Arthur, Eric Ross | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

ARTHUR, Eric Ross (1898-1982) was an architect, author and professor who played a vital role in the introduction of architectural modernism and in the preservation movement in Ontario. Born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 1 July 1898 he was educated at Otago Boy's High School there and during World War I went overseas to serve with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He went to Liverpool, England where he enrolled in the School of Architecture at the University of Liverpool as the Lord Kitchener National Memorial Scholar in 1919, working under the tutelage of Sir Charles H. Reilly. It was here that his exceptional talent as a designer became apparent when he presented an ambitious Beaux-Arts project for a University Assembly Hall (1919) and won the Rome Scholarship competition with his student design for a Courts of Justice (The Liverpool University Architectural Sketch Book, 1920, illus. plates). Upon graduation with honours from the School in 1923 he went to London to work in the office of Sir Edwin Lutyens, the eminent Edwardian architect who at this time was preoccupied with work on the Queen's Doll House at Windsor Castle and with a palace complex in New Delhi, India. In 1923 he collaborated with W. Naseby Adams of London in submitting a design in competition with 142 other entrants for the Dewsbury Yorkshire War Memorial. Their sophisticated Beaux-Arts proposal was awarded first premium and was erected the following year (Architects' Journal [London], lvii, 16 May 1923, 861-3, illus. & descrip.; Liverpool School of Architecture Yearbook, 1932, plate lxxiii, illus.; R.W. Liscombe, "Assaying Eric Arthur's Campaign to Modernize Canadian Design", in The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada [Ottawa], xlii, No. 2, December 2017, 13-15, illus. & descrip. ).

Arthur was invited to lecture at the University of Toronto in 1923 and in May of 1924 he was offered a teaching position as Assistant Professor of Architecture commencing in September of that year (Globe [Toronto] 8 May 1924, page 13). He quickly established a reputation as an engaging and provocative lecturer and public speaker both on and off the campus, and successfully played the role of architectural critic in attacking the conservative and retardataire nature of the local architectural scene. His critique of the design of St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Ont. by Marani & Paisley was perceptive and blunt, and set him apart as a highly opinionated but nevertheless observant student of contemporary Canadian design (Const., xix, Oct. 1926, 304-15). As part of his academic programmes at the University of Toronto he directed his students in 1927 to prepare a series of measured drawings of significant eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings in Ontario. This work continued each year until the late 1930's and now forms the core of a major drawing collection at the Ontario Archives. Arthur cultivated his interest in recording both vernacular and pedigree buildings in Ontario with extensive travels to many sites in the province to photograph an extraordinary variety of structures, many of which have now been demolished; his entire collection of mounted photographs survives and can be examined at the Ontario Archives in Toronto. An appraisal and commentary on this collection, prepared by Stephen A. Otto, was published in The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada [Ottawa], xlii, No. 2, December 2017, 5-7, illus. & descrip.

Arthur was very concerned about the high rate of attrition of early buildings in Ontario, and with the imminent demolition of the Barnum House in Grafton, Ont. in 1932, so he took the initiative to purchase this house; the subsequent financing of the transaction led to the formation of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario which today includes hundreds of members across the province (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvii, March 1940, 39, illus.; Richard Longley, "Eric Arthur and Barnum House - The Founding of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario", in ACORN [journal of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario], Vol. xlii, No. 1, Spring 2017, 20-21, illlus. & descrip.)

In 1934 he was promoted to full professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Toronto and used this platform to continue to address a variety of issues from historical architecture in Toronto to modern design in Canada and the integration of art and architecture (see list of Selected Essays below). In September 1937 he was appointed as the Editor of the Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, taking over this position from Isadore Markus, and for the next twenty two years he played a crucial role in the content and editorial position of the journal on vital issues of design, town planning and post-war development in Canada. His actual designs for buildings were, however, less than revolutionary, and may have been compromised in response to the conservative tastes and strict budgets of his Canadian clients. In 1932 he submitted a stripped down neoclassical design for the Headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, England, but his plan lacked the finesse and refinement of schemes submitted by other Canadian architects such as Douglas Kertland and Murray Brown (Architect & Building News [London], 24 June 1932, 423, illus.).

