GREENSIDES, Harold Charles (1904-1969) of Montreal, Que. began his career in Toronto where he won several design awards in the national and provincial Small Homes Competitions of 1936 and 1938. Born in Toronto, Ont. on 20 May 1904, He graduated from Central Technical School, then trained in the Toronto office of Stevens & Lee in 1923-25. He moved to New York City in October 1925 where he obtained a position as draftsman in the office of James Gamble Rogers, a leading American architect and master of the Collegiate Gothic style. While he was employed there, Greensides studied architecture at Columbia University through their evening Extension Course programme, and then spent a year in the architectural department of New York Central Railroad working on station designs. He returned to Toronto in May 1927, and continued his training with G. Roper Gouinlock (in 1927-28), and with John M. Lyle (in 1928-32), and with Marani, Lawson & Morris (1933-39).
He moved to Montreal in 1940 and joined the architectural design department of the Canadian National Railways office there, working under the direct supervision of George F. Drummond, Chief Architect of the railway. He was appointed as the Assistant Chief Architect in 1951 (Gazette [Montreal], 16 Jan. 1951, 4, biog. and port.) and later became Chief Architect in 1956 (Canadian Architect, ii, Oct. 1956, 10). Greensides retired from that post after 1965 and died in Toronto on 11 June 1969 (death notice Gazette [Montreal], 12 June 1969, 27; inf. from Ontario Assoc. of Architects; inf. Province of Quebec Association of Architects).
COMPETITIONS
H.C. GREENSIDES
DOMINION HOUSING ACT - Small Homes Competition for 1936. Greensides submitted two schemes, and received Second Prize for one of these, for a conservative and traditional detached house design (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, May 1936, 89-90, illus. & descrip.; C.H.G., xiii, Aug.-Sept. 1936, 16-17, illus.)
ONTARIO GOVERNMENT HOUSING COMPETITION, 1936. A total of 109 designs were sent in by Ontario architects, and Greensides received First Prize (Class A Division), and Second Prize (Class B Division) in this provincial competition. Both designs were published (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, Aug. 1936, 152, 155, 157, illus. & descrip.)
GREENSIDES & LANGLEY
DOMINION HOUSING ACT - Small Homes Competition, 1938. Greensides teamed up with John Langley and they submitted two proposals. No. 194 was a modern version of a small Georgian house, and No. 196 was presented in a “universal vernacular style” (R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, April 1938, 81, 85-86, illus. & descrip.; Canadian Homes & Gardens, xv, May 1938, 58; Building In Canada - Small Homes, 1939 Annual Edition, 54, illus. & descrip.)