GILLIN, Charles Hansen (1911-1980) was active in London, Ontario for nearly thirty years from 1947 until after 1975, and he specialized in the design of educational buildings for both the public school system, and well as for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Huron District. He studied architecture at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he graduated in 1936, and trained with the prominent local architectural firm of Green, Blankstein, Russell & Ham. After WWII, he moved to London, Ontario where he was employed as an architect with M.M. Dillon & Co. in London, and the following year he opened an office in that city under his own name. He was an advocate of contemporary modernist design in his school buildings which can be found throughout Southwestern Ontario, and he employed the same progressive style in his residential work, best seen in his design for the Hyman Ginsberg residence, Wellington Crescent, London (1949), still standing in 2017 and now a designated heritage building.
Gillin remained active in London until at least 1975, and he was credited with the design of at least twenty new school buildings in the London region, as well as major additions to several other schools. He later died in London on 23 September 1980. The University of Western Ontario Archives in London, Ont. holds a collection of more than 70 sets of drawings by Gillin which were recently acquired from the London Regional Art Gallery. An exhibition of his work, organized by Richard Gale, was held at the University in late 2017. A full Finding Aid to the Gillen Collection has been prepared in both a printed format and in a digital format. All of the projects listed below are accompanied by drawings within the Gillen Collection.
BELLE RIVER, ONT., High School, 1947 (C.R., lx, July 1947, 102)
PARK HILL, ONT., public school, 1948 (C.R., lxi, Jan .1948, 174)
GODERICH, ONT., major addition to a public school or high school, 1948 (C.R., lxi, Feb. 1948, 167, t.c.)
GODERICH, ONT., Indoor Arena, 1949 (C.R., lxii, May 1949, 162)
PRINCETON, ONT., public school, 1949 (C.R., lxii, June 1949, 113)
LONDON, ONT., residence for Hyman Ginsberg, Wellington Crescent near Foxbar Road, 1949 (inf. from Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, London Chapter Branch Newsletter, 2016, 5, illus.)
LONDON TOWNSHIP, public school for S.S. No. 25, 1949 (C.R., lxii, Oct. 1949, 140)
KINCARDINE, ONT., public school, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, June 1950, 123)
GLENCOE, ONT., High School, 1950-51 (C.R., lxiii, July 1950, 117)
LONDON, ONT., Roman Catholic High School, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Aug. 1950, 238; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxi, Sept. 1954, 328-29, illus.)
WEST LORNE, ONT., High School for the West Elgin District School Board, 1950-51 (C.R., lxiii, Sept. 1950, 124)
STRATFORD, ONT., St. Aloysius Roman Catholic High School, Avondale Avenue at Charles Street, 1955 (inf. Huron-Perth County Roman Catholic Separate School Board)
BAYHAM TOWNSHIP, ELGIN COUNTY, The Eden Public School, 1961 (inf. Elgin County Board of Education)