WRIGHT, Gordon Lorimer (1876-1936) was active in Scotland and later moved to Canada where he practised in Vancouver, B.C. Born in Edinburgh in 1876, he articled from 1894 to 1897 in the office of John J. Burnet, a leading Scottish architect. He then moved to Paris, France to study architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, training there under Jean Louis Pascal in 1897-99. After extensive European travel, he moved to Boston, Mass. to work as a draftsman in the office of Brainerd, Leeds & Russel in 1900-01, then returned to Edinburgh and rejoined Burnet’s office. He opened his own office in Edinburgh in 1902, and continued to work there until 1910 when he emigrated to Canada and settled in Vancouver, joining another Scottish architect John McIntyre in a partnership. Only one commission by their firm has been located in Lytton, B.C. but after the dissolution of their partnership in 1912, he continued to work under his own name. He was also an ambitious participant in architectural competitions, submitting plans in 1914 for the enormous and complex project for the Departmental Buildings competition in Ottawa, as well as for the Vancouver Civic Centre (1914). Neither of his designs was premiated. Wright died in Vancouver on 10 June 1936 (biog. R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. ii, 1071).
G.L WRIGHT (works in Scotland)
EDINBURGH, Century Insurance Co. Head Office, Charlotte Square, 1904-05 (Edinburgh Architectural Association Exhibition Catalogue, 1907, Item 151)
CRIEFF, CO. PERTHSHIRE, buildings at 55-59 Commissioner Street, and 49-55 King Street, 1906-07 (John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland: Perth & Kinross, 2007, 301)
EDINBURGH, United Free Church Training Institute for Lady Missionaries, Inverleith Terrace, 1908-09 (J. Gifford, C. McWilliams & David Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, 1984, 579)
VANCOUVER, B.C., Knox Congregational Church, Woodland Drive at East Broadway, 1914 (dwgs. At Vancouver City Archives).
WRIGHT & McINTYRE (works in British Columbia)
LYTTON, B.C., a large three storey hotel on Block 8 for an unnamed client, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 9 Aug. 1911, 63)
COMPETITIONS:
OTTAWA, ONT., Departmental Buildings, Wellington Street, 1914. Wright, working in collaboration with William Bow of Vancouver, submitted an entry in the competition for this major government project. There were 62 entries from architects in the British Commonwealth, but the outbreak of WWI forced the government to shelve the project, and it was not until 1923 that six finalists received financial compensation for their designs (list of competitors in NAC, RG11, Vol. 2952, File 5370 1B; inf. from Dana Johnson, Ottawa)
VANCOUVER, B.C., Vancouver Civic Centre, 1914. Wright was one of 30 architects from the United States and Canada who submitted designs for this project (list of competitors in Contract Record [Toronto], xxix, 6 Jan. 1915, 8). The winner was later announced as Theodore Korner, but the project was never built.