SUTTON, John Bernard (1903-1968) devoted his entire career to the practice of architecture in northern Ontario, operating an office in Copper Cliff and later in Sudbury, and designing local landmarks in both communities. Born in Schomberg, Ont. on 26 Aug. 1903, Sutton studied architecture at the University of Toronto and graduated with honours in 1929, receiving the Darling & Pearson Architectural Scholarship. He then trained for three years in the Toronto offices of William L. Somerville, with John M. Lyle, and with Arthur W. Holmes. During this period, he collaborated with Clare P. Thompson on an entry in the T. Eaton Co. Ideal Home Competition in 1930, and they both received an Honourable Mention and prize of $250 for their scheme (Construction [Toronto], xxiii, March 1930, 82; April 1930, 139, illus and plans). Sutton moved to Sudbury in 1933 and spent six months in the local office of Peter J. O’Gorman, and joined ORCO in Sudbury in 1934, then transferred to the Copper Cliff Engineering Dept. of INCO in 1935 where he was a staff architect.
Sutton opened his own architectural office in Sudbury in March 1945, and his career received a major boost in 1947 when he obtained the commission to design the new Civic Centre in Sudbury. He also designed the Sudbury Community Arena, the Sudbury YMCA, and the Salvation Army Men’s Social Centre on Larch Street, as well as the Salvation Army Citadel on Lorne Street. One of his last works was the modernist design for the Copper Cliff Public Library (1967), still in use today. Sutton died in Sudbury on 24 March 1968 (obituary and port. Sudbury Star, 25 March 1968, 3; port. and biography in Inco Triangle [Copper Cliff], Dec. 1937, 3)
SUDBURY, ONT., auditorium for the INCO Employee’s Club, Frood Road, 1937 (list of works in INCO Triangle [Copper Cliff], Dec. 1937, 3; Tim Morawetz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada, 2017, 120, illus. & descrip.)
SUDBURY, ONT., Civic Centre and Community Arena, Elgin Street South at Minto Avenue, 1947-50 (Ottawa Journal, 25 Jan. 1947, 5; C.R., lxiii, Feb. 1950, 132, t.c.; North Bay Daily Nugget, 3 April 1948, 10, illus. & descrip.)
NORTH BAY, ONT., Fire Hall, Ferguson Street, between Victoria Street and Princess Street, 1949 (North Bay Daily Nugget, 16 Aug. 1949, 1, descrip.)
(with Louis N. Fabbro) SUDBURY, ONT., High School, College Street at Davidson Street, 1949-50 (C.R., lxii, Oct. 1949, 144)
MASSEY, ONT., public school, 1949-50 (C.R., lxii, Nov. 1949, 122, t.c.)
(with Louis N. Fabbro) RAMSAY, ONT., sanatorium for the Sudbury-Algoma Sanatorium Association, Kirkwood Drive, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Feb. 1950, 126)
SUDBURY, ONT., Jackson & Barnard Funeral Home, Larch Street at Paris Street, 1959 (Oiva W. Saarinen, From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury, 2013, 286)
COPPER CLIFF, ONT., Centennial Public Library, 1967 (INCO Triangle [Copper Cliff], June 1967, 11, illus.)