DOBUSH, Peter (1908-1980), a leading architect in Montreal, Que. in the post-WWII era and active in the following firms:
Peter Dobush, Winnipeg, Man. 1935-39
Russell, Russell & Dobush, Winnipeg, Man., 1939-40
Peter Dobush, Montreal, 1951-1955
Dobush & Stewart, Montreal, 1955-1960
Dobush, Stewart & Bourke, Montreal, 1960-1965
Dobush, Stewart, Bourke & Holfhausen, St. John’s, Nfld, 1965
Dobush, Stewart, Bourke, Longpre, Marchand & Goudreau, Montreal, & Ottawa, 1966-1973
Dobush, Stewart, Longpre, Marchand & Goudreau, Montreal, 1973-76
Dobush, Stewart, Longpre, Marchand, Goudreau & Hein, Ottawa, 1973-1978
Born on July 1, 1908, Dobush graduated with an Arts degree from the University of Manitoba in 1928, and with his B. Arch degree from the same university in 1931. He trained with local firms in Winnipeg including The Board of Architects (a consortium formed to design the Winnipeg Auditiorium in 1931-32), and with Northwood & Chivers (1933), with G.W. Northwood (1934-35), and with A.E. Cubbidge (1935). He opened his own office in Winnipeg in late 1935, and in 1939 he was invited by J.H.G. Russell, a leading architect in Winnipeg, to form a new partnership of Russell, Russell & Dobush, Architects.
During WWII, he designed wartime factory and munitions plants for Defence Industries Ltd., and later advised on atomic energy installations at Chalk River, Ont. and at Deep River, Ont. (1944-46). This work on scientific research facilities and on atomic energy plants became the focus for much his firm’s work after 1950. In 1955 he formed a partnership with William E. Stewart; they were joined by R. David Bourke in 1960, and the firm continued to grow over the next two decades, with branch offices in St. John’s, Nfld., and in Ottawa, Ont. Dobush died in Montreal on 28 October 1980 (death notice The Gazette [Montreal], 30 October 1980, 78).
The National Archives of Canada in Ottawa holds a large collection of original architectural drawings by Dobush and his partners prepared during the period from 1951 to 1978 (NAC Acc. 88921). This includes nearly 1,800 drawings for schools, churches, hospitals, factories, apartments, office buildings and private residences for clients in Montreal, Ottawa and in Newfoundland. Many of the early student drawings by Dobush dating from 1929 to 1931 have survived, and are held in a separate collection in Ottawa (NAC, Acc. 81203), and confirm that Dobush was among the most proficient delineators and draftsmen of any architectural school in Canada. These projects include his subtle watercolour drawings for “A Monumental Arch”, “ A Maritime Museum”, “ A Concert Hall”, “ A Small Bank”, and a design for “A Lighthouse”. Dobush built a substantial collection of architectural books during his career, and after his death in 1980 many of these books, inscribed with his signature and his embossed professional seal, were dispersed through antiquarian book dealers in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.