In 1957, Simpson left the firm to pursue a private practice first in Vancouver, where he designed the Bayshore Hotel in 1959-1960, then in Hawaii, Fiji and Australia. Moving to Vancouver in 1948, Simpson joined Harold Semmens to form the office of Semmens Simpson. Over the next decade he began directing a project for a prefabricated panel system for the National Research Council in Ottawa, served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the war, and became chief architect of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Commission regional office. Simpson began studies at the University of Manitoba in 1933, graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1938. Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1916 - Honolulu, Hawaii, 1967ĭouglas C.

Before he left for Toronto in 1958, Warrington produced a significant body of images in publications and portfolios that heightened awareness of West Coast architecture across the country. Most notable amongst the photos are those by Graham Warrington, a British-born photographer who came to Canada in 1949. The photographs and photograph albums in the fonds are primarily of architectural projects by the firm of Semmens & Simpson, dating from 1948-ca. Donahue for the National Research Council in Ottawa designed just after the war. The furniture designs by Simpson include examples from the early 1940s, and molded plywood furniture by Simpson and A.J. These later drawings include as-built working plans and elevations for Simpson's first house that he constructed for his family in Vancouver. The rest of the architectural drawings are mostly residential projects from early in Simpson's career in Ottawa, or work in the later 1940s just after he arrived in B.C. 1960.Īll of the drawings in the inventory, by Simpson and others, date from the 1940s, with the exception of Simpson's 1938 graduation thesis project: a Beaux-arts planned City Hall for Winnipeg. The material dates from 1938-1992, with the bulk of the documents ranging from ca. Simpson fonds consists of 116 drawings (including 22 reprographic copies), 83 photographs, 4 albums and portfolios, 1 textual record, and 1 videocassette. Simpson fonds Dates of creationġ938-1992, Form Project: Unidentified Urban Project, n.d.

Project: Civic Auditorium for Vancouver, Project: Parkwood and Del-Wood Apartments, Office Building, Semmens & Simpson Office, and Gypsum Lime Canada Building, Project: Vancouver Health and Welfare Building, Project: Vancouver Public Library, Collingwood Branch, Project: Hycroft Towers Apartment Building,

Simpson chief architect library