HUGHES, Henry Gordon (1902-1990), a native of Quebec City, Que, and son of Brigadier General H.T. Hughes, was born on 23 November 1902 and received his early education at Lower Canada College in Montreal, and at Palham House in Folkestone, England. He studied at Royal Military College in Kingston for two years, then moved to Montreal where he graduated from the School of Architecture at McGill University in 1927. He articled in Montreal with Nobbs & Hyde, and with Shorey & Ritchie, in 1927-29, and spent one year in the New York City office of Cross & Cross Architects (John W. Cross & Eliot Cross) where he assisted with drawings for the remarkable 50 storey modern Gothic tower called RCA Victor Building, Lexington Avenue, 1930-31.
Hughes returned to Canada in 1932, and opened his own office in Almonte. While there, he acted as the architectural advisor to R. McKenzie Tait, the renowned Canadian sculptor, and assisted him with the restoration of Baird’s Mill, an old grist mill which McKenzie converted into a studio. The mill was later renamed The Mill of Kintail. Hughes then opened a new office in Ottawa, and completed a modern Gothic design for a major addition to the Royal Mint, overlooking Lady Gray Drive and the Ottawa River (1934-35), and the design of a major aeronautical research complex for the National Research Council of Canada. He was also a favoured designer of private residences for wealthy clientele who lived in Rockcliffe Park in Ottawa. During WWII, he served with the Royal Canadian Engineers, obtaining the rank of major. In 1946 he accepted the appointment of Chief of the Hospital Design Division with the federal Dept. of Health & Welfare, and held this post until 1962 when he retired. Hughes died in Ottawa on 22 December 1990 (obituary & port. Ottawa Citizen, 26 Dec. 1990, D 2; biog & port. Canadian Hospital [Toronto], xxiii, April 1946, 42; biog. in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, May 1946, 105; biog. & port. Monetary Times [Toronto], Aug. 1946, 46)
(works in Ottawa unless noted)
ROYAL CANADIAN MINT., Sussex Drive, opposite Bruyere Street, major addition of a metal refinery building for the Dept. of Public Works, 1934-35 (C.R., xlviii, 1 Aug. 1934, 29; Building In Canada, xv, 23 Feb. 1935, 9, illus. & descrip.; Ottawa Journal, 10 Dec. 1935, 21, illus.)
KEMPTVILLE, ONT., a new public school, 1936 (Weekly Advance [Kemptville], 23 April 1936, 1 and 8)
HULL, QUE., a tract of 75 houses for employees of the E.B. Eddy Co., Aylmer Road, 1937 (C.R., Vol. 50, 7 April 1937, 37)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for Dr. H. Bostock, Manor Road, 1937 (Ottawa Journal, 31 May 1937, 23)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for D. Irving Cameron, Park Road at Springfield Avenue, 1937 (Ottawa Journal, 14 June 1937, 2; C.H.G., xix, Aug. 1942, 18-19, illus.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 131, illus. & descrip.)
HULL, QUE., large residence for Col. J.R. Booth, Aylmer Road, 1937-38 (C.R., Vol. 50, 17 Nov. 1937, 34)
KINGSMERE, QUE., a ski lodge and winter residence for Graham Towers, 1937-38 (Ottawa Journal, 30 Nov. 1937, 12)
KINGSMERE, QUE., a ski lodge and winter residence for Duncan K. McTavish, 1937-38 (Ottawa Journal, 30 Nov. 1937, 12)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for Wilbert J. Matthews, Park Road, 1938 (Ottawa Journal, 18 July 1938, 12, descrip.)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for Clarke Anderson, Manor Road, 1938 (C.H.G., xv, Aug. 1938, 30-31, illus.)
ARNPRIOR, ONT., residence for D.A. Gillies, 1938 (C.H.G., xv, Oct. 1938, 19-23, illus.)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for Lloyd B. Rochester, 1938 (C.H.G., xv, Dec. 1938, 33-35, illus.)
CARLETON PLACE, ONT., major addition and alterations to Memorial Park United Church, Franklin Street, 1939 (Ottawa Journal, 19 April 1939, 21; 10 June 1939, 12, descrip.)
(with Francis O. Templeton) ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for Dr. George Hooper, Lansdowne Road, 1940 (C.H.G., xviii, March 1941, 30-31, illus.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 128-9, illus. & descrip.)
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, Aeronautical Research Building, Montreal Road near Blair Road, 1939-40; Engine Testing Building, 1941; Structures Laboratory, 1942; Gas & Oil Laboratory, 1945; Instrument & Model Shop, 1945 (Ottawa Journal, 4 Oct. 1939, 1; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, May 1946, 105-115, illus. & descrip.; C.R., lix, April 1946, 43, illus. in advert.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 138-9, illus. & descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
DOMINION HOUSING ACT, Small Homes Competition, 1936. Hughes submitted two modernist designs in this national competition. His Design No. 300 won an Honourable Mention (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, May 1936, 89, 93, illus.; Dominion Housing Act - Small Homes Competition, 1936, Design No. 300, p. 24,,illus., and Design No. 301, p. 51, illus.)
T. EATON CO. HOUSE DESIGN COMPETITION, 1936. The entry submitted by Hughes in this national competition was among 149 designs submitted by architects from across Canada. He received an Honourable Mention for his progressive modernist proposal (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, July 1936, 129, 134, illus.)