DREWITT, Colin Minors (1884-1961) was active in Toronto, in Ottawa, and later in Montreal, Quebec. Born in Alsager, Co. Cheshire, England on 24 October 1884, he served his architectural apprenticeship with Goodwin S. Packer, FRIBA in Southport, England from 1900 to 1906, and during this period he took part-time courses at the South Kensington School of Art where he was awarded the King’s Prize in Architectural Design. From 1906 to 1908 he was employed as assistant in the London office of Bradshaw, Gass & Hope Architects, and he then returned to Southport to rejoin his former employer G.S. Packer. In early 1910 he decided to emigrate to Canada and worked as an assistant in the Toronto office of George W. Gouinlock (in 1910-11), then landed a job with Darling & Pearson, the leading architectural firm in Toronto. He remained with that office until 1916, then moved to Ottawa at the request of John Pearson to help him supervise the rebuilding of the Parliament Building after the disastrous fire in April 1916. After the completion of this work, Drewitt opened his own office in Ottawa in late 1922 and continued to live and work there until 1925. During this period, he completed plans for a substantial mansion for Robert L. Blackburn, Aylmer Road, Hull, Que., executed in a refined Georgian style, and costing nearly $100,000. At the time of its completion, it was the largest and most costly private residence erected in the Ottawa region during the early 20th C. This mansion is now the official residence of the Italian Ambassador to Canada.
In 1925, in an unusual decision, Drewitt moved to West Palm Beach,. Florida where he served as architect in charge of design for the firm of King & Campbell, Architects. His major commissions there included contributing to the design of the Y.M.C.A. Building, the Northwood Hotel, and the Monterey Hotel, all in West Palm Beach, as well as the Harder Hall Hotel in Sebring, Fla. In 1927 he returned to Canada and accepted a job offer in Montreal as a staff architect with the Canadian Pacific Railway, working under the direct supervision of J.W. Orrock, the chief architect for the CPR. He joined the P.Q.A.A. in 1929 and was still employed by the CPR as late as 1952, but appears to have retired after this date.
Drewitt was elected as an Associate Member of the Royal Inst. of British Architects in London in 1907, and later as a Fellow of the RIBA in 1928 He died in Montreal on 20 February 1961 (death notice The Gazette [Montreal], 21 Feb. 1961, 33; biog. Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, pub. 2001, Vol. 1, 561; inf. from membership files of the Royal Inst. of British Architects, London; inf. Province of Quebec Association of Architects; inf. Ontario Association of Architects).
(works in Ottawa)
ST. LUKE’S ANGLICAN CHURCH, Somerset Street West at Bell Street, 1922 (Ottawa Journal, 23 May 1922, 4; Ottawa Citizen, 1 Aug. 1922, 8, descrip.)
ST. MARTIN’S ANGLICAN CHURCH, at Woodroffe, Grove Street at Richmond Road, 1924 (Ottawa Citizen, 15 April 1924, 16, descrip.; list of works in R.I.B.A. Application form submitted by Drewitt on 27 Feb. 1928)
ROCKCLIFFE, “Northcote”, the residence of William E. Matthews, Acacia Avenue, 1924 (C.H.G., iv, Aug. 1927, 38, illus.)
HULL, QUE., a mansion for Robert Lennox Blackburn, Aylmer Road near St. Raymond Boulevard, adjacent to the Royal Ottawa Golf Club, 1924 (list of works in R.I.B.A. Application form submitted by Drewitt on 27 Feb. 1928)
(with Eric Temple) ST. BARNABAS ANGLICAN CHURCH, Kent Street at James Street, 1931 (Ottawa Journal, 25 May 1931, 5, descrip.; Evening Citizen [Ottawa], 26 May 1931, 7, descrip.; 21 Oct. 1931, 17, descrip.; R. Jefferson, The Church of St. Barnabas - The Festival of Consecration, 1952, 10-11, 17-18, illus.)
(works elsewhere)
(with J.W. Orrock) KENTVILLE, N.S., The Cornwallis Inn, for the Dominion Atlantic Railway, 1930 (Canadian Hotel Review, viii, June 1930, 27)
(with J.W. Orrock) YARMOUTH, N.S., Lakeside Inn, 1931 (C.R., xlv, 24 June 1931, 765-76, illus. & descrip.)
MONTREAL, QUE., Park Avenue Railway Station [also called Jean Talon Station], Hutchison Street, 1931 (R.A.I.C. Journal, ix, March 1932, page xiii, illus. in advert.; June 1932, page iv, illus. in advert.; Const., xxv, March 1932, illus.; City of Montreal, Les Edifices Publics, 1981, 74-5, illus.)
COMPETITIONS
MOOSE JAW, SASK., City Hall, 1912. While working in the office of Darling & Pearson in Toronto in 1912, Drewitt joined with another staff member in that office, Samuel H. Maw, and together they submitted an entry in this national competition. The team of Maw & Drewitt received Second Prize, and their sophisticated design was subsequently published in Construction [Toronto], vi, Jan. 1913, 16, illus. The winner was John D. Atchison of Winnipeg, but his winning scheme was never built.
WINNIPEG, MAN., City Hall, Main Street at William Street, 1913. S.H. Maw and Drewitt teamed up again, this time to prepare the drawings for an entry in the national competition for a new City Hall in Winnipeg. There were 39 entries submitted, but their proposal was not among the five finalists. The winner was Clemesha & Portnall, but, here again, the prize-winning scheme was not built.