LITTLE, Harold Butler (1894-1987), active in Montreal, Que. as a member of the following architectural firms:
Perry, Luke & Little, 1936-1941
Luke & Little, 1942-45
Luke, Little & Mace, 1946-49
Luke & Little, 1950-1955
Luke, Little & Thibaudeau, 1956-1961
Little & Thibaudeau, 1961- onward
Born in Ottawa, Ont. on 17 December 1894, he attended Ottawa Collegiate, then moved to Montreal to enroll at the School of Architecture at McGill University in 1913. In 1916 his education was interrupted by WWI, and he joined the Canadian Army, seeing action at Vimy Ridge and at Passchendaele. He returned to McGill and graduated from the School in 1920. He joined the Montreal firm of John S. Archibald as a draughtsman (in 1920-22), then relocated to New York City where he worked in the architectural office of George B. Post & Sons (in 1922-24). After a tour of Europe, he returned to Montreal to work as a draughtsman with the Dept. of Engineering with the C.P.R. Railway (in 1926-28), then joined the firm created by some of his McGill friends A. Leslie Perry and Morley C. Luke.
After nearly eight years, they invited him to become a full partner in the new firm of Perry, Luke & Little in 1936. During the next 30 years, he designed a diverse array of commercial, ecclesiastical and residential buildings in Westmount, Outremont, and the Town of Mount Royal. He was adept at using a variety of period styles to inspire his designs for substantial private residences executed in a Norman, Colonial, Gothic, Tudor Revival or Old English style for a range of wealthy Montreal clients (see list of works in the entries under A. Leslie Perry, and under Morley Luke). In the post war boom after 1950, he completed designs for many industrial and commercial buildings for the D’Allairds retail clothing store chain, and for the United Amusement Theatres.
Little retired from the profession in 1972, and later died in Montreal on 7 August 1987 (obituary The Gazette [Montreal], 12 August 1987, G 11; obituary Town of Mount Royal Weekly Post, 20 Aug. 1987, 17; inf. John C. Little, Town of Mount Royal). His name should not confused with another Montreal architect, Harold Robert Little, who was also active in that city from 1911 to 1948.
COMPETITIONS
LINDENLEA, OTTAWA, ONT. In 1926 Harold B. Little received First Premium in the competition for a Village Green and Square in the Lindenlea neighbourhood of Ottawa (R.A.I.C. Journal, iii, July-Aug. 1926, 172, illus. & descrip.). The design by Little was located on a large triangular plot of land bounded by Rockcliffe Way, Middleton Drive, and Lindenlea Road, but it is unclear if his winning design was built.