In late 1957 he was instrumental in initiating the proposal to hold an international architectural competition for the design of the new City Hall at Toronto and was appointed Professional Adviser by Board of Control to oversee the work of four renowned jurors to choose between the 520 entries submitted by architects in forty-two countries. The result was a building which transformed the perception and image of Toronto, and the completion of the design by the Finnish architect Viljo Revell in September 1965 was one of Arthur's proudest achievements. In 1966 he persuaded the Toronto Chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects to advocate the retention and restoration of St. Lawrence Hall, King Street East (originally by William Thomas, 1850) and won financial backing from City Council who undertook to make the scheme their Centennial Project. Despite the disastrous collapse of the eastern half of the building on 10 March 1967, Arthur persisted in his efforts to rebuild and restore the structure which finally reopened on 28 December 1967. Arthur devoted much of his time after 1968 preparing the manuscripts for several books on such diverse subjects as barns, on the Provincial Legislative buildings in Toronto, and on the use of cast iron in North America (see list of books below). He died in Toronto on 1 November 1982. (obituary in the Globe & Mail [Toronto] 3 Nov. 1982, 12; 6 Nov. 1982, E11; biography in Who's Who in Canada, 1938-39, 364; R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Sept. 1942, 196; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 24 May 1976, 8; Toronto Star, 15 April 1979, D5, 28 July 1984, M3). An appraisal of the career and work of Arthur entitled Eric Ross Arthur: Conservation in Context was published in 2001 by the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

A detailed and extensive biography and analysis of the career and work of Eric Arthur was published in December 2017 as part of a single issue of The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada [Ottawa], xlii, No. 2, December 2017, 3-86, illus. This special issue includes contributions by Dr. Angela Carr (Ottawa), Dr. Hal Kalman, OC (Victoria), Prof. Rhodri Windsor Liscombe (Nova Scotia), Stephen A Otto, OC (Toronto), and Prof. Michaelangelo Sabatino (Chicago).

STUDENT PROJECTS

War Memorial, Birkenhead, 1919. Arthur prepared his design during his first year at the School of Architecture in Liverpool, and his delicate elevational study for a War Memorial at Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, dated 21 October 1919, was commended and received Second Mention, and within weeks it appeared in the press in London (The Architect [London], cii, 26 Dec. 1919, 374 ff, full page plate)

R.I.B.A. Measured Drawings Competition, 1920. Arthur's talent as a gifted delineator was clearly evident when he submitted an elaborate group of his renderings in the R.I.B.A. Measured Drawings Competition in 1920. This entire set of exquisitely drawn elevations, plans and sections, documenting the famous Hopetoun House in West Lothian, Scotland (designed by Sir William Bruce in 1699-1703) was subsequently published on three double-page plates in the British journal The Architect [London], ciii, 21 May 1920, illus.

Rome Scholarship Competition, 1921. Arthur was one of seventeen students whose drawings were selected for exhibition at Burlington House in London, and his classically composed design for 'A National Pantheon' was one of four schemes cited for final awards. His entry was commended as '....by far the best of the Liverpool designs', and was published shortly after the exhibition event (The Architect [London], cv, 18 Feb. 1921, 120-21, text and full page plate.; The Builder [London], cxx, 11 Feb. 1921, 182, 187, 189, descrip. & illus.)

Rome Scholarship Competition, 1922. While attending his Fifth Year of studies, Arthur was one of 9 finalists selected in the preliminary competition. His proposal, signed 'Menv', was an elaborate Beaux-Arts scheme for 'A Lakeside Restaurant in a Public Park' (The Builder [London], cxxii, 24 Feb. 1922, 300, descrip., 303, illus.)

Royal Academy Ateliers Building Exhibition Stand Competition, London, 1922. Inspired by the style of early Egyptian architecture, Arthur designed 'A Stall for a Firm Manufacturing Paints, Distempers, Oils, Etc.'. His design for this exhibition display later appeared in The Builder [London], cxxii, 14 April 1922, 571, illus.)

Fifth Year Thesis Project, Liverpool School of Architecture, 1922. Arthur's final student design was an elaborate Beaux-Arts proposal for 'A Home for a Royal Academy' (The Builder [London], cxxiii, 28 July 1922, 123, 126, plate illus.)

