Architecture Visions is a new series on RealtyKitchen.com, which will feature architects who have made their mark in Canada and across the globe.
The architect in today’s first ever Architecture Visions is Peter Dickinson.
Peter Dickinson was born on October 21, 1925 in London, England and died on October 15, 1961 in Montreal, Quebec.
He was a renowned architect that was responsible for many modernist buildings in Toronto.
Dickinson arrived in Canada shortly after World War I in 1949, to begin working for Wells Coates. In 1950 he moved to Page and Steele with his own firm Peter Dickinson and Associates.
Dickinson was Canada’s most celebrated architect at the time; he is best known for the Hummingbird Centre (O’Keefe Centre) and Montreal’s CIBC towers, but more of Dickinson’s legacies are prominent throughout Toronto.
The Hummingbird Centre was first known as the O’Keefe Centre and was opened up in 1960. It was then renamed the Hummingbird Centre in 1966 and in 2006 it was renamed to the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
On August 15th, 2009 the Inn On The Park which was demolished. Once run as an upscale Four Seasons hotel, then as the Holiday Inn, and finally as the Don Mills Hotel, this demolition can be views as another of Toronto’s development tragedies.
This building was a symbolic for post war optimism within a coming city; however with it destroyed we have all lost a great Canadian land mark. It is sad to see it go, but for every structure it is only a matter of time before something more important must take its place. For this case, we will see a luxury dealership in its place; a Lexus dealership.
Another one of Dickinson’s notable works is the Park Plaza Hotel which is now known
as the Park Hyatt after renovations updated his design. The Park Hyatt is located in the Yorkville area of Toronto. Dickinson expanded the original design with a second tower in the north; the new building was a modernist structure.
Dickinson was truly a great architect of his time, and although today we might find flashy buildings overpowering the classics we have seen through the year, his legacy will live on despite any changes that could occur to his buildings.
Jeff Markewich
Broker of Record with InfoMarket Group GMAC Real Estate
www.imgrealestate.ca
