Harold Kaplan (10 September 1895 – 1 April 1973) was a Canadian
architect.
Biography
Born 10 September 1895, in
Bucharest,
Romania,
he moved to London at the age of three with his widowed mother, Tillie Hohan. In 1902, they moved to
Toronto, and then his mother married Frank Kaplan. During his teenage years, he stayed for a while in Philadelphia with one of his relatives. After returning to Toronto, Kaplan went to Toronto Technical School where he studied architecture and building construction. He married Dorothy Spain in 1923.
In 1919–20, he worked at Page & Warrington. In 1922, he founded Kaplan & Sprachman with
Abraham Sprachman, which is mostly recognized for designing many movie theaters across Canada from the 1920s to the 1950s, and also for designing synagogues and buildings for the Jewish communities.
His work was part of the
architecture event in the
art competition at the
1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...
.
The Primrose Club commissioned Kaplan & Sprachman for its new building in Toronto in 1959. The firm designed the historic
Anshei Minsk Synagogue, the Shaarei Shomayim synagogue, both in Toronto, Beth Israel Synagogue in Edmonton, Beth Israel in Vancouver, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, the new Mount Sinai Hospital,
Oakdale Golf & Country Club and numerous other synagogues and institutions throughout the country.
Kaplan & Sprachman designed the
Eglinton Theatre
The Eglinton Theatre, (or Eglinton Grand) is an event venue and cinema in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2016, it was designated a National Historic Site by Parks Canada and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Built in 1936, the Egli ...
in Toronto and the
Vogue Theatre in Vancouver which were both designated
National Historic Sites by the
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Overall, they designed more than 70 theaters which were built across Canada between the late 1920s and the early 1950s.
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References
External links
Harold Solomon Kaplan: Biographical Dictionary of architects in Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Harold
1895 births
1973 deaths
20th-century Canadian architects
Olympic competitors in art competitions
Romanian emigrants to Canada
People from Bucharest
20th-century Canadian Jews