ARCHITECTURAL WORKS

(with George, Moorhouse & King) TORONTO, ONT., mansion for James S. McLean, Bayview Avenue, 1928-31 (Const., xxvi, May-June 1933, 55-58, illus.; C.H.G., x, March 1933, 20, 22; and xi, Aug.-Sept. 1934, 26-29, illus.; and xiii, Jan.-Feb. 1936, 71, illus.; W. Dendy & W. Kilbourn, Toronto Observed, 1986, 233-35, illus.; Steven Bell, 'The McLean House', in Eric Ross Arthur: Conservation in Context, 2001, 103-26, illus.)
NORTH YORK, ONT., remodelling of residence for Prof. Herbert J. Davis, St. Leonard's Avenue, 1933 (C.H.G., xi, April 1934, 24, illus.)
TORONTO, ONT., residence for Prof. H.A. McTaggart, Glenview Avenue, 1934 (C.H.G., xiii, Jan.-Feb. 1936, 70, illus.)
(with Anthony Adamson) MALTON, ONT., "Netherburn Farms" a farm and barn building for Dr. Alfred Purvis Hart, northeast corner of Dixie Road and Britannia Road, 1935; demol. (dwgs. Wellington County Museum & Archives, Fergus, Ont., Acc. A 2018.170.3; inf. Ian Easterbrook, Wellington County Museum)
NORTH YORK, ONT., residence for Eugene Hawke, Park Lane Circle, 1936 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, May 1937, 78, illus.; C.H.G., xxi, Nov. 1944, 13-15, illus.)
(with Anthony Adamson) EDMONTON, ALTA., office and packing plant for Canada Packers Ltd., 70th Street at Fort Road, 1936; demol. 1995 (C.R., vol. 50, 12 Aug. 1936, 719-20, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, Feb. 1937, 20-21; Aug. 1937, 158-60, illus.; L'architecture d'aujourd'hui [Paris], xi, March/April 1940, 36-7, illus.; H. Kalman, History of Canadian Architecture, 1994, 783, illus. & descrip.; Tim Morawetz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada, 2017, 37, illus. & descrip.; H. Kalman, "Eric Arthur and the Introduction of Modernism to Canada", in The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada [Ottawa], xlii, No. 2, December 2017, 50-52, illus. & descrip.)
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONT., restoration of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 1936-37 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, Jan. 1938, 277-81, illus. & descrip.)
(with Fleury & Piersol) VANCOUVER, B.C., office and packing plant for Canada Packers Ltd., Terminal Avenue, 1937-38 (C.R., vol. 50, 23 June 1937, 49; Vancouver Sun, 7 Jan. 1938, 2, illus. & descrip.; L'architecture d'aujourd'hui [Paris], xi, March/April 1940, 38, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Nov. 1942, 222-23, illus.; dwgs. at the Vancouver City Archives)
NORTH YORK, ONT., residence for John P. Erichsen-Brown, Dufferin Street at Steeles Avenue, 1938; demol. (inf. Charlotte Erichsen-Brown, Toronto; H. Kalman, "Eric Arthur and the Introduction of Modernism to Canada", in The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada [Ottawa], xlii, No. 2, December 2017, 52-54, illus. & descrip.)
GEORGETOWN, ONT., major additions and alterations to 'Scotsdale Farm', for S.G. Bennett, 1939 (dwgs. Ontario Heritage Foundation, Toronto)
(with Fleury & Piersol) TORONTO, ONT., truck garage for Canada Packers Ltd., St. Clair Avenue West, 1942 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Oct. 1942, 205, illus.)
(with Green, Blankstein & Russell) ST. BONIFACE, MAN., a 4 storey staff house for employees of Canada Packers Ltd., Marion Street, 1944-45 (Winnipeg Tribune, 26 Sept. 1944, 3, descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, Oct. 1946, 9, advert.)
(with Marani & Morris) TORONTO, ONT., addition to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Dunn Avenue, 1946-47 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Sept. 1948, 308-11, illus.)

COMPETITIONS

REGINA, SASK., WW1 War Memorial Cenotaph, Victoria Park, 1926. Eric Arthur was one of 51 architects and artists who submitted a design in this national competition (Morning Leader [Regina], 9 Feb. 1926, 1, full list of competitors). The winner was Robert G. Heughan of Montreal.

BOOKS BY ERIC ARTHUR

Small Houses of the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries in Ontario, 1929, 7 p. with 19 plates pub. by the University of Toronto Press; essay, photographs and measured drawings of early Ontario houses
(with Fritz Winter) Old Forts in Upper Canada, 1935, 28 p. with illus., pub. as Bulletin No. 146 by the School of Architecture, Univ. of Toronto
The Early Buildings of Ontario, 1938, 24 p., with foreward by John Alford, pub. by the University of Toronto Press; essay and photographs, with list of sites visited and photographed.
(with H.D. Chapman & H. Massey) Moose Factory 1673-1947, 1949, an illustrated history and study for the restoration of the fort at Moose Factory on James Bay in northern Ontario
(with C.H.C. Armstrong) The Honourable Society of Osgoode Hall, 1952, an essay on the history and architecture of Osgoode Hall, Toronto, pages 49-60
Toronto No Mean City, first edition, 1964, 280 p.; second edition 1974; third edition, revised and enlarged by Stephen Otto, 1986, 315 p., pub. by the University of Toronto Press; an illustrated architectural history of Toronto to 1900
(with others) St. Lawrence Hall, 1969, 186 p., pub. by Thomas Nelson & Sons; essays on the architectural history and restoration of St. Lawrence Hall, King Street, Toronto, designed by William Thomas and built in 1850
(with Dudley Witney) The Barn: A Vanishing Landmark in North America, 1972, 256 p., pub. by McClelland & Stewart; an illustrated work on the evolution of barns in the United States and Canada
From Front Street to Queen's Park - The Story of Ontario's Parliament Buildings, 1979, 160 p., pub. by McClelland & Stewart; an illustrated history, with essays, on the earliest Parliament House (1797) to the present Legislative Buildings (1890-93)
(with Thomas Ritchie) Iron - Cast & Wrought Iron in Canada from the Seventeenth Century to the Present, 1982, 242 p., pub. by the University of Toronto Press; an illustrated survey, with essays, on the technology and use of iron in buildings and for domestic fittings and appliances.

