PATTERSON, Hugh McKay (1894-1980), born in Montreal, Que. on 15 June 1894 and attended Westmount Academy in 1906-11, but did not receive a formal university education in architecture. Instead he joined the prominent firm Montreal firm of Ross & MacDonald and worked there as a junior draftsman in 1911-14. He served overseas during WWI, then returned to Montreal in 1919 and rejoined Ross & MacDonald, and later became senior draftsman, then chief draftsman (from 1935), overseeing preparation of drawings for major projects including the Mount Royal Hotel (1921-22), Eaton's Department Store, Montreal (1925-27), the Royal York Hotel, Toronto (1928-29), and Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto (1930-31). He later became a full partner in the firm, taking charge of all the buildings designed by that office from 1935 to 1946.
After the death of George Ross in 1946, the firm was reorganized by John K. Ross, who invited Hugh Patterson, Gilberrt Townsend and Robert Heughan to form a new partnership under the following names:
Ross, Patterson, Townsend & Heughan (1947-50)
Ross, Patterson, Townsend (1951)
Ross, Patterson, Townsend & Fish (1952-60), and
Ross, Fish, Duchenes & Barrett (after 1960).
Patterson resigned from the P.Q.A.A. in 1973 and died in Montreal on 18 April 1980 (death notice Gazette [Montreal], 19 April 1980, 112; inf. Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects; inf H.J. Trevor Patterson, King City, Ont.)
COMPETITIONS
TOWN OF MOUNT ROYAL, QUE., Model City Housing Co., 1920 (Gazette [Montreal], 6 Feb. 1920, 6). A total of 67 designs were sent in for this post-war housing competition, and H.M. Patterson received a First Prize of $150. for his plan for a semi-detached 6-room house.