GILLIES, Kenneth Stevenson (1884-1955) devoted nearly fifty years of his career to the City of Toronto Building Department, serving under a succession of City Architects including Robert McCallum, W.W. Pearse, G.F.W. Price, and under J.J. Woolnough. Born in Guelph, Ont. on 20 November 1884 he trained there under a local architect W. Fry Colwell (in 1901-02), then moved to Toronto to study architecture and building at the Toronto Technical School (in 1902-05). He obtained as position as junior draftsman with the Buildings Dept. in 1906, and attended evenings classes in architecture organized by the Ontario Assoc. of Architects in 1905-08. Gillies rose through the ranks and by 1928 he received the appointment of Assistant City Architect to succeed F.H. Sykes (C.R., xlii, 4 April 1928, 373), and later served as Deputy City Architect under J.J. Woolnough in 1931-32. In this role he played an important part in assisting with the design and drawings of the Horse Palace at the Canadian National Exhibition, an Art Deco landmark which was normally credited only to Woolnough. Recent research suggests that both Woolnough and Gillies collaborated with a brilliant young staff architect Stanley T.J. Fryer on the design of this exceptional project (Const., xxiv, Sept. 1931, 281-90, illus. & descrip.).
When Woolnough resigned as City Architect in July 1932 he was succeeded by Gillies, but within two months Gillies was appointed to the more powerful position of Commissioner of Buildings for the City of Toronto (R.A.I.C. Journal, ix, Oct. 1932, 236). Even while serving as Commissioner, he continued to contribute to the design of city buildings in a progressive moderne style, including the City of Toronto Waterworks Maintenance Complex, Richmond Street West, and the monumental Symes Road Incinerator Block, a distinctive industrial complex wrapped in bold horizontal brick bands and dominated by a pair of symmetrically placed brick chimneys rising 170 feet above the street. His last major public work was the moderne-styled west wing of Toronto East General Hospital (extant 2020). Gillies retired in 1954 and died in Toronto on 17 September 1955 (obit. Globe & Mail [Toronto], 19 Sept. 1955, 4; Telegram [Toronto], 19 Sept. 1955, 27; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxii, Oct. 1955, 401; biog. and port Canadian Engineer, lxvii, 6 Dec. 1932, 22; inf. Ontario Association of Architects)
WORKS DEPT., CITY OF TORONTO
EAST YORK, Toronto East General Hospital, Coxwell Avenue at Mortimer Avenue, 1928-29, and major addition to the Hospital, facing Coxwell Avenue, designed 1943; built 1949-51 (Toronto Daily Star, 11 Jan. 1929, 3, illus. & descrip.; C.R., lvi, 17 Nov. 1943, 28; Canadian Hospital [Toronto], xxix, April 1952, 32-38, 94, illus. & descrip.)
WATERWORKS MAINTENANCE BUILDINGS, Richmond Street West at Maud Street, 1932-33; renovated and restored 2019-22 (C.R., xlvii, 9 August 1933, 757-61, illus. & descrip.)
SYMES ROAD MUNICIPAL INCINERATOR, Symes Road near St. Clair Avenue West, 1933-34; renovated and restored 2016-17 (C.R.,xlviii, 7 Nov. 1934, 947-54, 956, illus. & descrip.; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 3 Nov. 2017, G2, illus. & descrip.)
(with Craig & Madill) CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION, The Bandshell, 1935-36 (Canadian Engineer, lxxxii, 25 Aug. 1936, 5-7, illus. & descrip.)
(with L.C.M. Baldwin, F.H. Marani & M.Waters) ROYAL VISIT, decorations at Toronto City Hall, Queen Street West at Bay Street, 1939 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, June 1939, 124, illus.)
RUNNYMEDE HOSPITAL, remodelling and reconstruction of the former Strathcona Public School (originally built in 1912) to create new hospital building, Runnymede Road at St. John's Road, 1945 (Canadian Hotel Review, xxiii, 15 Dec. 1945, 48, 52, 54, illus. & descrip.)