A full list of all books and journal articles written by Eric Arthur between 1918 and 1980 has been prepared by Dr. Angela Carr and published in The Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, xlii, No. 2, December 2017, 71-79.

SELECTED ARTICLES

St. Andrew's College, Aurora, Ont., a critique of the design by Marani & Paisley, in Const., xix, Oct. 1926, 305-15, 318; with rebuttal by the architects, in Const., xix, Nov. 1926, 365.
'The Early Architecture of the Province of Ontario', in R.A.I.C. Journal, iv, Aug. 1927, 291-301, illus.; Sept. 1927, 313-317; Nov. 1927, 389-92; v, Jan. 1928, 25-29; March 1928, 99-102; June 1928, 197-202; Aug. 1928, 276-77; Oct. 1928, 381-84; Dec. 1928, 446-48; vi, Aug. 1929, 273-76.
'Toronto Chapter Architectural Exhibition', in R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, March 1929, 85-109, illus.
'Brick and Its Relation to Domestic Architecture', an essay on the 'Return to the Sane and Simple Dignity of Genuine Materials', in the Contract Record [Toronto], xlv, 18 March 1931, 341-343, illus.
'A Review of the R.A.I.C. Exhibition', in R.A.I.C. Journal, ix, Dec. 1932, 261-69, illus.
'A Hundred Years of Architecture in Toronto', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xi, May 1934, 75-78.
'Tombstones', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xi, Feb. 1934, 22-25, illus.
'The Architect in History', a radio broadcast, with transcript in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xii, Feb. 1935, 33.
'How to Appreciate Architecture', a radio broadcast, with transcript in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, Feb. 1936, 32-33
'Review of the Sixth Biennial Toronto Chapter Exhibition', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, Feb. 1937, 20-24, illus.
Editorial, with comments on the decline of architectural education, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, Oct. 1937, 199
Editorial, with praise for the newly emerging style of European modernism in contemporary architecture, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, Jan. 1938, 270
Editorial, on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and his projects in the United States, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, April 1938, 74
Article, on his photographs and drawings of early buildings in Ontario, in C.H.G., xv, Oct. 1938, 11. This collection of his photographs and drawings is now held at the Archives of Ontario in Toronto.
'War Memorials', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, Dec. 1938, 259-65, illus.
Editorial, with comments on Canadian architectural styles and trends, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, May 1939, 94
'Fort Lennox, Ile aux Noix, Quebec', in R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, June 1939, 132-35, illus.
Article, on his activity in the newly formed Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, in C.H.G., xvii, April 1940, 13
Editorial, with comments on the battle of the styles in architecture in Canada from 1930 to 1940, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xviii, Nov. 1941, 178
Editorial, with a condemnation of the Beaux Arts style and the City Beautiful town planning movement, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Nov. 1942, 214
Editorial, with criticism of the rigidity and elitism displayed at the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada meetings, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xx, March 1943, 30
Article, on the future direction of architecture, in C.H.G., xxi, Jan.-Feb. 1944, 24
Editorial, with comments on the demise of popular art in rural Canada, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, July 1946, 156
Tribute to Eric Arthur on the 25th Anniversary of his arrival in Canada, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiv, Feb. 1947, 63
Editorial, with comments on the progress of contemporary architectural design for school buildings, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiv, Oct. 1947, 336
Editorial, on the triumph of Modernism as evidenced in the design of the new United Nations Headquarters in New York City, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, March 1948, 68
Editorial, on the state of architecture and town planning in Toronto, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, July 1948, 218
Review of the new book 'Genius and the Mobocracy' by Frank Lloyd Wright, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvi, Sept. 1949, 305