For the Record. Joan Grierson

reached Canada. Commercial and residential work responded more wholeheartedly than corporate and government establishments, where historical styles were still preferred as an expression of power and tradition. Office buildings were becoming higher and higher. The tallest building in the British Empire in 1931 was the Canadian Bank of Commerce tower in Toronto.

      The Dominion Housing Act was passed, followed by a nationwide competition for low-cost housing. On the West Coast, innovative residential work was beginning to appear.

      In 1939, the University of British Columbia established a school of architecture headed by Fred Lasserre, an advocate of the International Style. Across Canada during the 1930s, a total of 16 women graduated with a degree in architecture from the following schools: University of Alberta, 3; University of Manitoba, 9; University of Toronto, 4.

      BOURDON HOUSE, Sillery, Quebec, 1934, Robert Blatter, Architect; CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE head office, Toronto, 1931, York & Sawyer, Architects (New York) with Darling & Pearson, Architects (Toronto); THOMSON BUILDING, Timmins, Ontario, 1939, H. Sheppard & G. Masson, Architects, the birthplace of the Thomson newspaper empire.

BEATRICE CENTNER DAVIDSON

      B.Arch. 1930, M.Arch. 1937

      1930 B.Arch., University of Toronto. Toronto Architectural Guild Bronze Medal.

      1931 Worked in the office of a German architect in Jerusalem.

      1932–1935 Postgraduate studies, School of Architecture, University of Toronto.

      1935–1937 Intermittent professional work in the architectural office of P.A. Deacon and Professor Eric Arthur; factory job in a jewellery firm.

      1937 M.Arch., University of Toronto – a delay in the granting of her degree was attributed by Davidson to the “radical modern design” of her thesis. Secretary to the first Ontario Committee on Housing. Married Harry Davidson.

      1938–1942 Two children born.

      1940 on Independent work: architectural negotiator of her husband’s land-development business. Designed two houses in Toronto; designed furniture for family and friends. An ex officio member of the jury for the design of the new city hall. Volunteer research assistant to Eric Arthur during the writing of his book No Mean City.

      1986 Beatrice Davidson died at the age of seventy-seven in Toronto.

      “My architectural education did more for me than anything else in any way. It made me open my eyes and led me into a constantly expanding world.

       “There was a tradition for those students who won the Guild Medal being offered employment by a certain firm. When I won, however, my lack of experience on the construction site was cited as sufficient reason to break with tradition. I was told to return in five years with proof of experience and then I would be hired – as long as I signed an agreement not to marry for another ten years.”

      1930 FOUTH-YEAR ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS AND STAFF. Beatrice Centner is fourth from the left. CHAIR, contemporary design adapted by Davidson.

      DAVIDSON RESIDENCE, Cortleign Boulevard, Toronto, 1942; plans showing the first and second floors.

      DINING AND SERVING TABLES, contemporary design adapted by Davidson.

KATHARINE JEFFERYS HELM

      School of Architecture, University of Toronto 1928–1932

      1932 Completed four years of study and design thesis at School of Architecture, University of Toronto.

      1932–1936 Sales clerk at Eaton’s department store in Toronto.

      1937 With Edward Helm, a Hungarian officer and toolmaker, travelled to Tahiti, where they married and planned to settle on a plantation. Wrote articles about life in the South Seas for the Toronto Telegram.

      1937 As war tensions increase, the Helms returned to Toronto. Research for a history of Peel County.

      1941–1945 Worked as engineering draftsman with Canadian Industries in Windsor, Ontario.

      1945 Moved to Los Angeles. Worked as engineering draftsman for a vehicle parts manufacturing firm.

      1947 Moved to Eureka, California.

      1947–1951 Worked as engineering draftsman, surveyor and mapmaker. Designed and supervised the building of the family house in Kneeland, California. (A second phase was added in 1973.)

      1955–1956 Travelled around the world with her husband.

      1956–1975 Employed by the office of the State Highway Division, retiring at the age of sixty-seven.

      1982 Moved back to Eureka, following the death of her husband.

      1993 Katharine Helm died in California.

      Katharine Jefferys Helm was the daughter of C.W. Jefferys, well-known Canadian artist and member of the faculty of the School of Architecture, University of Toronto, from 1912 to 1939. While she was at the School of Architecture the length of the course changed from four to five years. There is no record of her graduating; nevertheless, the skills she acquired at university equipped her for thirty-five years of professional life in California.

      1932 FOURTH-YEAR ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS AND STAFF. Katharine Jefferys is seated third from right.

DAMA LUMLEY BELL

      B.Arch. 1938

      1929 Registered in first-year architecture at the University of Toronto; Dama Lumley was already an elementary school teacher.

      1934 Completed final year, School of Architecture. Among the nine students in that year, none had acquired the office experience required for graduation.

      1935 Worked as a clerk, selling curtains at Eaton’s department store in Toronto.

      1937 Display manager and consultant on interior decorating at Adams Furniture, a store in Toronto. Worked for John T. Findlay, Architect, St. Thomas, Ontario.

      1938 B.Arch., University of Toronto. Travelled to Europe and Ireland.

      1940 Married