with that company and opened his own office in Windsor in 1921 (C.R., xxxv, 16 March 1921, 278). By 1930 Gilbert was once again in Toronto, and by 1934 he had moved to Hamilton to form a partnership with F.H. Leleu (as Gilbert & Leleu). He resigned from the O.A.A. in 1938 and returned to England, but by 1940 he was once again living in Hamilton (inf. Ontario Association of Architects)
TORONTO, ONT., a pair of semi-detached dwellings 'designed and recently erected by Mr. H. Bryan Gilbert, architect', but location not yet found, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 27 Jan. 1909, 34-5, illus. & descrip.)
TORONTO, ONT., a row of four workmen's cottages 'to be erected in a factory district for a manufacturing firm', but location not yet found, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 31 March 1909, 30-1, illus. & descrip.)
PARRY SOUND, ONT., several buildings for the Union Iron Works Co., including machine shops, a foundry and docks, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 9 March 1910. 24)
TORONTO, ONT., St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Halton Street at Givens Avenue, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 16 Aug. 1911, 60; dwgs. City of Toronto Archives)
TORONTO, ONT., Union Bank, Yonge Street at Sherwood Avenue, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 6 Sept. 1911, 63; Const., v, May 1912, 89, illus.)
TORONTO, ONT., Union Bank, Gerrard Street East at Greenwood Avenue, 1912 (Toronto .b.p. 34875, 14 June 1912)
WALKERVILLE, ONT., a large tract of one hundred detached houses for the Border Housing Company, 1921 (C.R., xxxv, 27 April 1921, 407-08, illus. & descrip.)
HAMILTON, ONT., Art Gallery, Main Street West near James Street South, 1936 (C.R., vol. 50, 14 Oct. 1936, 30)