Biography
by Alan C.
Elder
Douglas
Simpson was born in Winnipeg in 1916.A fter studying architecture at
the
University of Manitoba (1932-1938), he joined the Royal Canadian Navy.
At the end of the War, he joined the staff of the Building Research
Division,
National Research Council (1945-1947).
While
he was there, he designed a moulded plywood nesting table and, with
A.J.
Donahue, developed a prototype for a moulded plastic stacking chair.
Both
designs were exhibited in Design in Industry at the
National
Gallery of Canada and on its tour across the country. While he was in
Ottawa,
he was also able to maintain his interest and involvement in building.
The London-based journal, Decorative Art 1943-49 included
a house on the Rideau River designed by Simpson and an apartment
building
in Hull, Quebec which he designed with J.S. Lefort.
In
1949, he partnered with Harold Semmens to form one of the most
important
modernist architectural firms in British Columbia, Semmens &
Simpson.
Buildings designed by the firm in the 1950s in Vancouver include:
Hycroft
Towers, St. Anselm’s Church, United Kingdom Building, the former
Vancouver
Public Library Main Branch, and BC Sugar Refinery Office. He was
awarded
a Massey Silver Medal for the latter two and a Massey Gold
Medal
for Marwell Building (demolished 1976).
Two
houses designed by Simpson for himself were published in Decorative
Art, England, 1950-51; and in Nuestra Architectura,
Argentina, 1951. His second house featured an ‘inside-outside’ mural by
artist John Koerner, as well as the couch and ottoman that are included
here. (From the catalogue of an exhibition of Modernist Furniture
and
Design at the Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver, 2002)
]
Simpson
died in 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The
Vancouver
Public Library is a landmark of the single period when this city's
building
design was considered the most progressive in Canada. Its bright,
open, airy interior set new standards of accessibility in public
institutions,
and its warm night-time presence at the focal corner of Burrard and
Robson
helped coalesce the vital cultural life that has developed around it
since
it was completed in 1957. The VPL's only shortcoming is that its design
did not anticipate the growth in demand for its services that the
building
helped inspire. It won a Massey Silver Medal for Excellence in
Architecture
for the firm that designed it, the legendary but short-lived virtuosos
of Modern Architecture, Semmens & Simpson.
