John Bland

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 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, He then went on to pursue postgraduate studies in town planning at the Architectural Association School of Architecture 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, 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 (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).

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).

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 (1971) Massey Medal for the Ottawa City Hall (1959) Honorary Doctor of Science from Carleton University (1975) Gabrielle Léger Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)