GITTERMAN, Samuel (1911-1998), active as Chief Architect of the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation in Ottawa from 1946 to 1959, and who later operated his own private architectural practise in Ottawa. Born in Montreal, Que. on 30 March 1911, he graduated from the School of Architecture at McGill University in 1935 after winning design prizes and scholarships including the Gold Medal from the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada as outstanding student in the graduating year at McGill. He trained in the offices of architects in Montreal and Ottawa in 1935-37, then joined the Department of National Defense as a junior architect. In 1939 he was appointed as Assistant Architect with the National Housing Administration, forerunner of C.M.H.C., and in 1946 he became Chief Architect, overseeing all post-war federal housing projects in Canada.
Gitterman resigned from that post in September 1955, and was succeeded by Ian R. MacLennan. He then became consulant to CMHC (Ottawa Citizen, 24 Sept. 1955, 5, biog.). This allowed him to open a private practise under his own name, and to act as Advisor to CMHC and to create two unique and radical designs for single family houses in Canada. Both houses, .called the Mark III House (1961), and the Mark IV House (1963) are located beside one another at 40 A and 40 B Barker Boulevard in Rockcliffe Park, and featured sealed windows which did not open, a self-contained heating and ventilation system with no ducts, wood foundations (a significant departure from traditional building techniques in Canada), and an independent sewage treatment plant within each house, disconnecting them from the municipal sewage system. These innovations were certainly a progressive innovation for their time, and a harbinger of later residential designs in the early 21st century in North America which utilize off-grid power supply, natural ventilation, and self-contained sewage systems. Gitterman continued to work independently and later retired from his advisory position at CMHC in 1974, but also found work as an architectural consultant. He died in Ottawa on 3 January 1998 (death notice Ottawa Citizen, 5 Jan. 1998, 18; biography in Ottawa Citizen, 22 Oct. 1959, 28).
(works in Quebec)
VERDUN, The Lakeside Housing Development, Egan Avenue, a tract of 140 homes for war veterans, in collaboration with C. David Goodman, architect, of Parkdale Homes Ltd., 1945 (Gazette [Montreal], 25 Jully 1945, 4, descrip.)
EXPO '67, proposal for an Observation Tower, designed 1966, but not built (Architecture Canada [Toronto], xliii, July 1966, 37, illus.)
(works in Ottawa)
PHYSICIAN'S & SURGEONS BUILDING, Carling Avenue at Hinton Avenue, a 6 storey office block, 1960-61 (Ottawa Journal, 19 March 1960, 9, illus.)
(with G.E. Bemi) MINTO PLACE, at Kinsua Road, residence for O.J. Firestone, 1961 (Ottawa Citizen, 5 Oct. 1991, Section I [eye], p. I 2, historical article)
MARK III EXPERIMENTAL HOUSE, at No. 40 A Barker Boulevard, Rockcliffe Park, 1960-61 (Ottawa Journal, 30 June 1960, 11; National Builder [Toronto], x, Jan. 1961, 30-38, illus. & descrip.; and x, Sept. 1961, 41-43, illus. & descrip.; Gazette [Montreal], 15 Dec. 1962, Canadian Weekly Magazine Supplement, 2-5, illus. & detailed architectural descrip.)
MARK IV EXPERIMENTAL HOUSE, at No. 40 B Barker Boulevard, Rockcliffe Park, 1963-64 (Canadian Building [Toronto], xiii, Sept. 1963, 56-60, illus. & descrip.; and xiv, June 1964, 42-45, illus. & descrip.; Gazette [Montreal], 2 May 1964, Section Three, 25, descrip.; and 5 Dec. 1964, Weekend Magazine, 5 Dec. 1964, 12-16, illus. & descrip.; Ottawa Citizen, 5 Dec. 1964, Weekend Magazine, 5 Dec. 1964, 12-16, illus. & detailed architectural descrip.)
(with Burgess, McLean & MacPhayden and J.S. Le Fort, Architects) ISLAND LODGE, Porter Island, a 7 storey Home for the Aged, 1962-64 (Ottawa Citizen, 20 March 1962, 13; and 12 Sept. 1962, 52, descrip.; and 19 May 1964, 13, descrip.)
MacDONALD MANOR, Cobourg Street, 1963 (Ottawa Citizen, 12 June 1963, 3, illus. & descrip.)
CMHC HOUSE PLAN, No. 2317, a modern detached small house design, with plans to be offered to buyers across Canada, 1964 (Ottawa Journal, 4 April 1964, H6, illus. & descrip.)
CMHC HOUSE PLAN, No. 2327, a modern detached small house design, with plans to be offered to buyers across Canada, 1965 (Ottawa Journal, 25 Sept. 1965, H6, illus. & descrip.)
PARKER CHRYSLER-PLYMOUTH LTD., McArthur Street at St. Laurent Boulevard, a large auto showroom, 1964 (Ottawa Journal, 20 June 1964, 32)
MONTLAIR APARTMENTS, Cooper Street, a 12 storey apartment block, 1964-65 (Ottawa Journal, 21 Noc. 1964, 37)
MORISSET STREET, between Merivale Road and Larkin Street, at 7 storey aparment block, 1965-66 (Ottawa Journal, 1 May 1965, 35)