HAM, Ralph Carl (1902-1942), active in Winnipeg, Man. and partner in the successful firm of Green, Blankstein, Russell & Ham. Born in Winnipeg on 27 February 1902, he was educated at public schools there, and later studied architecture at the University of Manitoba where he graduated with honours in 1928. He worked briefly for Northwood & Chivers (in 1928), and for Pratt & Ross (in 1928-29), then moved to Regina to train in the office of Storey & Van Egmond in 1929-30. In early 1930 he took up a new position with the Saskatchewan Dept. of Public Works, working under the chief architect Harold Dawson. He returned to Winnipeg to open an office under his own name, but only one project by him has been found from this period, that of Salisbury House Restaurant in Winnipeg (1932). This unique building was designed to be moveable, and was fabricated out of porcelain enamelled steel panels which could be easily disassembled and set up in other locations in Winnipeg, and may be considered one of the first commercial experiments in demountable construction in the Prairies in the early 20th C. (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 3 Sept. 1932, 25, descrip.; 22 Oct. 1932, 2, descrip.)
In 1933 Ham associated himself with G. Leslie Russell (nephew of the leading Winnipeg architect John Hamilton Gordon Russell), and in 1934 they teamed up with another firm, Green & Blankstein Architects, to form a new partnership to undertake a major low-cost housing project in Winnipeg. Valued at $1.75 million dollars, this vast Depression-era stimulus project was to occupy two full city blocks bounded by Arlington Street, McDermot Avenue, William Avenue and McPhillips Street (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 24 April 1934, 9, descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xi, July-August 1934, 7-8, illus.). Although not built, it formed the basis for the establishment of a new firm, Green, Blankstein Russell & Ham which became one of the leading architectural offices on the Canadian prairies (see list of works under Lawrence J. Green).
Ham died unexpectedly on 26 June 1942 (obituary and photographic portrait, Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 26 June 1942, 1 and 13; Winnipeg Free Press, 26 June 1942, 4; obituary R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, July 1942, 154; Oct. 1942, 211; inf. from Cecil N. Blankstein, August 1984). After 1945, the firm was renamed Green Blankstein & Russell (GBR Architects) and continues to be active today. The Winnipeg Architecture Foundation has published an illustrated monograph on the works by Green, Blankstein, Russell & Ham in 2017. Written by Jeffrey Thorsteinson & Brennan Smith, this publication is entitled Green Blankstein Russell & Associates: An Architectural Legacy, and includes many illustrations of projects by Ham and his partners built in Western Canada during the period from 1934 to 1942.