McConnell, Arthur Wellesley

McCONNELL, Arthur Wellesley (1885 - 1963), son of Oliver McConnell of Brant Township, Ont., was born in Walkerton, Ont. on 3 December 1885 and graduated from the Dept. of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 1907. At first he became a lecturer, then professor in the department, and was responsible for teaching a generation of young Toronto architects at the School while remaining active in the profession. He formed a partnership with Stanley Makepeace in 1912 and submitted an entry with him in the competition for a new master plan for the University of British Columbia at Vancouver. Their entry was not premiated, and First Prize was awarded to Sharp & Thompson. McConnell served with Canadian forces during WWI and upon his return to Toronto he joined Prof. Adrian Berrington in proposing a Beaux-Arts design for the Women's Gymnasium on Hoskin Avenue at Devonshire Place, on the site of the present Massey College on the campus of the University. The scheme was not built, but the full suite of watercolour drawings for the project has survived (Univ. of Toronto Archives, Acc. A 65-001, 059-066). McConnell left Canada in March 1924 to take a position with a shipbuilding firm in England (Star Weekly [Toronto], 15 March 1924, 7). He died on 3 December 1963. His younger brother was the Toronto architect Robert Stanley McConnell.