RUSSELL, Gordon Leslie (1901-1977), active in Winnipeg, Man. from 1932 until 1966. He was a nephew of John Hamilton Gordon Russell, a leading architect in Winnipeg, and it is likely that his uncle helped to encourage Gordon to take up the study of architecture at the University of Manitoba in 1920. G.L. Russell was born in Winnipeg on 28 November 1901 and studied architecture at the School of Architecture, Univ. of Manitoba from 1920 to 1924. After graduation, he trained in his uncle’s office until 1932, but during this period he spent a period of two years working for a large architectural office in Chicago. He joined the Manitoba Association of Architects in 1932.
In 1933 Russell formed a partnership with Ralph C. Ham and in 1934 they teamed up with another firm, Green & Blankstein Architects, to form a new architectural firm 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 in the 20th C. (see list of works under Lawrence J. Green).
Russell served as President of the Manitoba Association of Architects in 1950 and 1951 and continued to work in Winnipeg until December 1966 when he moved to Victoria, B.C. He died there on 30 May 1977 (obituary Winnipeg Free Press, 31 May 1977, 37; 2 June 1977, 79; inf. Architectural Inst. of British Columbia, Membership Application, c. 1930)