WIGGS, Henry Ross (1895-1986) of Montreal, Que. was a talented delineator, draftsman and painter who became a successful architect in his own right. Born in Quebec City on 28 December 1895 he was educated at the Quebec High School for Boys, at Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ont., at McGill University in Montreal and obtained his degree in architecture at the Massachusetts Inst. of Technoloogy in Boston in 1922. He worked as an assistant in New York City for Harold T. Lindberg from 1922-24, for Alfred C. Bossom in 1924-25, and then returned to Montreal in 1927 to work in the offices of David R. Brown (from 1927-28), Harold L. Fetherstonhaugh (from 1928 to 1931) and Kenneth Rea (in 1932). It was here that his reputation as a brilliant delineator was made, and he was much in demand by the leading architects of the day for his exquisite atmospheric pencil drawings that were often influential in capturing awards and prizes for their designers. In 1927 his drawings for First Church of Christ Scientist received First Premium and the commission for its designer A.D. Thacker of Montreal (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, June 1928, 215, illus.). In 1929 his drawings for St. Andrew & St. Paul Presbyterian Church, designed by H.L. Fetherstonhaugh, were selected in open competition against ten other submissions (R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, Dec. 1929, 442-3, illus.). Other presentation drawings by Wiggs were frequently exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, including those for a design by Shorey & Ritchie for the country mansion of D. Forbes Angus (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, June 1928, 216). A biographical article on Wiggs, with illustrations of many drawings executed by him for other American and Canadian architects, appeared in the leading American architectural journal called Pencil Points [New York], xviii, June 1937, 341-52.
In the middle of the Depression in 1933, Wiggs decided to commence his own practice and completed many designs for private residences and industrial buildings. In 1942 he was awarded First Prize in a competition sponsored by the Quebec Government and the Dept. of Agriculture for a town residence inspired by the traditional Quebecois style (Gazette [Montreal], 25 Nov. 1942, 13, illus. & descrip.; C.H.G., xxii, May 1945, 15, illus.). Wiggs was elected President of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects in 1951, and in 1954 was a founding partner in the Montreal firm of Wiggs, Lawton & Walker. He was nominated as a Fellow to both the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1953. Wiggs retired from active practise in 1966 and died at Hamilton, Ont. on 16 March 1986 (death notice in the Globe & Mail [Toronto], 18 March 1986, A14; biog. in R. Hamilton, Prominent Men of Canada, 1931-32, 180; biog. and port. in the National Reference Book, viii, 1947-48, 632-3; biog., port. and list of works in Who's Who in Canada, 1963, 1437).
H. Ross WIGGS (works in Montreal unless noted)
(with C. R. Tetley) WESTMOUNT, Argyle School, Cote St. Antoine Road, 1934 (Const., xxvii, July-Aug. 1934, 113)
WESTMOUNT, residence for Armand Collet, Bresley Road, 1937 (C.H.G., xiv, May 1937, 40)
DAULAC ROAD, near Ramezay Road, residence for G. Edwin Robertson, 1936 (C.H.G., xv, Aug. 1938, 37, illus.)
MONT TREMBLANT, QUE., country inn, ski lodge, recreation hall, and cottages for Joseph B. Ryan, 1940 (C.R., liii, 8 May 1940, 19; R.A.I.C. Journal, xviii, April 1941, 57-8, illus.)
ARVIDA, QUE., a tract of two hundred houses for employees of the Aluminum Co. of Canada, 1941 (C.R., liv, 9 July 1941, 36)
WESTMOUNT, residence for Rene B. Perrault, Oakland Avenue, 1943 (C.H.G., xx, July-Aug. 1943, 33)
(with Louis A. Amos & Pierre C. Amos) NOORDUYN AVIATION LTD., aircraft assembly plant, office block, and hangars, Laurentian Boulevard, Cartierville, 1941-44 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, Feb. 1946, 40, illus.)
MOUNT ROYAL, residence for Trevor Holland, Dunvegan Road, 1946 (C.H.G., xxiii, Sept. 1946, 28, illus.)
MOUNT ROYAL, residence for John M. Bissonette, Caledonia Road, 1946 (C.H.G., xxiii, Spet. 1946, 29, illus.)
SOREL, QUE., Celanese Ltd., factory and production plant, 1946-47 (C.R., lix, Nov. 1946, 98)
STE. AGATHE DES MONTS, QUE., residence for J.G. Notman, 1946 (C.H.G., xxiv, Jan. 1947, 29, illus.)
STE. AGATHE DES MONTS, QUE., residence for Colin Webster, 1947 (C.H.G., xxiv, July 1947, 25, illus.)
STE. AGATHE DES MONTS, QUE., residence for J.G. Robertson, at Greenshields Point, 1947 (C.H.G., ssiv, July 1947, 26, illus.)
SHELL OIL CO., Sherbrooke Street East at Gamble Avenue, laboratory, 1947 (C.R., lx, May 1947, 122)
BELL TELEPHONE CO., Dupont Exchange Building, Sauve Avenue East at Christopher Columbus Avenue, major addition, 1947 (C.R., lx, June 1947, 108)
VENTILATING & BLOW PIPE CO., Parthenais Street, factory, 1947 (Financial Post [Toronto], 27 Sept. 1947, 13)
FARNHAM, QUE., office block and addition to textile factory for Collins & Aikman Co. Ltd., 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Jan. 1950, 154)
FOUNDATION CO. OF CANADA, Ste. Catherine Street West near Guy Street, office building, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, April 1950, 131)
ORMSTOWN, QUE., major addition to factory and spinning mills for Zephyr Textiles Ltd., 1950 (Financial Post [Toronto], 17 June 1950, 7)
LOUISBURG, N.S., fish processing plant for Gordon Pew Fisheries Co., 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Sept. 1950, 134)