John Bland (architect)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Bland (13 November 1911 – 26 March 2002) was a Canadian architect and educator. He played a fundamental role in transforming architectural education in Canada, spending more than five decades teaching at the
McGill School of Architecture The McGill School of Architecture (officially the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture since 2017) is one of eight academic units constituting the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1896 by S ...
including a 31-year tenure as director, under which Bland transformed the School from a Beaux-Arts institution into one based on contemporary design principles. He also introduced the first Canadian graduate programs in Architecture. Many important individuals in architecture learned under Bland, including Arthur Erickson and Moshe Safdie, as well as the heads of architecture schools in at least six countries. In addition to his teaching career, Bland was a practicing architect, working alongside
Harold Spence-Sales Harold John Author Spence-Sales, (October 22, 1907March 15, 2004) was a British-born Canadian architect and urban planner. He is best known for creating the first university planning program in Canada at McGill University, and for playing an impor ...
prior to joining McGill and collaborating with many Montreal architects on other projects throughout his tenure. He was the president of the
Province of Quebec Association of Architects A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
in 1953, and served on the council from 1942 to 1954. He was also a member of the Council of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) from 1950 to 1954, and was elected to the RAIC College of Fellows in 1954 and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in 1967.


Personal life and education

John Bland was born in Lachine, Quebec on 13 November 1911 to Canadian parents. He received his elementary schooling at
Montreal High School The High School of Montreal was an English-language high school founded in 1843, serving Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the area eventually known as the Golden Square Mile. It was less formally known as Montreal High School and from 1853 to 1870 was ...
and attended secondary school at Loyola College. At the age of seventeen, he enrolled at the
McGill School of Architecture The McGill School of Architecture (officially the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture since 2017) is one of eight academic units constituting the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1896 by S ...
and graduated in 1933 with Honours. He then went on to pursue postgraduate studies in town planning at the
Architectural Association School of Architecture The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in t ...
in London, England, where he became the Librarian of Planning and received his Diploma in Planning with Honours in 1937. John was married to Fay Bland and was a father to a daughter, Clara, and three sons, Johnny, Andrew and Harry. Toward the end of his life, he and his wife lived on the shore of Lake Saint-Louis.


Architectural career

After graduating from the Architectural Association School, Bland worked for the planning department of the London County Council. In 1938, he travelled in France, Germany and Austria before returning to his hometown of Montreal. Before leaving London, he co-authored "England's Water Problem" with fellow architect
Harold Spence-Sales Harold John Author Spence-Sales, (October 22, 1907March 15, 2004) was a British-born Canadian architect and urban planner. He is best known for creating the first university planning program in Canada at McGill University, and for playing an impor ...
, which analysed drought conditions in the south of England. Bland co-founded an architectural and planning practice with Spence-Sales, winning several competitions and designing many architectural and planning projects with him. Competitions won by the practice include the Liverpool Trades Association Housing Competition (1937), Timber Development Association Camp Competition (1937) and the News Chronicle Schools Competition (1938). Their architectural work included a restaurant in Westminster, London (1937), a school for 80 children at
Merstham, Surrey Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 25 miles south of Charing Cross and 2 miles south of the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Mer ...
(1938), a house at Tadworth, Surrey (1938), and a general store in Newhaven, Sussex (1939). Their planning work included the South London Survey (1937), Vulnerable Area Survey (1938) and the Future Development Section of the RIBA Road Exhibition (1939). Bland remained actively involved in architectural practice throughout his tenure at McGill's School of Architecture. He carried out his architectural work in Montreal through a series of partnerships at different periods, with architects Gordon Edwards, Michel Lacroix, Roy LeMoyne, Vincent Rother, Charles Elliot Trudeau and Anthony Shine. Major projects include the Jeanne Mance Housing Development in Montreal (1957–58) and plans for Acadia University, Carleton University, and the new town of
Deep River, Ontario Deep River is a town in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located along the Ottawa River, it lies about north-west of Ottawa on the Trans-Canada Highway. Deep River is opposite the Laurentian Mountains and the Province of Quebec. The name ''Deep R ...
and
Port Cartier, Quebec Port-Cartier is a city in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Aux-Rochers River, exactly southwest of Sept-Îles, Quebec. Port-Cartier had a population of 6,65 ...
(1958–59). Buildings designed by his firms include Ottawa City Hall (now the John G. Diefenbaker Building) (1957–59), the Labyrinth for Expo '67, a library for University of Windsor and two buildings at McGill University, Chancellor Day Hall (1965) and Pollock Hall of the Schulich School of Music (1973).


Teaching career

Following his years practicing architecture in the United Kingdom, Bland returned to Montreal to begin his teaching career at the
McGill School of Architecture The McGill School of Architecture (officially the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture since 2017) is one of eight academic units constituting the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1896 by S ...
in 1939. In 1941, he became the first Canadian-born director of the School, and maintained this position for 31 years until 1972. In 1953, he was appointed to the Macdonald Chair in Architecture and remained so until his retirement in 1978, upon which he was appointed Emeritus Professor. Although he had retired from full-time teaching at the School, he continued to teach part-time for nearly twenty years and founded the John Bland Canadian Architecture Collection (CAC) at McGill during this time, which remains one of the most important architecture collections in Canada. The holdings of the CAC reflect Bland's career as an educator and an architect. He was responsible for gathering and assembling the materials which make up the archives of the CAC. When Bland retired from full-time teaching at McGill in 1978, he wrote to Derek Drummond, the director of the School that year, "At the end of my next month my appointment at McGill will end. It has been longer than I expected and more rewarding than I can measure." His long tenure with the School lent him the opportunity to teach many generations of architects, including some of the most important individuals in the field, such as Moshe Safdie, Arthur Erickson, and the directors of multiple Schools of Architecture in Canada, the United States, England, Norway, Israel, Colombia and India.


Awards & honours

*Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (1954) *Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1967) *Médaille du Mérite of the
Province of Quebec Association of Architects A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
(1971) *
Massey Medal The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) awards the Massey Medal annually to recognize outstanding personal achievement in the exploration, development or description of the geography of Canada. The award was established in 1959, by the Ma ...
for the Ottawa City Hall (1959) *Honorary Doctor of Science from Carleton University (1975) *Gabrielle Léger Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)


See also

*
Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh ( ; 1887–1971) was a Canadian architect from Montreal, Quebec. Biography He received a diploma from McGill University in architecture in 1909, before perfecting his work alongside brothers Edward Maxwell and William S ...
* Raymond Moriyama


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bland, John 1911 births 2002 deaths Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture Canadian architects Modernist architects McGill School of Architecture alumni People from Lachine, Quebec