DOWSWELL, Harry Royden (1883-1955), active in Montreal and in Toronto in partnership with Charles Dolphin (see list of works under Dowswell & Dolphin below). Dowswell was a native of Canada, and was born in Dresden in southwestern Ontario on 24 August 1883, son of John R. Dowswell, a builder and contractor. He learned the building trades under his father from 1896 to 1903, then moved to Montreal, Que. In 1904 and enrolled at the Dept. of Architecture at McGill University. He took one year off in 1905 to train in the Architectural Dept. of the Bank of Montreal, then returned to McGill in 1906 while working part time in the offices of Percy Nobbs, with Peden & McLaren, and with Brown & Vallance. After graduating in 1909, he moved to New York City and trained as a draftsman in the office of Carrere & Hastings, a leading architectural firm there.
In early 1912 he moved back to Montreal and joined the office of Ross & MacFarlane (later renamed Ross & MacDonald) which was then the largest architectural office in eastern Canada, and he later served as chief draftsman there from 1912 to 1918. He was posted to Halifax, N.S. after the Halifax Explosion of December 1917, and he designed and supervised the major housing development of a tract of nearly 500 houses along Gottingen Street, from Young Street to Duffus Street in 1918 (Journal of the Engineering Institute of Canada [Montreal], Vol. 1, October 1918, 262-70, illus. & descrip.). Dowswell opened an office under his own name in Montreal in September 1918 (Contract Record [Toronto], xxxii, 25 Sept. 1918, 784), but in early 1920 he formed a new partnership with the Toronto architect Charles B. Dolphin (Const., xiii, March 1920, 102). They appear to have been operating two branch offices, with Dowswell remaining in Montreal, and Dolphin active in Toronto, but it is unclear if they collaborated on joint commissions, many of which were connected to speculative real estate ventures, and some of these projects may not have been built.
By 1925 their partnership had been terminated, and Dowswell moved back to New York City where he became an associate of Alexander B. Trowbridge (in 1925-27) before joining Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, the well-known architectural firm that was later credited with the design of the Empire State Building in Manhattan in 1929-31. He remained with this firm for the next twenty years, becoming a partner in 1943. In 1929 Dowswell was elected as a member of the American Institute of Architects, and he was later nominated as a Fellow of the A.I.A. in 1954. Dowswell died in Cleveland, Ohio on 21 May 1955 (obituary & port. New York Times, 22 May 1955, 89; obituary Gazette [Montreal], 23 May 1955, 29; biog. Const. [Toronto], xiii, March 1920, 102; inf. American Institute of Architects, Washington; biog. Royal Institute of British Architects (London), Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, pub. 2001, Vol. 1, 558-59).
DOWSWELL & DOLPHIN
HAWKESBURY, ONT., a housing development for the Riordan Pulp & Paper Co., 1920 (Const., xiii, March 1920, 102)
HALIFAX, N.S., apartment block for an unnamed client, 1920 (C.R., xxxiv, 10 March 1920, 64, t.c.)
TORONTO, ONT., athletic clubhouse for the York County Athletic Club, 1920-21 (C.R., xxxiv, 3 Nov. 1920, 58)
WINDSOR, ONT., a ten storey hotel block for the New Windsor Hotel Co. Ltd., London Street and Dougall Avenue, 1921 (C.R., xxxv, 18 May 1921, 515, illus. & descrip.)
TORONTO, ONT., major alterations and conversion of the old Palmer House Hotel into The York Building, for Superior Realty Co., King Street West at York Street, 1921; demol. (City of Toronto b.p. 42541, 22 Aug. 1921)
LONDON, ONT., The Lloyd George Hotel, a large hotel building for Canada Hotels Ltd., Richmond Street at Fullerton Street, 1921-22 (C.R., xxxv, 14 Dec. 1921, 53; Brantford Expositor, 25 Jan. 1922, 16)
TORONTO, ONT., a seven storey office block for London Life Insurance Co., Bloor Street West, west of Yonge Street, 1923 (Toronto Daily Star, 26 April 1923, 29, descrip.; C.R., xxxvii, 2 May 1923, 62)
TORONTO, ONT., National Trust Co., King Street East at Victoria Street, major alterations to existing office building, 1924 (City of Toronto b.p. 71239, 26 May 1924)