HEUGHAN, Robert Gall (1887-1950) was born on 12 September 1887 at Dunfermline, Scotland and received his architectural education by attending night courses in Glasgow. He imigrated to Canada in 1909 and joined the Architectural Dept. of the C.P.R. where he assisted W.S. Painter with completing work on the Banff Springs and Lack Louise Hotels. In 1913 he obtained a position as draftsman with the leading Montreal firm of Ross & MacFarlane (later Ross & MacDonald). He chose to remain with this successful office over a period of four decades and upon its dissolution in 1946 he became chief designer in the successor firm of Ross, Patterson, Townsend & Heughan. Despite suffering serious wounds during military service in WWI he was able to contribute to the development of major projects in Montreal including the Mount Royal Hotel, T. Eaton Co. Department Store, and the Royal Victoria Hospital. Heughan was also involved in the design of the Royal York Hotel and Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
He also practised independently and in late 1925 he collaborated with James A. Aird and submitted an entry in the international competition for the National War Memorial in Ottawa (Ottawa Journal, 1 Feb. 1926, 3). His proposal was among over one hundred designs sent in, and the scheme by Heughan & Aird was selected as one of seven finalists. Their drawings were later set aside in favour of the winning scheme by Vernon March, a sculptor from London, England. Heughan was not deterred by this loss, and that same year he won the competition for the Regina War Memorial in 1926. He later received an Honourable Mention in the Dominion Housing Competition of 1936 for an exquisitely rendered Tudor revival design for a small stone-clad house (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, May 1936, 89, 93, illus.). Several churches in the Montreal area can also be credited to him. Heughan continued to practise in Montreal until his death there on 3 May 1950 (obituary in Montreal Daily Star, 3 May 1950, 2; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Aug. 1950, 283; inf. Mr. W.G. Heughan, St. Lambert)
REGINA, SASK., WW1 Cenotaph, Victoria Park, 1926 (Morning Leader [Regina], 12 Nov. 1926, 1, 8, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, iv, May 1927, 184, illus. & descrip.)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Birch Avenue, 1927 (inf. Douglas Mackie, St. Lambert)
MOUNT ROYAL VALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, [also called Scott Presbyterian Church], Clanranald Avenue, 1929-30 (Gazette [Montreal], 30 Nov. 1929, 4, descrip.). According to this article, the design for this church was intended to resemble (or be a copy of) the earlier plans by Heughan for St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in the Town of St. Lambert, built in 1927 (see entry above).
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., rebuilding of the large 3 storey clubhouse for the Montreal Country Club, Riverside Drive, 1933; still standing in 2022 (C.R., xlii, 25 Oct. 1933, 30; inf. Yves Guillet, St. Lambert)
GREENFIELD PARK, QUE., Greenfield Park United Church, and a Parish Hall beside the church, 1939 (Gazette [Montreal], 7 Oct. 1939, 3, illus.)
OUTREMONT, QUE., alterations to MacVicar Memorial Church, Hutchison Street, 1947 (Outremont b.p. 4276, 18 Nov. 1947)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., Longueuil Meat Exporting Co., a large 2 storey addition to existing plant, 1950 (Financial Post [Toronto], 18 Feb. 1950, 18)