Fonds AM787 - E.C. Horwood Collection

Perspective rendering of the Hudson's Bay Company Store, Granville Street

Title and statement of responsibility area

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E.C. Horwood Collection

General material designation

  • Architectural drawing

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Fonds

Reference code

AM787

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Statement of scale (architectural)

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Physical description

155 architectural drawings : 130 ink on linen, 24 blueprint on linen, 1 ink and pencil on paper with colour wash

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1908-1919)

Administrative history

Burke, Horwood and White was a Toronto, Ontario based architectural firm which existed from 1908 to 1919 and designed a variety of buildings across Canada. The partners were Edmund Burke and J.C.B. Horwood, who had entered into a partnership in 1894, with the addition of Murray White in 1908.

Edmund Burke (1850-1919) apprenticed to the firm Gundry and Langley, then entered into a partnership with his uncles Henry and Charles Edward Langley in 1873. In 1892 he left to take over the practice of William G. Storm, which continued to operate under Burke's name. In 1894, Burke entered into a partnership with J.C.B. Horwood to form the firm Burke and Horwood.

John Charles Batstone Horwood (1864-1938) apprenticed to Langley, Langley and Burke as a student, then was with Clinton and Russell in New York City (1889 to 1894) before his partnership with Edmund Burke. Murray Alexander White (1870-1935) apprenticed with Langley and Burke from 1889 to 1893 before moving to Chicago, where he worked with the firm Holabird and Roche. In 1908 he returned to Toronto and became a full partner in the firm Burke, Horwood and White.

Burke, Horwood and White designed a variety of residential, ecclesiastical and commercial works, primarily in Toronto and other locations in southern Ontario. The firm received three commissions for buildings in Vancouver: the Hudson's Bay Company store on West Georgia Street, First Baptist Church at 969 Burrard Street, and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church at 2600 Quebec Street.

The firm designed buildings in various historical styles, but for commercial buildings always with an emphasis on modern materials and methods of construction, such as glazed terra cotta, early iron and reinforced concrete frames, and contemporary advances in fire protection.

The firm was renamed Horwood and White in 1919 after the death of Edmund Burke, and existed under that name until it was wound up 1969 by its last senior partner, E.C. Horwood.

Name of creator

(1919-1969)

Administrative history

Horwood and White was a Toronto, Ontario based architectural firm which existed from 1919 to 1969 and designed a variety of buildings across Canada.

Horwood and White was established in 1919 as the successor to Burke, Horwood and White, following on the death of Edmund Burke in January of that year.

The company carried on the work of its predecessor firm in department stores, commercial buildings, churches, industrial plants and residences. In Vancouver, the firm continued the work begun by Burke, Horwood and White on the Hudson's Bay Company store on West Georgia Street, designing a number of additions and alterations to the original building in the 1920s.

Following the partners' deaths in the 1930's, the firm retained the name Horwood and White and continued under Horwood's son, Eric Compton Horwood (1900-1984), and S. Solomon Van Raalte (1882-1956). When Eric Horwood retired in 1969, the firm was wound up.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The collection consists of architectural drawings by the architectural firms Burke, Horwood and White, and Horwood and White for the Hudson's Bay Company store building located at on West Georgia Street. The records principally document additions to the building, designed in 1925 and constructed in 1925 and 1926, which brought the building up to its modern footprint.

The collection includes preliminary, construction and as-built drawings pertaining to the 1925 addition and 1926 replacement of original 1893 building on the site. The drawings are primarily mechanical, HVAC, plumbing and electrical drawings, though the collection does contain some drawings of architectural designs. The drawings are depicted as floor plans, elevations, sections, details and schematic diagrams.

The drawings include reference copies of drawings from the construction of the 1913 addition to the 1893 store, the earliest part of the building still standing. The collection also includes a watercolour rendering of the store done at or after the completion of the building.

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Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

The material was donated by E.C. (Eric Crompton) Horwood in 1973.

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Restrictions on access

Restriction details: Fonds contains architectural drawings of a standing structure. Access is restricted to all drawings for security purposes, with the exception of exterior elevations, designs for interior and exterior ornamentation, and the perspective rendering. Please refer to file and item-level descriptions for more information on restrictions and procedures for accessing this material.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

Associated materials

The bulk of the E.C. Horwood Collection resides at the Archives of Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, where it is referred to as the J.C.B. and E.C. Horwood Collection, reference code C 11.

Records of the design and constuction of the Vancouver Hudson's Bay Company store in the Archives of Ontario's holdings are found in two series: C 11-155 Burke, Horwood and White architectural records relating to the Hudson's Bay Company store, West Georgia Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, which documents the first components of the store, built at West Georgia and Seymour streets; and C 11-1188 Horwood and White architectural records relating to the Hudson's Bay Company store, West Georgia Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, which documents a series of projects to expand and renovate the original store between 1920 and 1932, including the projects included in AM787.

More information on the Archives of Ontario's holdings may be found at www.archives.gov.on.ca.

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