HORWOOD, Eric Crompton (1900-1984), architect of Toronto, Ont. and son of John Charles Batstone Horwood, a prolific architect and member of the prominent firm of Burke, Horwood & White. Eric C. was born in Toronto in July 1900 and, with the encouragement of his father, he studied architecture at the Dept. of Architecture at the School of Practical Science at the Univ. of Toronto where he graduated in 1925. While a student in Toronto, he joined his father's firm as an office boy in August 1919 and worked evenings, weekends and holidays during his studies at art school and at university. In early 1925 he moved to Paris, France to enroll at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and in October 1926 he was one of three Canadian architecture students to receive the First Prize of 600 Francs for their studies at the prestigious Fontainbleau School of Fine Arts (R.A.I.C. Journal, iii, Nov./Dec. 1926, 246). After returning to Toronto in late 1926, Eric C. worked with Murray A. White, in the firm of Horwood & White, but White died in November 1935, leaving young Eric to continue the activity of the office either under his own name, or in partnership with Solomon Van Raalte after 1938. Eric C. retired from the profession in 1970. He died in Toronto on 22 October 1984 (death notice Globe & Mail [Toronto], 25 Oct. 1984). A detailed biography of Horwood was included in the Press Release issued by the Ontario Archives in 1979 on the occasion of the announcement of the Horwood Collection.
The architectural profession, as well as many historians and heritage planners in Canada, will forever be indebted to Eric Horwood for his vision to gather together the extensive Horwood Collection of nearly 50,000 original architectural drawings spanning over 120 years of development of architecture in Ontario from 1828 to c. 1950. Retained in the ownership of the Horwood family for generations, the entire collection was donated to the Ontario Archives in Toronto in March 1979, and a full Finding Aid to the collection has been prepared. It remains as the largest collection of original architectural drawings ever offered by a single donor in Canada.
HORWOOD & WHITE (works in Toronto)
WESTON, ONT., Dominion Public Building & Post Office, Main Street North at Ellesmere Avenue, 1935 (Weston Times & Guide, 3 May 1935, 4, detailed architectural descrip.; and 17 May 1935, 1, illus.)
CANADIAN FAIRBANKS MORSE LTD., large warehouse, showroom and office, on the waterfront, at Harbour Street near York Street, 1947 (Financial Post [Toronto], 3 May 1947, 10)
COMPETITIONS
HAMILTON, ONT., North West Entrance to Hamilton, 1927-28. After returning to Toronto, Eric Horwood collaborated with Jack Ryrie on preparing a competition entry in this national competition. Twelve architects from Toronto, Montreal and elsewhere submitted designs, but the entry by Horwood & Ryrie was not premiated (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, April 1928, 131, list of competitors). The winner was Earle Sheppard of Toronto, but his scheme was never built.
CANADA, Dominion Housing Act Small House Competition, 1936. A total of 526 designs were sent in from architects across Canada. The design by Eric Horwood submitted in this national competition was presented in a modernized Georgian style (Design No. 382, published in the 1936 Dominion Housing Act Competition, p. 60, illus.). The winner of this competition was William Ralston of Toronto.