RIDDELL, Willard Bruce (1895-1964) of Hamilton, Ont. was born there on 12 January 1895 and articled with the London, Ont. firm of Watt & Blackwell (in 1910-15). He moved to Boston, Mass. in September 1915 and graduated from the Massachusetts Inst. of Technology in 1917, receiving the coveted Arthur Rotch Prize in Architecture. He was a talented and proficient student, and his impressive Beaux-Arts designs for "A Municipal Pumping Station", and for "A Church in a City Block" were published in the MIT Dept. of Architecture Yearbook called The Technology Architectural Record [M.I.T.], Vol. x, 1917, 23, 25, illus. (inf. Robert Hamilton, Hamilton, Ont.).
Riddell remained in Boston for his post-graduate studies until 1919, then moved to Montreal to join David R. Brown as a draftsman. He commenced practise in Hamilton in 1923 and was, according to Arthur Wallace, '.....a loner who had no staff and did everything himself, and was highly respected in the profession'. New research has uncovered information that he did, in fact, work with a talented and precocious assistant and draftsman Edward Glass (1907-1987), who was employed by Riddell from 1927 to 1932. Glass later executed several notable modernist works in the Hamilton area, including the residence for M.H. Lounsbury, St. Paul Street, BURLINGTON, ONT., 1937-38. Much of Riddell's work after 1940 was designed in a reserved modernist style. He died in Hamilton on 6 December 1964 (obit. Spectator [Hamilton], 7 Dec. 1964, 30; inf. R.I.B.A., London; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects, Toronto)
(works in Hamilton unless noted)
ANCASTER, ONT., residence for Joseph M. Pigott, Wilson Street East, c. 1928 (inf. Local Architecture Conservation Advisory Committee, Ancaster)
MAIN STREET WEST, near Hess Street, apartment block for R.S. Masson, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 18 Jan. 1928, 51, t.c.)
ST. ENOCH'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Main Street East at London Street, 1928 (Twenty Five Years at St. Enoch's, 1950, 7 illus.)
FIRTH BROS. LTD., Hughson Street North at Cannon Street East, a 4 storey factory, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 19 Sept. 1928, 53)
MOUNTAIN PARK AVENUE, residence for Dr. John P. Morton, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 3 Oct. 1928, 61, t.c.)
HESS KING APARTMENTS, King Street West at Hess Street, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 20 June 1928, 57)
HESS STREET SOUTH, near Aberdeen Avenue, residence for Edwin Mills, 1929 (C.H.G., vii, Feb. 1930, 55-8, illus.)
ANCASTER, ONT., large residence for Lawrence R. Greene, a conversion of a former industrial evaporator plant into a country house, 1930 (C.H.G., ix, Jan. 1932, 26-9, illus.; Financial Post [Toronto], 20 March 1937, 11, illus. & descrip, but lacking attribution to the architect; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.)
BUCKINGHAM MANSIONS APARTMENTS, Main Street West at Charles Street, 1930 (C.R., xliv, 14 May 1930, 71)
EVERSLEY, KING TOWNSHIP, ONT., proposed design for Eaton Hall, a mansion for Lady Eaton, Dufferin Street near Highway 40, c. 1932 (Kelly Mathews, Eaton Hall - Pride of King Township, 2015, 77-78, illus. & descrip.). This scheme was not built, and the commission was later awarded to Allward & Gouinlock of Toronto.
UNITED HEBREW ASSOCIATION, Vine Street, community hall, 1932 (C.R., xlvi, 20 Jan. 1932, 44, t.c.)
WESTDALE MOVIE THEATRE, King Street West at Marion Avenue North, 1935; restored 2017-18 (Archaeological Research Associates [Kitchener], Report on the Cultural Heritage Assessment of 1014 King Street West, July 2017, reproductions of architectural drawings dated 1935 and stamped by W. Bruce Riddell, Architect, showing Proposed Theatre at Westdale, pages 68-71, illus.; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 21 July 2017, G3, illus. & descrip.; 1 March 2019, H4, illus. & descrip.)
OSHAWA, ONT., movie theatre, Simcoe Street North, 1937 (C.R., vol. 50, 17 March 1937, 37, t.c.)
HAMILTON HARBOUR, pavilion for the Harbour Commissioners, 1942 (C.R., lv, 15 July 1942, 26, t.c.)
PARKDALE PUBLIC SCHOOL, Parkdale Avenue North, 1945-47 (C.R., lviii, Nov. 1945, 112; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, June 1950, 27, illus. in advert.)
KENNAMETAL TOOLS & MFR. CO., Sherman Avenue North, 1945-46 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, Oct. 1946, 256-7, illus.)
RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOL, James Street South, 1947; additions, 1949, 1951; demol. (inf. Hamilton Public School Board)