John Campbell Merrett (August 26, 1909 – November 3, 1998), was a Canadian architect whose most noteworthy work was the interior design of Montreal's

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. Merrett was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada.

Biography

Early life

The fourth child of Thomas Edward Merrett, banker, and his wife, Katherine Stuart Campbell, Merrett's childhood summers were spent in

Métis-sur-Mer Métis-sur-Mer is a city in the La Mitis Regional County Municipality within the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 587 in the Canada 2016 Census. Etymology The name "Métis" is said to come from a Mi'kmaq languag ...

. He attended Selwyn House School in Westmount,

, and

Ashbury College Ashbury College is an independent day and boarding school located in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was originally founded in 1891 by former faculty of Bishop's College School in Quebec to accommodate BCS students living ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Marriage and family

Campbell Merrett married Hazel Howard, one of four daughters of Judge Eratus Edwin Howard and his wife, Evalyn Peverley, in 1937. His two sons – Timothy Howard Merrett, professor of computer science at McGill, and Brian Merrett, photographer – live in Montreal.

Education

Merrett graduated in 1931 from the School of

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

and subsequently did formative work traveling on scholarship in Europe. He did post-graduate studies in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, resulting in a certificate in Town Planning from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1934. In 1944 he took a Special Planning Course at

M.I.T The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

., Boston.

Career

From 1936 to 1942 Campbell was staff architect for the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

, for whom he designed the concourse of Montreal's Central Station. In 1944 and 1945 he was the Town Planning Director for the City of Saint John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, following which he joined Ernest Isbell Barott to form Barott, Marshall, Montgomery and Merrett, where he worked until his retirement in 1977. His projects included the town plan of

Pointe Claire Pointe-Claire (, ) is a Quebec local municipality within the Urban agglomeration of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in Canada. It is entirely developed, and land use includes residential, light manufacturing, and retail. As of the 2021 cen ...

, Quebec, as well as buildings for regional school boards, universities and pharmaceutical companies. His real joy came from the many expansion projects at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital and much of the modern skyline of that institution can be attributed to him.

References

External

Historic Places in Canada
1909 births 1998 deaths Alumni of the University of London People from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people McGill School of Architecture alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Canadian National Railway people Canadian people in rail transport 20th-century Canadian architects {{Canada-architect-stub